Baseball Saskatchewan doesn’t want to be left alone when it comes to the sport in Canada.
Every other province, except Ontario, will have baseball activities going as of Monday, June 15 with some reports suggesting Ontario will be given the green light as well to start the sport up and get kids back on the diamond.
It leaves Baseball Saskatchewan’s executive director very frustrated. Mike Ramage says the government has indicated the sport can resume when Phase 4 of the “Re-Open Saskatchewan” plan is announced, but no date has been given for that and while we are in mid-June, it doesn’t leave a lot of time.
Baseball Saskatchewan has produced a 12-page document for government officials to look over showing how the sport is ready to return with what guidelines will be taken to ensure the safety of players, coaches and officials.
Ramage says while the game itself will have differences, the actual game play isn’t really being changed but there could be one big change.
“We are allowing the home-plate umpire to stand behind the catcher as he normally would, but back a little bit.” Ramage said. “If it is more comfortable for them though, we will allow them to stand behind the pitcher and call balls and strikes from behind the mound,”
Some of the other things include no post-game handshakes, no sharing of equipment unless it has been sanitized between uses and that social distancing remain in the dugout.
Earlier this week, provincial chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab spoke about organized sports saying guidance is going to be developed.
