After a crazy week of on again, off again Legion baseball, the Winner Baseball Association approved a summer season for the Legion program.
The Winner Baseball Association met Friday night and approved a summer season.
Coach Kory Foss said last Saturday the state Legion board came out and said there would have a Legion season. Then the next day the national Legion board said it would not support baseball in any state.
“At that point it looked like our season was over,” said Foss. “But Class A teams began discussing the possibility of playing an independent program outside of the Legion banner,” said Foss.
After a few days of discussion, the South Dakota Legion board came out and said it would allow teams to use the Legion logo and insurance, it just would not be a part of the season. “So with that new information, the Winner board felt comfortable moving forward,” explained the Legion coach.
“We have a lot of excited kids and coaches now that we finally have a true green light. There has been so much uncertainty not just over this past week but since our spring season was postponed before we even got a practice in.
I’m most happy for our players and for our seniors. They’ve had their final school year thrown into such a tailspin. I hope this can help provide some kind of closure to their high school baseball careers,” said Foss.
He added everyone is ready for some kind of normalcy and “I think baseball could be a big part of providing that. Baseball is something we’re all used to every summer.
I think being out at Leahy Bowl on a beautiful night and watching a ball game is something everyone can enjoy, especially after everything we have all experienced these last couple of months.”
Foss explained there are going to be new rules and regulations that the team has never had before when it comes to travel and social distancing whenever possible “but these are small prices to pay to get back out on the field.”
The team will be looking to have signups this week and after waivers are signed the team will be able to hop right out there for practice. Winner cannot play ball before June 5.
“That will give us some time to get ready after such a long period off. We’ll use that time to get arms healthy and see some pitches in cages. We’ll probably look at scrimmaging the junior legion team or things like that where we can simulate some live action.
Whatever the case, I think everyone will just be happy to be back on the field with a glove, a bat or ball in hand,” said Foss.
Wyatt Turnquist, Winner, a freshman wrestler at Northern State University, received the Curtis LeMair most dedicated award given each year to a member of the Northern wrestling team.
The award goes to the person that exemplifies consistent work ethic and commitment to the team and his craft.
For the rest of the story pick up a copy of the Winner Advocate or subscribe by calling (605) 842-1481!
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