Fort Smith Sportsman hope for chance to play

The American Legion baseball regionals and World Series were canceled because of the covid-19 pandemic, but teams in Arkansas like the Fort Smith Sportsman still hope to play this summer.

Initially, Doyle Batey, the Arkansas American Legion commander, also canceled the season in Arkansas but rescinded that decision after talking with zone commissioners and Jeral Howard, the state baseball chairman. Instead, Howard said they will examine the issue again on June 1.

“We’re on hold,” Howard said. “If we can come back and play safe, we will. But if there’s a chance one player, one coach could be infected, we’re going to back off.

“Nobody wants to play any more than me. But you’ve gotta look at the kids. We just want to be safe. But right now we are listening to the governor.”

Trey Prieur, who is in his eighth season as coach of the Sportsman AAA team, thought the call to cancel the regionals and World Series early was a good one.

“All the planning and money that’s involved with those things, it was a smart move,” Prieur said. “But then our state commander sees that and says ‘Well, let’s just cancel the season.’ But then they agreed to suspend it until June 1. There’s no reason to rush it.

“We’re making plans to play. We’ve got to re-evaluate how we do things even if we get a chance to play. We probably don’t need to put 12 people in a 12-passenger van for instance.”

Arkansas has three levels of American Legion baseball — AAA Senior, AA Senior and Junior. Fifteen teams play at the AAA level, including teams in Conway, Bryant, Benton, Sheridan, Texarkana, Paragould, Fort Smith and Mountain Home.

Prieur is currently contacting players to see what a roster might look like if they’re given the goahead. He’s even talked with other teams about a plan to play even if American Legion says no and that includes hosting a tournament that’s currently scheduled for early June. He already has clearance from Jerry Glidewell, the director of the Fort Smith Boys and Girls Club, they would be able to go forward.

“We feel like if the governor says it’s OK, even if for some reason Legion says no, we could just play under a different umbrella for the summer,” Prieur said. “We’ve talked to some teams like Bryant and Russellville and we feel certain if the governor gives us the OK, we’ll be able to play somehow.

“We’ve been on the phone checking the pulse of the kids. We usually have tryouts in May, but with this stuff, we’re just trying to figure out who wants to play. For the most part, they are telling us if you’ve got a team, we’re playing.”

Fort Smith had a AAA, AA and junior legion team the last few years, but Prieur said it’s looking more like only two this year.

“Ideally, we’d have a junior team and a senior team, but all that depends on ages and what’s best for this specific group of kids.”

He’s excited about the AAA team’s chances for a successful season, after finishing 26-6 overall and third in the state tournament a year ago. Dakota Peters, a senior at Van Buren, is just one of those players who told Prieur he was all-in to play for the Sportsman this summer. He played for them last year, after playing for different organizations the last few summers.

Peters is one of the many seniors in the state that had his final high school season cut short by covid-19. The corner infielder is hoping to have one more chance this summer before heading to play at Connors State (Warner, Okla.) in the fall.

“It gives me something to look forward to since I didn’t get to play the high school season,” Peters said. “We played like seven games before it got shut down and we were like 6-1, off to a pretty good start.

“I want to have fun and work to get better to get ready to play college baseball. It’s a whole new level.”

“We’re on hold. If we can come back and play safe, we will. But if there’s a chance one player, one coach could be infected, we’re going to back off.

— Jeral Howard, Arkansas state baseball chairman on playing the American Legion season this summer