There will be no Little League baseball or softball in Tucson until August at the earliest.
District 12 announced Wednesday that it had canceled the 2020 spring/summer season. Tucson has 23 leagues, in Districts 5 and 12.
Most leagues already had pulled the plug on their spring/summer campaigns because of the coronavirus pandemic, but a handful had held out hope of playing a shortened season in June and July with new safety protocols in place.
Tucson Mayor Regina Romero's decision to extend the closure of public parks from June 8 to June 22 made it all but impossible for leagues to squeeze in seasons with a projected end date of Aug. 1. Little League International requires two weeks of practice before games are played. With a June 22 reopening, that would have pushed the start of games to July 6.
Rincon was among the leagues that had planned to play if fields reopened June 8.
“But nothing later than that would be feasible,” the league posted in a cancellation announcement on its Facebook page Wednesday. “As many of you know, the city announced a few days ago that they will not be reopening the fields until at least June 22. This leaves us no choice but to cancel our season.”
Both Tucson districts hope to conduct expanded fall seasons that could start as early as mid-August, with postseason tournaments in November. Twelve-year-olds who would have aged out of fall ball will be eligible to play.
