The Kamloops Senior Men's Baseball League has returned to the diamond at Norbrock Stadium for the summer. Three teams play Monday and Wednesday evenings (Image Credit: Contributed)

By Chad Klassen

KAMLOOPS MEN'S BASEBALL

Kamloops Senior Men’s Baseball League is back, taking precautions to keep players safe

Jul 15, 2020 | 3:42 PM

KAMLOOPS — Tyler Carpentier is trying to keep players in the Kamloops Senior Men’s Baseball League safe.

The league’s co-founder has configured the dugouts to go in one direction, limiting contact between teammates.

“The team captains and the managers are making sure that everybody on the team understands the importance of being able to stay apart,” said Carpentier. “We’re not sharing equipment. We’re not sharing baseball bats.”

Three teams plays every Monday and Wednesday evening at Norbrock Stadium.

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The league got the official go-ahead from viaSport, which oversees provincial sporting organizations, but the return-to-play rules are quite strict. The league is taking them very seriously.

“We have to be quite strict with how we manage people coming into the stadium, how many people, and how they conduct themselves while they’re here. The game itself has been modified a little bit, so that players aren’t standing right side by side, the umpire isn’t standing over the catcher’s shoulder.”

To control the number of people at Norbrock Stadium, the league has decided not to allow people to watch.

“That was a really tough decision because we’ve got a lot of people, their family wants to come and watch them, kids want to watch their dads, parents want to watch their kids play,” noted Carpentier. “We are a volunteer-run league and we have to be managing the data from every single person that comes in — contact tracing. Being able to follow up with people if they’ve been here.”

In the wake of what happened in Kelowna, where 13 COVID-19 cases are now linked to private gatherings downtown on and around Canada Day. The Kamloops Men’s Baseball League wants to ensure that doesn’t happen on its watch.

“It’s just too much for us. Our goal is to be able to play baseball. It’s fantastic to have friends and family here, and fans here, but if that would potentially get in the way of us being able to play baseball, it gets really tough.”

If anything were to happen, Carpentier says the league would shut down this year. But there could be ripple effects and the league may have to fold entirely. He and the other players don’t want that to happen.