ACME canceled; GLSCL delayed

While one summer baseball season was halted before it began, another was put on delay for a month in hopes of having a season.

The ACME Baseball Congress announced the cancelation of its summer high school season and tournament on Monday, citing the continued closing of school facilities through the month of June.

Also on Monday, the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League agreed to put off the decision of the season until a June 1 meeting with hopes of having the season begin in July.

St. Henry baseball coach John Dorner was involved in both league's decisions in his roles as ACME's assistant commissioner and general manager of the Grand Lake Mariners.

Dorner said the decision to cancel ACME was one that was necessary.

"It was the right thing to do. We tried to put it off as long as we could," said Dorner. "We were hoping for better news and faster improvement (in conditions). It just came down to being the right time to do it."

Although ACME play will not take place, teams could play when conditions are favorable, but cannot play under the "ACME" banner.

"Once July hits and coaches and schools are OK with playing some summer games, they'll still have that right," said Dorner. "I think that will happen and coaches would want to do that. By late July, you're getting into football season. It may not be a long season, but the kids, coaches, parents and fans are hungry for sports or something to do. I think a lot of schools will take advantage of that. A lot of that comes down to direction from the governor and health department because you'll have to be able to have at least 50 people in a place and most summer teams use school property. There's a lot of things that have to happen for there to be baseball."

The delay until July allows the GLSCL to finalize the setup should the season take place.

"We hope for the best as well," said Dorner. "If you check around across the country, about a third of summer collegiate leagues have canceled. Those who haven't have pretty much have delayed until July 1. We weren't ready to pull the cord yet on the season. Then again, this is different. You have people coming from all over the United States that come in to play. We've set up a deadline of June 1 to see if we'll have a season or not."

With three teams - Cincinnati, Southern Ohio and St. Clair - having announced that they will suspend operations for 2020 to get ready for the 2021 season, changes in the schedule will need to be made.

"I'm not sure if all nine teams that have chosen not to go dark yet are going to still play," said Dorner. "The league has asked by next week for our determination if we're in or not. Even if we say we're in, there's all kinds of things that could end the season. We don't have a schedule yet (until the teams are set). … There's so much to be determined, but I think we can easily get in a 25-30 game schedule in July. Might have a few doubleheaders. Pitching is going to be interesting because we'll likely have regulations (on number of pitches) to start the season. I hope we have the opportunity to worry about those things and solve those problems."