May 20, 2020 Update
Here are the State of Maine’s new guidelines for community sports. https://www.maine.gov/decd/sites/maine.gov.decd/files/inline-files/COVID%20Checklist%20for%20ME%20Phase%202%20Community%20Sports.pdf
April 22, 2020 Update –
No Little League Games or Practices in May
While there is always a possibility that local, state and federal authorities could end all or most social distancing requirements sooner than we hope, the Falmouth Little League Board is not planning to start our season in May while our children are still attending school from home.
Little League International will make a new set of recommendations in “early May.” Falmouth Community Programs has released its summer brochure and is planning (hoping) to start summer camps on June 22nd. Accordingly, Falmouth Little League will plan on starting practices sometime in June and playing regular season games between June 22nd and the end of July.
Tentative Regular Season: June 22nd to August 1st
Everything is subject to change. If we can can make a determination in Mid-May that we can start practices in late May or early June and start playing games earlier than June 22nd, we will do so.
Tentative All Star Season: August 1st to August 15th
If there will be no official Little league All-Star tournaments this summer, Falmouth and other local leagues have all expressed an interest in creating an ad hoc All Star post-season. Most likely, those games would be played during the first two weeks of August.
Cancellations
If your summer schedule will prevent you from participating in Falmouth Little League in June and July, please email me with a request for a refund before May 15th so we can select our teams based on an accurate number of players available for summer ball.
Any refunds requested after May 15th will be honored, of course, and if the entire 2020 season has to be cancelled, we will be prepared to refund all registration fees.
(The website which processed your registrations promises to have updated its software by the end of April to allow us to issue refunds directly to the credit and debit cards you used to sign up. This will spare our Treasurer the labor of writing hundreds of checks.)
If you have signed up to coach and will be unavailable to coach in June and July, please let me know as soon as you know, preferably before May 15th
-RJ Matson
President, Falmouth Little League
April 2, 2020 – Little League International continues to recommended that all local leagues delay the start of their seasons until May 11th.
Governor Mills has issued a stay-at-home order through April 30th, and the Superintendent of Falmouth Schools is now proposing a tentative re-opening date of May 4th. Accordingly, Falmouth Little League will allow no practices before school is back in session. May 16th is still our tentative date to begin playing games. That, of course, is subject to change.
Safety Protocols
If we do play games in 2020, Falmouth Little League will consult with the Town of Falmouth to develop a set of coronavirus safety protocols.
Summer Ball?
The Falmouth Little League Board is exploring the possibility of extending our season into July and even August, assuming we would not be cleared to play in May. The possibility of playing our season in the summer depends in part on decisions yet to be made by Little League International regarding the scheduling of district and state of All-Star tournaments. If the Little League International were to decide to cancel the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA, in August, local leagues would have the freedom to play their regular seasons throughout the summer months.
While we are in a wait-and-see mode, the Falmouth Little League Board made the following decisions:
Field Maintenance
We will spend money in April, as we do every year, to prepare the fields for play. We will repair and improve the batting cages, and we will repair or purchase a new scoreboard for Grubb field. That money will come out of a surplus in our budget carried over from previous seasons, as well as a generous donation recently bequeathed to Falmouth Little League.
Refunds
If the season has to be cancelled, we will refund all registration fees by check. (Unfortunately, the website we used for the registration process does not allow us to issue refunds to credit or debit cards used to register.) We will not spend any of the 2020 registration money we have collected until we know for certain we will be playing a full season.
Team Announcements
We will not announce teams until we know for certain that school will resume and our season will start. For now, our plan is to announce teams the week of April 27th.
Opening Day Ceremony Cancelled
The Board has decided there will be no Opening Day ceremonies for the 2020 season. A gathering of several hundred people on any date in May or June would be too risky.
5 and 6 Year-Old T-Ball Schedule
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/106y01VQdCn3MN5h521upvzFaPrv82kgHhpn0uVSYUaQ/edit?usp=sharing
Please follow this link to sign up for Monday-Wednesday games or Tuesday-Thursday games. Games will begin at 5:45 pm. If your schedule is flexible, please sign up for your first choice and also indicate you can play either schedule. This will help us balance the number of teams in each league as well as the number of players on each team.
All 4 year-old T-Ball games will be played on Saturday mornings at 9:00 am.