Dear Kittery Little League Families

It is with a heavy heart that I am announcing the cancelling of the 2020 Kittery Little League Season. It was my hope that we could play baseball this year. I am especially sorry for the 12-year-olds in our league that will not be able to play their final season of Little League. I want to thank all those that participated in Kittery Little League in the past and hope to see you all again. I wish all the 12-year-olds success as they continue on their baseball journey.

Kittery Little League came to this decision based on a number of factors. We looked at what other youth baseball programs in the area were doing, guidelines from Maine CDC, recommendations from both Little League International and our local district, and our projected number of players for a season. It is our understanding that several communities around us have already made the decision to cancel their seasons. Our local district is recommending the cancellation of travel baseball, which would then remove all competition for our Majors team as we only have enough players for one team this year.

The guidelines from the Maine CDC would require social distancing for the players, coaches, and officials. This would mean that we would have to space the players down the fence along the first base and third base lines to ensure the maintain a distance of at least 6 feet. Each player would be required to have their own batting helmet. Bats would need to be sanitized after each player uses it. The ball would need to be sanitized. Additionally, with the restriction on gatherings of no more than 50 people, we felt that we would need to restrict spectators from attending the games. We felt that this would not be fun for the kids, nor would it be realistically feasible to accomplish.

We are looking at providing opportunities for baseball throughout the summer. We would like conduct clinics and pick-up games through the months of July and August. We are also looking into tournaments for our 12 year-olds. The summer clinics and pick-up games will be free, though we will require that each participant brings their own helmet and glove. I will provide more information as we get closer to July.

Kittery Little League has fixed costs that are independent of whether we have a season or not. These costs include utilities, insurance, field maintenance, and processing fees for online registrations. We utilized sponsorships, fundraisers, and registration fees to pay for these fixed costs. If you would like, we can change your registration fee to a donation. These donations will help us pay for the fixed costs. Please complete this form to request your refund. The deadline to request a refund is 5/29, after which time we will assume you wanted to change the registration fee to a donation.

David Evans, President

Kittery Little League

Form is located at: https://forms.gle/ZYttNWcPoeR92At99