Play ball!
Owen Babe Ruth Baseball & Softball set for 2021 return
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
March 17, 2021
Youth baseball and softball will return to the fields at Veterans Park in Black Mountain this spring when the Charles D. Owen Babe Ruth League resumes operation after canceling the 2020 season due to COVID-19. Photo by Fred McCormick
The baseball fields at Veterans Park in Black Mountain were eerily quiet last spring. Gone were the sites, sounds, smells and colorful traditions of “America’s Pastime,” as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down youth sports programs across the country.
The pinging of bats, popping of leather and crunching of sunflower seeds will return this year, as the Charles D. Owen Babe Ruth Baseball & Softball League prepares to enter the 2021 season.
The return of youth baseball in the Swannanoa Valley, however, brings plenty of challenges in the era of COVID-19.
“Participation has been the biggest issue for us so far,” said board treasurer and secretary Anika Harper. “In a normal season we have somewhere between 250 - 300 kids, but this year we have 117.”
Open registration for Owen Babe Ruth Baseball & Softball closed March 7, but the league, which is staffed and run by volunteers, extended signups through March 16.
“We were begging people to play so we could have full teams,” Harper said. “We would have started practicing last week if this had been a typical year for registration.”
School closures also limited the ability to reach potential baseball and softball players for the league, which ranges from Biddy Ball for children as young as 3 years old to 14U softball.
“This year we couldn’t send postcards through the schools since they were closed until fairly recently,” Harper said. “We had to rely a lot on social media and word of mouth. We also emailed the families who participated in 2019 to see if they were interested in returning.”
Participation is down for the Charles D. Owen Babe Ruth Baseball & Softball League as it prepares for the upcoming spring season. The organization, which is staffed and led by volunteers, canceled the 2020 season a year ago. Photo by Fred McCormick
The board finalized preparations to commence the 2021 season at the beginning of the month, navigating the COVID-19 guidelines of multiple entities, according to Harper.
“We had to review the specific guidelines from the CDC, the county and the town,” said Harper, who is one of nine members of the Owen Babe Ruth League Board. The organization uses the fields at Veterans Park through an agreement with the town, which owns and operates the facility.
Players will be required to wear masks in the dugout or when standing in the batter’s box, which is in close proximity to the catcher and umpire. No masks are required in the field or when running the bases. Social distancing measures will be in place for spectators.
Teams began practicing in 2020 before the arrival of COVID-19 forced the board to cancel the season the second week of March. The organization plans to announce teams and release schedules for the 2021 season in the coming weeks.
“With our league staffed and run strictly by volunteers, a lot of work has gone into just getting to this point,” Harper said. “But youth sports are important and our number one objective is getting kids out of the house, away from screens and active on the field.”
For more information on the Charles D. Owen Babe Ruth League visit cdowenbaberuth.sportssignup.com.