With no baseball, Barrington LL player won’t get another crack at Williamsport

BARRINGTON, RI (WLNE) – Baseball leagues across the state are slowly starting to throw in the towel and cancel its seasons as the coronavirus pandemic is showing no signs of letting up in time for games.

Gov. Raimondo announced this week that organized youth sports will not be happening for a while, and for some players that means dreams of Little League immortality are out the window.

Last month, Little League International announced that the Little League World Series would be canceled, and just this week, defending New England Champions Barrington Little League announced that it will also be canceling its Spring season.

Little League International also said that regional and state tournaments will be canceled, which means there will be no Spring or Summer Baseball for Barrington.

Last year was the Summer of a lifetime for Alex Anderson, as he and his teammates traveled to Williamsport representing New England in the Little League World Series.

“I was with my friends and we were roommates for the whole summer,” Anderson said. “I thought we had a legit chance to make it again. Maybe not to the Little League World Series but to regionals.”

Anderson had another year of eligibility, so he was hoping to make it two years in a row.

But any thoughts of getting on the diamond in a competitive game, at this point, is unlikely for the foreseeable future.

“Really bummed out because baseball is one of my favorite sports,” he said.

Anderson’s father, E.J., said it was a tough pill to swallow but he understands the decision.

“We were getting ready for dinner and I told him what the situation was,” he said. “He was obviously heartbroken he was certainly looking forward to having another run at it.”

Hearing that Barrington canceled its Spring season as well, E.J. called it “entirely appropriate.”

“There are all sorts of different ways you could think of trying to make it happen,” he said. “But at the end of the day, not knowing really exactly how this virus is ultimately going to play out.”

His son Alex also understands the decision.

“If they didn’t do it then more people would’ve gotten sick and it wouldn’t have been able to die down,” he said.

Barrington League President Fletcher Thomson said the League Board met on Tuesday and made the decision, two days before Gov. Raimondo’s announcement.

Thomson said he believes there won’t be any possibility of baseball until at least phase three of the reopening process where larger groups would be able to gather.

“Phase three it’s 50 [people]. So at that point, there may be an opportunity to do something. There are challenges that remain,” he said. “There are likely to be different rules in baseball and softball than we’ve seen historically.”

He’s still hopeful that the hundreds of players in Barrington Little League will at least have a chance at playing baseball sometime in 2020.

“Have potentially a Fall Ball season but we’d be looking for guidance from the governor and from the CDC,” he said.