Delayed Little League season begins

By Donnie A. Lucas

Albany Little League action will finally get underway next week with full team practices and games following more than a two-month delay due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Local teams had gone through the draft and were preparing to start practices when the shutdown occurred, according to league president Paul Hamilton.

“We have been able to hold practices this week for groups of five or less,” Hamilton said. “Full team practices and games can begin starting May 31.”

Hamilton, who also manages the Raiders, said that the coaches are working on a schedule for games during the month of June.

“There will not be any post-season tournaments or All-Stars this year,” he said. “We are hoping to get in close to a full season of 8 to 10 games, and I think we are lucky to get to play at all.”

There were only three teams in the draft this season due to lower numbers of players, with the Raiders, Oilers, and Indians fielding both major and minor squads. Normally, there is a fourth team in the league called the Reds.

The first games are set for Monday, June 1, although the actual pairings were not available at press time.

Anthony Ceder, manager of the Indians, reported that major and minor games will be played on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, with T-ball and coach pitch teams playing on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings.

There are four T-ball teams and four coach pitch teams that have been organized. Their practices are not expected to start until next week.

Albany will field an intermediate team and one junior league team, with their seasons starting June 8 and continuing until July 4.

Schedules for all teams are expected to be complete by next week.

Softball Cancelled

Albany Softball Association board members had hoped to have three teams in an area league this season, but with most of the surrounding area teams pulling out, the season has been cancelled.

According to Matt Stapp, coach of the 10U girls, a schedule had been determined for the league in March before the shutdown.

“All of the other area towns have pulled out except Breckenridge,” Stapp said. “We only have enough girls to have one team for each age group, so we couldn’t play anyone locally.”

Stapp said that there was also concern about having to travel for most games due to the coronavirus.

“Even before the shutdown, we only had two games scheduled in Albany during the entire season, with the rest out of town,” he said. “Also, we didn’t have a coach for the 12U team, so it just wasn’t working out.”

The regular softball season normally ends about the time the school year is over, so with some families making summer plans, the association made the decision to wait until 2021 to field any Albany teams.