Our local summer collegiate baseball team – the Highline Bears – announced to their players this past Monday evening that they will be canceling their entire 2020 season, due to the lack of potential fields being available in a reasonable amount of time.
The Bears – whose home field is Mel Olson Stadium at Steve Cox Memorial Field in White Center – would have been starting their season on Friday, May 30, 2020, but the opening night and all home events had to be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the letter to fans in May the Bears had stated they were planning on having the team play on the road with no fans, if permitted in Phase 3.
“The likelihood of Pierce and Snohomish county going to Phase 3 by our deadline of July 6 and fields being available for us to play at in Phase 3 was just too uncertain for us to continue to move forward,” said General Manager Justin Moser.
The Bears stated that they lost most of their partners and sponsors when Gov. Inslee’s stay at home order went in place in March. The Bears did say even though local businesses were unable to purchase advertising this summer that they will continue to offer advertising to all businesses at no cost for the next year, even though they aren’t playing.
“We were hoping to be able to have some sort of season for our players this summer but the uncertainty is just too big right now,” Moser said. “Making our players and coaches wait even longer with the odds of playing dwindling, just didn’t seem right. It’s sad and unfortunate for a ton of reasons, I feel for our players and coaching staff. Ben Harley did an amazing job putting this team together. On paper this is the best team we’ve ever had, including 9 Division 1 players.”
The Pacific International League that the Bears play in, are hoping they can play sometime later in July but that will be dependent on certain counties moving into phase 3 and fields being available. The league continues to meet every week to plan and discuss if playing this summer will be possible.
The Highline Bears said that they are planning to come back in 2021 “stronger, bigger and better” bringing the community the “best show in town.” Moser also stated that COVID-19 has affected this like so many other businesses.
“I’m not going to lie to you this has been a huge hit to our club financially and we can use all of the support we can get from our community,” he said.
If you would like to support the Highline Bears during this difficult time you can purchase new 2020 merchandise on their website at shop.highlinebears.com.
For more information on the Highline Bears visit www.HighlineBears.com
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