The 2019 baseball and softball seasons will begin Feb. 9, two weeks earlier than the upcoming baseball season.
A proposal to have the ’19 baseball and softball seasons start Feb. 9 was passed Wednesday at the CIF-Southern Section Council meeting. The Council is the legislative body of the Southern Section.
As school opening and closing dates have shifted in recent years, with more schools beginning instruction in August and concluding instruction in May, sports calendars have shifted in kind.
That move means that the 2019 CIF-SS baseball and softball championship games will be played May 18 and 19. This season’s section baseball and softball finals are June 1 and 2.
The first day that baseball and softball can be played this season is Feb. 24.
Also Wednesday, the Council approved a proposal that changes the first day of the dead period in football from the first Friday in June to the last Friday in May. The change is in effect for this year. The dead period is a three-week period during which no coach-supervised football activity may occur.
The Council on Wednesday got a first look at an upcoming proposal that would reduce the amount of full-contact minutes during a week’s football practice from 90 minutes to 45 minutes. During discussion of that statewide proposal, which be voted upon at the Council meeting in April, University football coach Mark Cunningham said the proposal could create more injuries because much time is needed to teach proper tackling techniques.
Another upcoming proposal that got a first read Wednesday would allow full pads to be worn on the first day of football practice. Currently the first three days of practice are called the “conditioning period” during which only a helmet and cleats can be worn.