PAGE A10, KEIZERTIMES, APRIL 17, 2020
KEIZERTIMES.COM
OSAA cancels spring sports season
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Natalia Gonzalez sends a backhand over the net in a McNary girls tennis match last spring.
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
When Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown made the decision on
Wednesday, April 8 to close
schools due to the coronavi-
rus, the OSAA decided that
is was best if they followed
suit.
Just hours after Brown’s
announcement, the OSAA
elected to cancel the spring
sports season for 2020.
“Today’s heart wrenching
decision is diffi cult for all
members of the OSAA fam-
ily,” said Peter Weber, OSAA
executive director. “We em-
pathize with students and
school communities, espe-
cially our graduating seniors,
but recognize that these
cancellations will allow our
collective focus to remain
where it’s most needed at
this time — on the health
and safety of all Oregonians.”
On March 18, the OSAA
suspended the spring sports
season initially until April
28. After the executive board
held a virtual meeting on
April 1, Weber was expect-
ing the OSAA to have a de-
cision on whether the sea-
son would be canceled, or
if the OSAA would attempt
to provide an abbreviated
season, at the board’s next
meeting on April 15.
But when Brown made
the announcement, Weber
was prepared to act quickly.
“We weren’t caught off-
guard. We knew this was
likely coming,” Weber said.
“We had made the decision
that we were going to be
aligned with the schools if
(Brown) came out and shut
things down before (the
15th), so we wouldn’t have
to worry about getting ev-
eryone on the board back
together.”
Current OSAA poli-
cies that prohibit the use of
school facilities will remain
in effect. The policy also
prevents coaches from orga-
nizing or directing workouts
and practices, which will re-
main in effect until further
notice.
The executive board will
meet in the coming weeks
to discuss policies for sum-
mer activities, along with
academic eligibility con-
cerns for fall 2020 that have
been expressed by member
schools and families.
Please see OSAA, Page A9
Youth baseball/softball planning for potential season
Youth Baseball president Bo
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Lane.
Of the Keizertimes
In March, the MYB board
Even though the OSAA
canceled the spring season of directors made the de-
cision
to
for prep sports
suspend all
due to the
league ac-
c o r o n a v i r u s , “ We’re going to
tivities until
youth baseball
April 29. But
and softball are do whatever it
after Oregon
still holding out takes to have a
Gov. Brown
some hope.
Kate Brown
“My board is season, it’s just
c l o s e d
still very much going to look a
schools for
in favor of hav-
the remain-
ing a season lot different
der of the
still,” said Keiz-
— Bo Lane school year
er Little League
McNary Youth Baseball
on April 8,
President Ryan
President
MYB made
Siegel. “I am
the decision
talking
with
to
cancel
our District 7
staff and other league presi- their T-ball and Double-A
dents about our options as a programs for this season.
“Without access to school
district in whole.”
“We’re going to do what- fi elds, our hands were tied,
ever we can to have a season, and so were the programs
it’s just going to look a lot that we partner with,” Lane
different,” added McNary said.
As for the rest of their
JBO program — which in-
cludes minors, juniors, se-
niors, as well as their softball
teams — MYB is still wait-
ing for decisions to be made
at the district level.
The MYB softball pro-
gram is a part of Valley
League Softball while the
baseball programs transi-
tioned to Clackamas County
Junior Baseball Association
(CCJBA) for the 2020 sea-
son.
Misty Gendharr, the pres-
ident of CCJBA, said in a
Facebook post that she be-
lieves that the organization
will have a start date in May,
but it remains to be seen
how it will look.
Lane believes that they
could still play anywhere
between 12 and 18 regular
season games and then have
tournament play in late-July
or early-August.
“Everything is still up in
the air. But one thing’s for
sure, we want to make some-
thing work,” Lane said. “It’s
heartbreaking for the kids
right now that they don’t get
to play the game that they
love.”
KLL, on the other hand,
made the decision in mid-
March to postpone all activ-
ities until May 11 — which
was the recommendation
from Little League Inter-
national. But even after the
OSAA decided to cancel the
season, Siegel and the KLL
board is still looking at May
11 as a plausible return date.
“One of the most popular
options right now is to have
an extended season, possibly
going into late June early to
mid-July, especially for the
younger divisions that are
not involved with the All-
Stars tournament,” Siegel
said. “Plans as of now is that
we are still looking at May
11th to start but that could
very well change. A lot of
other leagues rely on school
fi elds to play games on and
if those aren’t available other
options will have to be pur-
sued.”
However, KLL’s plan
will depend on how Little
League International decides
to move forward and if there
will be a Little League World
Series or not.
“Our biggest hold up
right now is waiting to hear
what Little League Interna-
tional plans on doing with
the Little League World Se-
ries,” Siegel said. “Their de-
cision will help us fi gure out
our season.”
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File
Jaxon DeFabis fi res to the plate for Keizer Little League in the 50/70 13-U state tournament last
summer.