American Legion baseball has given high school players an opportunity to play ball for nearly a century.
Legion baseball overcame its COVID-19 constraint and returned to New Orleans in full force, with 7 games played on opening day.
Sidney Parfait said, “I can tell you I probably have goosebumps all over just to have the participation we have. Unfortunately we’ve had some schools who couldn’t participate because of different rules in different parishes. To see it come together, it was a lot of hard work. I’ve been doing this 37-38 years and this was the hardest to put together. Yet it’s the most fulfilling to finally see games take place.”
Because of the pandemic, a season that would normally last around 6 weeks was cut in half.
Despite the lost game-time, Louisiana American Legion Director Sidney Parfait says this years field of 26 teams, is the most he’s seen in 6 years.
Parfait said, “We probably could have had another 10 teams but the facilities weren’t available. There were a lot of school boards that said teams could play but they couldn’t use their facilities because they were worried about fans coming into their facility. I understand that.”
It’s a bit of a different feel at the ball park, as fans must abide by several safety protocols to gain admission.
“Ochsner is taking everybody’s temperature, getting them to sign a waiver letting them know the risks are. When they go in the stadium they’re practicing social distancing,” said Parfait. “The capacity is limited to 100 people. The concessions are limited to pre-packaged items. Believe me the concession people are working for zero.”
As of right now, the plan for Legion baseball is to have an abbreviated state tournament from July 9-12 at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium. Giving high school seniors one last shot at playing meaningful baseball games, with a championship opportunity.
For more from Parfait, click on the video above.
