Spring Season Update – Covid-19

Dear Scituate Little League Members,

Over the past several months, the SLL Board of Directors has been communicating often as we have closely monitored the situation across the country and within the State of Massachusetts specifically. We have held out hope that there would be time once the curve flattened to salvage some little piece of normalcy and diversion by getting our young ballplayers back on the diamond for their regularly planned “Spring” season, albeit a little delayed.

In recent days, Little League International has issued an onerous set of guidelines for returning to play that they compiled from various sources including the WHO and the CDC. Those interested can read the full set of guidelines on the Little League International website. Our Board has reached the conclusion that we would not be able to adequately implement and monitor these guidelines across our 40+ teams, 500+ players, and 100+ volunteers. For this reason, we feel it is in the best interests of all players and families to officially cancel the formal 2020 recreational season for ALL players, from tee ball through Juniors and Seniors. All that have paid will receive a full refund, issued back to the original form of payment. We ask for your patience as we complete that process, as it may take 2-3 weeks or longer for credits to appear on your account statement.

We did not take this decision lightly, but we simply do not believe we can provide a safe environment for the kids to play while maintaining the level of enjoyment, camaraderie, and competition that is so fundamental to all youth sports. We feel it’s best to give the parents some closure with respect to the program in which they initially enrolled their children and turn our attention to the next opportunity we may have as the situation with Covid-19 continues to play out.

Make no mistake, we do not intend to call it quits entirely for the remainder of 2020. We will continue to monitor the State’s phased reopening and watch for new guidance from the state and local governments, as well as Little League International. The situation has been very fluid and we expect it will continue to be, and we haven’t even reached the month of June. As restrictions hopefully continue to ease and guidance may loosen, we will consider any and all options to get back on the field and provide as much baseball activity as possible once we feel it is within our ability to manage safely. Such activity could include informal “sandlot days”, structured or jamboree-style skills clinics, homerun derbies, and we are currently planning to pursue a formal Fall season. All options will remain on the table. At this time we just felt it best to cancel and refund all Spring enrollment to provide some amount of certainty and start anything else with a clean slate.

We hope you are as eager to get your young athletes back on the field as we are. Please stay tuned to your email as well as our website and Facebook page or Instagram for future updates.  Until then, we hope you and your children stay safe and find some time to keep throwing the ball around.

Regards,

Board of Directors

Scituate Little League