{"id":8115,"date":"2021-04-18T16:37:16","date_gmt":"2021-04-18T23:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/?p=50000002665"},"modified":"2021-04-18T18:24:18","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T01:24:18","slug":"long-beach-little-league-marks-opening-weekend-as-covid-19-restrictions-continue-to-loosen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/long-beach-little-league-marks-opening-weekend-as-covid-19-restrictions-continue-to-loosen","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach Little League marks opening weekend as COVID-19 restrictions continue to loosen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Long Beach Little League marked its opening weekend after a long year of restrictions due to COVID-19.<\/p>\n

“Everyone’s so happy to be back,” Steve Klaus, board president of the league, said Sunday.<\/p>\n

Though games had already started, Sunday’s ceremonies at Stearns Champions Park in East Long Beach included a guest appearance from the Long Beach Fire Department, which raised an American flag from a ladder truck for the National Anthem.<\/p>\n

The city, county and state have loosened<\/a> coronavirus restrictions over the past several weeks as cases of COVID-19 continue to decline.<\/p>\n

Some restrictions still apply, Klaus said, such as requiring the coaches to wear masks and a condensed game schedule.<\/p>\n

But otherwise: “When you’re in the game, it feels very normal,” he said.<\/p>\n

Long Beach resident Alfonso Montes watched his 12-year-old’s game under a shaded area, cheering his son’s team on.<\/p>\n

“We still gotta wear our masks here and there\u2014that’s the annoying park for me\u2014but it feels great,” he said.<\/p>\n

Long Beach Little League has been around for 60 years.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A boy throws his cap in the air while lined up in a row with his teammates after the National Anthem before a Long Beach Little League game at Stearns Champions Park in East Long Beach on Sunday, April 18, 2021. Photo by Crystal Niebla.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Colorful baseball bats lean against the fence inside a dugout while youth warm up for a game at Stearns Champions Park in East Long Beach on Sunday, April 18, 2021. Photo by Crystal Niebla.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A girl in the stands laughs with a woman during a Long Beach Little League game on Sunday, April 18, 2021. Photo by Crystal Niebla.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Players of the Toronto Blue Jays team in the Long Beach Little League exit the dugout for a game at Stearns Champions Park in East Long Beach on Sunday; April 18, 2021. Photo by Crystal Niebla.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Diego Hernandez watches a Long Beach Little League game from an aerial view inside the box at Stearns Champions Park in East Long Beach on Sunday, April 18, 2021. Photo by Crystal Niebla.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Charlie Thompson prepares to catch a ball while an opponent player, Finn Reyburn, slides toward a base during a Long Beach Little League game on Sunday, April 18, 2021. Photo by Crystal Niebla.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Women watch a Long Beach Little League game at Stearns Champions Park in East Long Beach on Sunday, April 18, 2021. Photo by Crystal Niebla.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Officials watch Long Beach Little League players during warm-up as they practice before a game at Stearns Champions Park in East Long Beach on Sunday, April 18, 2021. Photo by Crystal Niebla.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday’s ceremonies at Stearns Champions Park in East Long Beach included a guest appearance from the Long Beach Fire Department, which raised an American flag from a ladder truck for the National Anthem.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":17215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[223,3],"tags":[5,197],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[2685],"class_list":["post-8115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-sports","tag-instagram","tag-youth-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8115"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=8115"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=8115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}