So far, Tim Foster and USSSA softball fans have felt fortunate.
Since Foster, the organization’s state director, resumed putting on fastpitch tournaments in mid-June, he hasn’t heard of anyone who had been at any of those events contracting COVID-19. That includes a national tournament two weeks ago in Evansville that consisted of 222 teams.
“I sent emails out to people, asking if there were any issues,” Foster said. “Every one that’s come back, there are people that have been tested, but not one case. I think that’s something that we’ve been proud of the most.”
Foster hopes that trend continues through this weekend when Columbus is set to host part of the 199-team USSSA state tournament. Play begins Friday and continues through Sunday at five venues, two of which are in Columbus.
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Dunn Stadium will host the 18A and 18B brackets Friday through Sunday. Clifty Park will host the 16A and 16B brackets on Friday and Saturday, with those divisions moving to Dunn Stadium on Sunday.
The Edinburgh Sports Complex will host the 12A and 12B brackets. The 10- and 11-year old divisions will be at Center Grove Lassie League, and the 14A and 14B will be at Indianapolis Sports Park.
“The biggest thing is we’re just trying to spread the age groups out so we only have one at a park,” Foster said. “They can social distance themselves a lot better. The way the format is set up, a team is scheduled for a game, and then they may not play for five or six hours, so they can leave and come back. It cuts down on the crowds. It costs us more money to do that, but it keeps the kids playing. It will be a unique format with everything that is going on.”
Most of the venues have four fields. The Center Grove complex has two separate spaces with four fields each.
With no more than eight teams playing in a complex at a time, Foster estimates there won’t be more than about 250 people in one place at any given time.
“We’re running in the 250-260 range where we’re doing everything,” Foster said. “So we’re going to be in that net range that the governor has asked us to be in.”
Foster said the USSSA has asked teams to avoid huddling between innings and shaking hands after games. They’ve also removed the bleachers in most of the parks, so most fans are bringing lawn chairs.
“I like that because they spread apart,” Foster said. “They don’t gather behind the backstop. People take it upon themselves to social distance. I was in Fishers this past weekend, and they went out to the outfield fence and sat behind that. Some people sat in their cars or the back of their trucks, which is good. We haven’t had any problems.”
One problem Foster has encountered is trying to find enough umpires. Since some umpires in Indiana aren’t working this year because of coronavirus concerns, Foster has had to reach out to neighboring states like Ohio and Illinois to replace them.
“It’s been challenging this year,” Foster said. “The average age for umpires now is 54. A lot of people that age took the summer off. A couple of guys that we use have outlying health conditions, and they didn’t want to do it.”
Foster said he had to cancel the first 14 USSSA tournaments this year before finally getting started in the middle of June.
“There’s some states that haven’t played a tournament,” Foster said. “The 25 years I’ve been doing this, it’s by far the hardest year ever. It’s been terrible trying to schedule events. We really had to be unique this year to get events off the ground.”
Several local teams are entered in this weekend’s USSSA State Tournament, including multiple entries from the Demand Command and Red Alert organizations. Foster said there also are a lot of kids from Columbus who play on teams out of Indianapolis.
Also this weekend, Jason Kleber is running a USSSA C-Division State Tournament in Hope, Seymour and Fishers. About 120 teams are registered in that event. The ISA Seniors also are in town for a softball tournament this weekend.
Ike DeClue, director of sales and business development for Columbus Visitors Center, estimated the economic impact of this weekend’s USSSA tournament at $400,000 and the ISA Seniors event at $200,000.
“A lot of teams are staying in hotels, which is great for the hotels because they’ve been struggling,” Foster said.
Foster is asking fans to wear masks at the parks if they are unable to social distance from anyone other than members of their immediate family. He said most fans have been compliant of that request at the tournaments he’s put on the past month.
“We only had one time it was an issue, and it was one guy,” Foster said. “For the most part, people understand. They’ve been cooped up, and they want to play.”
