College Baseball Leagues in Holding Pattern
Despite Friday's snow showers, New Englanders know that summer -- or what passes for it in these parts -- is just around the corner.
But it remains to be seen whether one of North County's rites of summer, opening day for the North Adams SteepleCats, will happen on schedule or happen at all.
On Thursday, the National Alliance of College Summer Baseball, an umbrella group that includes the New England Collegiate Baseball League, said it continues to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic and how it might impact the seasons of its 12 member leagues.
"Due to vast uncertainty about when the pandemic will safely pass and when social distancing requirements may be loosened, it is difficult to predict what kind of summer baseball season there will be this year," the statement read in part. "We expect to receive more guidance about this in the coming weeks. Each league is prepared with different contingency plans should it be deemed safe to host games."
The NACSB includes leagues from coast to coast, including several in the Northeast, including the NECBL, New York Collegiate Baseball League and Cape Cod Baseball League.
With the NCAA cancelling its spring sports at all levels, many collegiate baseball players have not been on a diamond and in uniform since the "fall ball" training season late last year.
The NACSB, which partners with Major League Baseball, said it is too soon to know when it will be safe to resume plans for the summer, and it encouraged fans of its teams to do their part to stop the virus.
"Our leagues share a singular goal of helping college baseball players get back on the diamond this summer in preparation for the next college season or possibly a future in professional baseball," the alliance said. "To achieve this, we encourage you to follow federal, state, and local orders. Stay safe, be patient, and please stay home."
The SteepleCats are scheduled to open the season at home on June 3 against Sanford, Maine.
Meanwhile, area sports fans hoping for a spring season for high school baseball, softball, tennis, lacrosse and track and field teams will get a little more clarity on Monday when the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association's board of directors holds a virtual meeting.
With schools across the commonwealth closed and moving to a remote learning model through May 4, the MIAA has likewise set that date as the target to begin preseason practices for spring sports.
The board last month voted to extend the spring season to June 28 at the latest to accommodate post-season play and asked for a recommendation from its Tournament Management Committee for what a post-season could look like.
The TMC, the same group that successfully advanced a plan to scrap sectional tournaments starting in fall 2021, recommended that the MIAA hold only sectional tourneys this spring.
The MIAA board is set to consider that proposal Monday at noon.
