Updated Saturday May 30, 2020

Dear Northside Families,

We want to start off this letter thanking everyone for their patience as we navigate these uncharted waters with COVID-19. With the Governor's address this week and his uncertainty as to when phase two will begin, as well as not being able to get any timeline from the Albemarle County Parks and Rec as to when we will be allowed to use the fields again, the Northside Board of Directors has decided not to pursue a summer recreational baseball league. Originally, we had planned to push the spring season into a summer start, then have a seperate fall league. 

As of now, we will be looking to offer an extended late summer/fall baseball league with practices beginning in the middle of July and games beginning the first week of August. The season would run through the end of October as is typical of our fall baseball season. This of course is subject to the Governor's decisions on phase 2 and 3. As Northside looks to resume play, we will be implementing a number of safety measures that families will be required to abide by at the fields. We will pass that information along as well once we have it finalized. 

For players interested in playing this extended fall league, we will need Northside Softball and Baseball players to please complete this google form by JUNE 15th with your intent to play. If you paid for a Spring 2020 registration, that registration credit will carry over into the extended fall league. Any responses not received by the June 15th date will automatically be donated to Northside baseball league: 

You can fill our the google form below. 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScoc_sOv7I29J_pEs3jDVRofDscbbZ5bxjhbDlWbLtvIxyJeg/viewform?usp=sf_link

We understand that with this announcement, there will be registered spring players that will be unable to participate in Northside baseball this fall for a variety of reasons. We apologize, but we are unable to offer a refund to those players. 

As has been mentioned in previous communications, Northside was ready to begin play when the state of Virginia’s Governor issued executive orders that prevented our start. Fields were ready, uniforms were paid for, equipment was purchased, and we paid for the insurance on all of our registered players. A large portion of these expenses are paid for through the player registration fees. Northside tries to make playing baseball affordable to all youth who want to play by keeping the fees low. However, the cost to the league for a child to play baseball well surpasses this fee. It is through the immense generosity of our sponsors, donations, and through concession sales that Northside is able to provide quality baseball to our area’s youth at a reasonable price. At the time of registration, 'registration insurance' on the player fee was offered to families to purchase through the SportsEngine website (the site that manages our registration, rosters, etc.). If you purchased the optional insurance on the registration fee and are interested in your refund, information should have been provided to you by SportsEngine at the time of purchase. This policy (and related info) is facilitated through SportsEngine and not through Northside, and we receive no funds whatsoever from the premiums of that insurance. As our registration had noted, all registration fees are non-refundable without purchasing insurance.  

It is the Board of Directors hope that with the financial investment information above, that families will understand why we have always been unable to provide refunds. 

We will continue to stay in contact with all of our Northside families as we move forward. Please stay safe.

Thank you,

Northside Board of Directors

We will continue to post additional updates here.

The County of Albemarle Parks and Recreation has declared all portions of the grounds between Holymead and Sutherland school closed completely after Sunday March 15th until at least June 10th.
Thank you,

Ray Feola
President, Northside Baseball League