Hundreds of budding young baseball players and their families received the news they were dreading last week when the Cloverdale Little League Board of Directors announced the cancellation of the entire 2021 season. It’s the second straight year that the CLL has canceled play due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When our 2020 season was canceled we had high hopes that the 2021 season would be back to ‘normal,” the CLL said in a recent letter to families. “But as the current Sonoma County health order stands it still does not allow for youth sports to be played in its fullest.”
Unlike other neighboring leagues, the CLL does not have the number of baseball facilities needed to accommodate teams. Even if practices were started in the purple tier, official games would not be allowed until the county moves into the less restrictive red tier.
“Currently Cloverdale has a total of five fields, three of which are located on school grounds and two are run by the city of Cloverdale that we do not have access to at this time,” the CLL said. “In order to carry out a season the county is upholding strict COVID protocol requirements. This responsibility would be put on the coaches and additional volunteers to ensure the safety of players, sanitize equipment during practices, as well as sanitize between practices. We can only assume based off of previous seasons that we will not receive additional support during this challenging time.”
All may not be lost for CLL players however, as the CLL has reached out to District 35 officials for guidance in allowing players the possibility of participating in surrounding leagues.
“Once we gather pertinent information we will communicate with our families,” the CLL Board said. “It is not our intention to withhold baseball from our youth for another year, however this is what we are faced with.”
Calling all Board members
The CLL is in the process of filling vacancies to its Board of Directors for the 2022 season. Anyone willing to volunteer is encouraged to reach out to the league by email at [email protected].
