Newfoundland and Labrador will not be playing host to the Canadian senior men’s and under-19 men’s fastpitch softball championship this summer.
Softball Newfoundland and Labrador had been slated to stage the pair of tournaments, along with a men’s masters event, but a decision was made by the association this past week to step away from the tournaments because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There are just too many moving parts right now,” said SNL executive director Dave Feener.
Feener said the province has been guaranteed to play host to the two tournaments next summer.
Softball Canada has set a target deadline of June 1 to determine if national championships will even proceed this summer.
“Softball Canada will continue to monitor the current COVID-19 situation, and will be reviewing the full lineup of the 12 Canadian championships that are scheduled for 2020,” the national sports governing body said in a news release. “Further evaluations and decisions will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.”
The national men’s and masters championships had been set for Sept. 2-6 in St. John’s, with the Canadian under-19 men's event in Carbonear August 11-16.
These are the second and third major summertime events which have now been cancelled as a result of the pandemic. Last month, Sport Newfoundland and Labrador and the provincial government cancelled the 2020 Newfoundland and Labrador Summer Games which had been set for Bay Roberts in August.
Newfoundland has won the last two Canadian senior men’s softball championships, and seven of the last eight. It was 3Cheers Pub Bud Light that took the first three titles, and the Galway Hitmen claiming the last four.
This would have been the third time in the last 14 years that St. John's had hosted the national men's tournament, the others coming in 2007 and 2016.
