The Little League World Series was canceled for the first time in its 73-year history.

Last year, Elmora Troopers head coach Jairo Labrador went viral for the heartfelt speech he gave to his players following their elimination from the series.

“You don’t get to give them that last speech, that last goodbye on the baseball field and that hurts,” Labrador says.

The reigning Mid-Atlantic champion team from Elizabeth and all the other Little League teams from around the world will miss out on their chance to reach Williamsport this year due to COVID-19 – despite all their training in the offseason.

“They went to work as soon as that season was over in preparation to try to get there again,” Labrador says.

New Jersey State Little League Director Carmine Conti says that officials were weighing the decision to cancel the series for the last four to six weeks.

“It’s not an easy decision for Little League. You’ve got millions of kids that participate in the program globally, so it’s not a surprise, but it’s a little sad at the same time,” says Conti.

Even though the tournaments are canceled, Conti says that there may still be a 2020 Little League season. He says that it depends on state and local health officials – as well as how comfortable parents would be.

“Whether it’s running a season, whether it happens in the summer, in the fall, they just want to give leagues the opportunity to do what’s best and appropriate for the area,” Conti says

Conti says that Little League will be rolling out guidelines for when the season eventually returns. They include how to clean bats, what to do between innings and where umpires should stand.