Labor Day Weekend Game Reminders

First and foremost, Labor Day signifies the last official weekend of the summer and, as such, it is also a time to continue to be diligent with our safety. As you travel to friends and family, spend time outside, attend BBQs, or simply go swimming, boating, fishing or camping, we wish you a safe and memorable holiday weekend.

Why Games on Labor Day Weekend?

We’ve received a few emails on this matter over the past few days, and we want to share our feedback with everyone.

A few years ago, the OYO Board of Directors shifted the Fall Ball season forward by two weekends. As extended Fall Breaks in school districts around us were leading to more families jumping at the opportunity for well-deserved family vacations in October, our OYO teams were struggling to keep teams together during the final weekends, including tournament weekend. What’s more, we were finding the weather in October to be increasingly cooler and often requiring players and fans to be a lot less comfortable under blankets and multiple layers.

So, based on feedback from OYO’s families and our all-volunteer board of directors, the league decided to begin the season during the last weekend in August and conclude no later than early October, including scheduling games on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. It was determined it would be better for teams to create alternate plans during instructional rec league games early in the season rather than impact teams later in the season during the single-day tournament.

What Should You Do If You’re Missing Several Players?

Simply, every team is still expected to be present and play their scheduled games tomorrow (Sunday, September 1). These are simply rec league games and development of players on both sides of the field is paramount. To not attend because your roster may be short a reasonable number of players also costs the opposing team a chance to play a game, too. So, if you’re unable to field a necessary roster of at least seven players, there are several options on how your team can bridge the gap. Again, please consider these in the spirit of being safe and keeping our players safe during this Labor Day weekend.

• Borrow Defensive Players from Opposing Team — Bat your line-up as is with as many players as you have. Then when on defense, ask the opposing team to help round out your defense by placing the players who will hit last in that inning in your outfield to make plays. Remember, during the regular season, teams never take an out when batting for not having enough players.
• Borrow Players from Other Teams In Your Division — If you can identify a few players to get your roster to 9 or 10 players by asking a player from a different team in your division to join your squad, then feel free to do so. Just be sure the player is not missing his/her team’s game(s) to participate in your game. Also, the player should bat at the bottom of the line-up and play the outfield while you provide your team’s players more opportunities offensively and defensively. Remember, OYO offers a no-standing league so wins and losses don’t matter, so developing your own players is what is most important in our instructional program.
• Borrow Players from a Team in a Younger Division — If you can identify a player or two from the division right below yours to join your squad for a game or two, then this is also an option. Once again, please use good judgment in making sure a player can participate safely and they should be used exclusively as outfielders and be placed at the bottom of the batting order.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support of OYO. We appreciate your involvement and participation as well as choosing OYO for your baseball and softball experience.