Leagues ready to play ball - hopefully

TEXICO — Sports have been among the events most missed while New Mexico is under stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19.

But there may be some hope on the horizon.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s most recent order runs until May 15, and after that the first phase of re-opening could occur, like Texas began last Friday. Clovis Softball Association and Zia Little League are looking to get out there and start playing, perhaps in early June.

Clovis American Little League, however, decided in late April to cancel its season entirely.

“Thirteen years of running this league, that’s one of the hardest decisions, hardest things I had to take before the board,” Clovis American Little League Director Doug Bowman said. “I couldn’t live with myself if one kid got sick because of something I was doing. … And what would scare me — if one kid got it he could spread it to the whole team and then the team they played and then the parents and grandparents. So the risk of one wasn’t worth the road we could go down.”

Zia Little League, however, is aiming for an early-June return if the state begins re-opening on May 15.

“Yeah, we’re trying to anticipate starting individual team practices and probably starting games … slowly getting into a season,” Zia Little League Director Jamaal Williams said. “We won’t have our opening ceremonies or anything like that; we’re going to do anything we can do to keep the crowd size down. But we want to be able to play after June 1.

“We’re going to come up with a plan, a social distancing plan, with some of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) guidelines we’re going to implement. Baseball’s not a contact sport, but there are some situations where people are close to each other, and we’re going to try to mitigate those.”

Zia Little League will have its players wear face coverings, and will tweak the rules to eliminate plays at home plate. “We don’t want bang-bang plays at the plate,” Williams said.

Like Zia Little League, Clovis Softball Association is hoping for the door to be opened on May 15 that would begin about a two-week run-up to playing recreational softball games.

“We’re still shooting to have our start in June,” Clovis Softball Association Director Roger Jackson said. “It would be welcome if they tell us we can open up. … We’ll try everything in our power to get ready by the first of June.”

Once given the go-ahead, the rec softball leagues will have to make adjustments, just like Zia.

“We’ll have some criteria that the governing organizations will come down with,” Jackson said, “that we’ll have to abide by.”

One thing that all the above-mentioned directors have in common is how strange it’s been for them to not have their leagues playing since early spring.

“There’s no doubt,” Jackson said. “We’ve got our softballers who know me and call me and wonder when we’re going to get to go. Heck, I miss every one of them. We’re used to having abilities to do whatever we want in our lives. It’s throwing everybody a big ol’ curve.”

“(Clovis American Little League) has been part of my life for the last 13 years,” Bowman said. “It’s very weird.”

“It’s definitely the Twilight Zone,” Williams said. “We would’ve been about halfway through the season … and to not have all of that going on, in some ways it’s refreshing because it’s not as stressful; dealing with youth sports is stressful. But I’d much rather be playing baseball right now. Everybody’s missing baseball, being around the park.”