The new rule is apparently two strikes and you鈥檙e out.
After consecutive cancellations of the Canadian Little League baseball championship in 2020 and 2021 at Layritz Park in Saanich, due to the pandemic, the 2022 tournament has been awarded to Rocky Mountain Little League of Calgary.
鈥淚t鈥檚 tough to swallow after six years of blood, sweat and tears in preparing to host,鈥� said Layritz tournament chair Shannon Nakatsu.
The winner of the national championship represents sa国际传媒 in the famed Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Little League World Series was cancelled in 2020 and will feature only U.S. teams this year in August.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very disappointed. We did not quit on this. Our board voted to apply to host in 2022,鈥� said Nakatsu.
An issue, according to the Layritz organizers, is a disagreement over accommodation costs.
鈥淚 do feel that losing the tournament this way is completely unfair, in particular with respect to the accommodation component,鈥� said Nakatsu.
鈥淥ur 2016 bid clearly stipulated our intentions insofar as accommodations was to cover the costs of one 鈥榗oaches鈥� hotel room per team and that bid was accepted. Eighteen months to two years later, we were basically told we were covering rooms for all players and coaches. At that time, we referred back to the hosting requirements, realized billeting was an option, and offered to take that route. It was immediately rejected.鈥�
Nakatsu said Layritz subsequently agreed to a plan for the 2021 tournament in which the players would be boarded at a local private school at 60 percent the cost of renting hotel rooms.
鈥淚 do feel our mistake was in caving, years after our bid was accepted in its entirety, and agreeing to cover the exorbitant cost of accommodations 鈥� we鈥檙e just a Little League park,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e dug in this time [for 2022] because our original agreement was not being honoured but also because we all knew that this piece of the puzzle was slated to be removed for future hosts, as it very well should be. They did not get back to us. It doesn鈥檛 feel very respectful of the fact that we have people who have been working on this for six years.鈥�
Rocky Mountain Little League was originally awarded the 2021 Canadian championship but that was pushed back to 2022 when it was agreed to let Layritz host in 2021 following the cancellation of the 2020 tournament at the Saanich park. But with the 2021 national championship also cancelled, Little League sa国际传媒 said it is time to move on to the 2022 tournament as planned in Calgary.
鈥淭he cancellation of our national championship for two consecutive years has been a difficult time for the scheduled hosts of the tournaments,鈥� said Little League sa国际传媒 president Roy Bergerman, in a statement.
鈥淰ictoria was originally scheduled to host in 2020 and again in 2021 when the first cancellation took place. With the second cancellation this year, it was felt that we could not continue to negatively impact on the scheduled host for this year and each subsequent year.鈥�
Bergerman acknowledged the disappointment felt by the Layritz organizing committee.
鈥淚 know this is hard for the volunteers and tournament staff in Victoria, who have put their efforts into hosting this tournament,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e are hopeful they be considered for a future tournament by our sa国际传媒 members when the tournament is again scheduled for that province.鈥�
