By this time in a normal season, our teams would be well into practices and starting games. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, 2020 had different plans for all of us. We as a league have been meeting regularly to try and determine what the 2020 season would look like under these circumstances for PAYO. Like everyone, we have been forced to abide by the Governor's rulings and stay home as much as possible which, as a league, we feel is the right means during these unsafe situations. This message is to inform you of what has transpired over the course of the last week pertaining to Little League Baseball and Softball for 2020.
On 4/29/2020 Little League International made a statement that they would be canceling ALL tournament play for the 2020 season. Though they did not cancel the season entirely, they did advise that all leagues to abide by their Governor’s rules to see if having a season of games was indeed possible. Little League is working with each district and state to determine the course of action and the measures that need to take place to start the season safely.
On 5/3/2020 we had a District meeting where each league President met to discuss our questions, concerns, and comments on the 2020 season. The outcome of that meeting is that we are putting everything on hold until June 1st before making a decision on whether or not to cancel the season entirely. The reason we decided to do this is in hopes that things would change for the better and the Governor would lift some of the orders & restrictions that have been placed on the state of Ohio. The District has spoken to the Health Department and a plan is being put together if in fact we do move forward with the start of the season.
As for PAYO, we also met on 5/3/2020 to review the District meeting minutes and discuss what our plans are as a league. We decided to follow through with the same means as the district and we will continue to keep everyone informed on the 2020 season. I know there are a lot of you that look forward to this time of year and we are doing everything that we can to make sure something happens this year to get back to some sort of normalcy. If we do get to start the 2020 season, we do have the option to play past the usual deadline of June 15th because of tournament play being canceled. What this means is that the schedule will most likely be until the end of July possibly the middle of August.
I know there ae a few that have had questions in regards to refunds and so forth so we are giving three options for everyone:
- Option 1: Remain hopeful that a season is in the near future and hold out with all of us.
- Option 2: Roll your registration fees into next year's 2021 season and be locked in at the 2020 pricing.
- Option 3: Request a full refund of registration fees whether the 2020 season starts or not. If you choose this option you are stating that your child will not be playing the 2020 season regardless. We will only be processing refunds that have a completed REFUND FORM that are sent to the email address [email protected]. The REFUND FORM can be found by clicking the link provided (should open in a new browser window) or by going to the FORMS & FILES tab here on payobaseball.com.
We appreciate your patience as we navigate these challenging times. If you happen to have any questions or concerns you can refer to the PAYO Facebook Page along with our Website, payobaseball.com. We will continue to post any information that we get through these social media channels.
God Bless Everyone!
Cody Paul
PAYO President