Local baseball players take the field, pandemic-style

Under Gov. Phil Scott’s order regarding summer recreation, some forms of competitive athletics, such as youth baseball, are now allowed as the state slowly opens back up.

The Yetis are two of a handful of teams playing in a Junior American Legion league that Peoples Academy varsity coach Keith Woodland helped form earlier this year. The league includes teams from northern and central Vermont. Games began July 1 and will continue the rest of the month.

Woodland said he and the other organizers decided to open up the league to both 13-year olds who played Little League last year and older athletes, such as recent high school graduates who might still be 17.

With that base to build from, turnout for the Yetis was so strong that two teams were formed; one team is typically hosting a game while the other hits the road. With several games during the week and weekend doubleheaders, each team typically plays four or five games a week.

“It’s a 23-game schedule in 30 days,” Woodland said.

All told, there are 24 players on the Yetis. The vast majority are from Lamoille County, with seven players each from Stowe High and Peoples Academy and four from Lamoille Union High School.

A few are from farther afield: two from St. Albans and one each from Enosburg, Missisquoi, North Country and U-32.

Other teams in the league include the Colchester Cannons, two Essex Strikers teams, the Barre Black Sox, and the Clinton County Mariners from New York, right across Lake Champlain.

Under Scott’s reopening orders, the Yetis were allowed to start practicing June 15. Players and coaches must all follow proper health steps. Everyone on the bench must wear masks, although they’re not required on the field. Kids also have to social-distance on the bench, and any spectators at the Peoples Academy field have to follow those 6-feet-apart rules, too.

“People are just excited to get back to some kind of normalcy,” Woodland said.

Hand sanitizer can be found everywhere in the bench area — and the bench is not in the dugouts; players aren’t actually allowed in them. Instead, they have to sit in their own lawn chairs in clearly marked areas, with masks on, when they’re not hitting or in the field.

By league rule, the defense has to provide its own baseballs, and the balls are switched out every half-inning and constantly sanitized by the coaches. Any players who feel the slightest bit sick are told to stay home until they’ve consulted a doctor, Woodland said, and he’s working to acquire thermometers to check temperatures before the games start.

Umpires have the option to call balls and strikes from behind the pitcher’s mound, rather than lean in behind the catcher.

“This is our first crack at it; we will see how it goes,” Woodland said. “We don’t want to do anything that would put anyone in harm’s way,” and he sees the Yetis’ season as a testing ground for practices and procedures that could work for high school athletics during the fall season.

Woodland oversaw a similar team, the Vermont Jays, last season. It played several games and tournaments out-of-state and even played several Canadian teams. But the Yetis’ league includes only Vermont teams and a few from upstate New York, where the pandemic has slowed as well.

Woodland said there were plenty of hoops to jump through to get the season approved, but it was worth it. He wanted to give kids a chance to continue developing their skills after missing out on spring baseball. Even more important was the opportunity to help players break up the isolation that COVID-19 has forced on them.

With that in mind, Woodland and the other coaches dropped the price of joining a team well below what’s typical for American Legion teams.

“These kids, they suffered” when they lost their spring seasons, Woodland said, and not just because they couldn’t compete for a state championship. “They were suffering socially, not being able to see their friends. Seeing that socialization, them talking to us as coaches, it’s been good for everyone.”

Many of Woodland’s players are former Jays who are back for another season, but lots of 13-year olds signed up as well, even though they have to compete with much more experienced players.

“There’s a lot of 13-year-olds looking to play at a more advanced level,” Woodland said. To keep things fair, the Yetis mix up who is on each team every day, so all the players get a chance to play with each other.

Winning isn’t the ultimate goal, but the Yetis have been doing some winning anyway and should qualify for the division’s rudimentary playoff tournament. The early playoff rounds will be in the last week of July and a championship game should be played around Aug. 1

“We’re not really worried about winning; we just want the kids to play some baseball,” Woodland said. “I’m just glad we’re out on the field. It just feels right.”