Following the cancellation of the Little League World Series, the Pennsylvania Association of District Administrators announced this week that it canceled all 2020 section and state level tournaments for all divisions of Little League.

And while that decision is a crushing blow to local teams that were looking to make postseason runs at the state level, their chance to play ball this summer is far from over.

Barry Bacha, the district administrator for Pennsylavnia’s District 10 — which covers leagues from Punxsutawney to Cameron County to Bradford — said that they are still doing everything they can to have some sort of season — a goal that’s been boosted by the region’s move on Friday into the ‘yellow’ phase of the state’s COVID-19 reopening process.

“All 14 of the leagues (in District 10) said that they are holding tight right now in hopes of getting a regular season in,” Bacha said. “We are planning on having a regular season if we can go ‘green’ by June 1. We’d then have a week, 10 days of practices and then hold some games and maybe a district tournament at the end.”

Bacha noted that the move to yellow, which opened up some businesses and eliminated the stay-at-home order, did not impact the status of any athletic activities. In fact, Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Rachel Levine said that all outdoor games and practices are still prohibited under this phase and added, “As the governor has been saying, yellow means caution, and it would not be an exercise of caution to let team sports play.”

Bacha relayed that message to his league presidents and noted, “All leagues can do right now is to start prepping the fields and getting small groups of volunteers to work on the grass and things like that in the event we do have a season.”

THE SILVER lining to those sectional and state playoff tournaments being canceled is that it gives District 10 more leeway on when to start the season and how late it can play until. In the past, leagues were on tight deadlines to get games in so that teams could qualify for those postseason tournaments. Now, games can be pushed back much later into the summer or even early fall.

“Right now, there’s just no reason to end the season,” Bacha affirmed. “If we have to play into August or September, we are OK with that. Our insurance is good through the end of the year.”

Bacha did note, however, that once local counties go ‘green,’ and into the final stage of reopening, it won’t be as easy as just flipping a switch to get kids back on the fields. It was a message that Bacha conveyed to all 14 league presidents in a Zoom call earlier this week.

“If individual leagues don’t own the fields, they will be at the mercy of townships or cities,” he said. “With Bradford and Callahan Park, for example, you first have to make sure that it’s open. We are not only governed by the state guidelines, but by the local municipalities, as well.”

BACHA ADMITTED that he doesn’t know how parents and guardians would react to having their kids play in games beginning in June and noted some may certainly ask for their registration fees back.

He noted that those individual decisions on refunds would be handled on a league-to-league basis and that folks may need the extra cash for far more important things at the moment.

“Obviously some parents are asking for refunds on those registration fees that could be used for bread and milk and things that are necessities,” Bacha said. “We are asking leagues to wait until the end of May to make a decision on their leagues but each of them will determine refunds.”

For now, all Bacha can do is plan, hope, and wait to be given the clearances needed on what is still a long process to eventually hear the crack of the bat at local parks this summer.

“We really are still hoping for some sort of season with all-star play in there at some point,” Bacha said. “Even though nobody is advancing to sectionals, it would get all-star experience for the kids and I’ve even told leagues that they can throw more than one team in there.”

He added, “We want to encourage everybody to play and get more participation and maybe that will build the program going forward.”