The Peru Gazette

Good Morning Everyone,

In light of the growing health concerns surrounding Covid-19, we believe it is best to cancel the County Baseball/Softball season. This decision did not come lightly and was discussed at length with John Redden, Legislators and the Health Department. Governor Cuomo has indicated that the apex of this pandemic will not arrive until well into May. Given this information it seems unlikely that practices will be able to begin in May as usual. School closures and social distancing have also prevented us from conducting umpire training, and has created difficulties for some towns trying to do sign ups. We realize that this is a disappointment to all, but we must put the health and safety of our community first. If this National Health crisis does begin to subside by summer the Youth Bureau will plan some baseball/softball events for towns who have teams and wish to participate. This would not be the baseball/softball season as we know it, but we will do our best to try to provide for the youth who wanted to play.

Tough decisions like “what is safe?” and “Do we need to cancel?” has been a struggle for our department, and we make them with heavy hearts. We love providing safe and fun recreational events to the community. We apologize for the disappointment that we know will be felt by those who normally participate.

Naturally this means all remaining umpire clinics that have not been cancelled yet are cancelled as well as all Baseball/Softball Clinics. We are looking in to providing these clinics in the Summer. I have also sent a hard copy of this email to everyone to ensure all get the message. I will be delaying making an official announcement on our Facebook, press and webpage to ensure all towns are informed before being bombarded with questions from the public.

We appreciate all that you do for the youth of this community, and we will continue to provide services the best we can during this time. Any questions or concerns please feel free to email or call. The Youth Bureau wishes you all good health.

Krysten Conners ,

Recreation Director for Clinton County Youth Bureau