The Picayune Youth Athletic Association didn’t have a fall baseball season, but the organization is now opening registration for a spring league.

Registration opens today, and will be open every Saturday through the end of June.

Community members who want to sign up can go to Friendship Park from 8:30 a.m. to noon and register.

PYAA Baseball President Ronnie Reynolds said a draft will occur the week after registration closes so that teams can be formed.

Coaches will then get in contact with parents to set up practice dates, and Reynolds said the current hope is to have opening day on March 13.

A wide range of athletes can sign up from 4-year-olds to 13-year-olds.

Reynolds said last year the organization had over 300 athletes participate in the spring league and he’s hoping for similar numbers this year.

COVID-19 may have an impact on the level of community participation, but Reynolds said the organization is working to make sure the practice and game environments are as safe as possible.

“We’re not going to change anything. We’re not putting any bleachers back and we’ll still try to social distance them as much as we can. If parents come to practice we’ll keep them spread out. Really we’ll do the same thing we did in June (for summer baseball) until something changes,” Reynolds said.

Quarantine and other COVID-19 protocols that have been put in place might’ve affected the organization’s athletes.

Players may not have been as active as pre-pandemic times, so Reynolds is hoping community members sign up as a way to once again get outside and get moving.

“It gives the kids something to do because they’ve been shut up inside. For ones who haven’t played anything (since the pandemic started) they’ve been waiting almost a whole year just to do something. This will give them an opportunity to get out in the evenings, run around, play with other kids and enjoy life again,” Reynolds said.

There is still plenty of uncertainty regarding the pandemic and how it’ll affect the season, but Reynolds said the PYAA will cross that bridge when the time comes.

“I’ve talked with the city they’ve told us to go business as usual. We won’t change anything and if something happens we’ll deal with it as it comes,” Reynolds said.