It was a long and rather boring spring for most high school athletes, with spring sports being canceled around the country.

Jeff Steiner is trying to make sure the summer is a little better.

Steiner is president of the Thunder Elite fastpitch softball organization, which supports several travel teams in various age groups. Some of the best softball players in the Mahoning Valley, an area with a rich softball tradition, have been and are part of the organization.

Thunder Elite also holds annual softball tournaments in which dozens of teams from around the country travel to the Valley to compete. Those tournaments (and the Thunder Elite season) were in jeopardy of being canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Steiner, however, wasn’t ready to give up hope.

“I just kept waiting,” said Steiner, president for 11 of the 14 years Thunder Elite has existed. “I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy. I kept saying we’re going to wait, wait and wait (before we cancel), and on (May 14) is when the governor said we’re going to return to playing ball on May 26.”

That’s when things got a little hectic for Steiner.

Sure, he was elated teams could start playing again, but he knew health and safety had to come first. Gov. Mike DeWine and the Ohio Department of Health created a list of guidelines that teams had to follow. The mandatory procedures start with everyone outside the field of play adhering to 6-foot physical distancing. Coaches must conduct daily symptom assessments. There will be no shared watercoolers or drinking stations and no spitting, gum chewing or eating of seeds or similar products.

Players are asked not to share equipment (gloves, bats, hats, etc.). If a player must use someone else’s equipment, it must first be properly sanitized. Each team will be designated game balls for their use only. Players also are asked not to high-five, shake hands or make any physical contact with teammates, opponents, coaches, umpires or fans. The department of health suggested a tip of the cap at the conclusion of the game in lieu of handshake lines.

A full list of guidelines, both mandatory and recommended, can be found on the web site for the Ohio Department of Health.

“I’m an industrial hygienist through my education,” Steiner said, “so I deal with exposure assessment and air sampling, on the chemical side of things, so I’m really familiar with this and how to protect people and things like that. So, I started talking to each municipality and assuring them and putting the guidelines in place.

“The first thing I did was, every team I let in the tournament, I sent them the two-page document from the state, and I said, ‘Read this, and I need to know that you’re willing to abide,’ because at the time, coaches had to wear face coverings, umpires had to wear face coverings, and players had to wear them when they weren’t in the game. Those are pretty big hoops to jump through.”

The hoops weren’t too big, however.

Steiner said he has 92 teams in this year’s tournament, known as the Perfect Storm, which begins Friday and concludes Sunday, May 31. He had 73 teams last year, and he used three different parks (each site has multiple fields). This year, with an influx of teams wanting to be involved after having their school seasons canceled, Steiner added two more locations – Candlelight Knolls in Cortland and Jones Park in Hubbard.

Teams will also play at Liberty Park, Tod Park in Girard and Harding Park in Hubbard. There are 15 fields total being used and Steiner said all will follow the specifications ordered by the governor.

“I had four teams say, ‘No. There’s no way we could do that,’ ” Steiner said of the guidelines. “I sent all four a full refund, but as those four bailed out, 25-plus are jumping in, and I’ve turned away another 20-plus teams. The sentiment around the world of travel ball is parents just want to get their kids back playing.”

Steiner understands the desire to return to sports.

His daughter, Avrey Steiner, was a former Thunder Elite player who now competes at the University of Illinois, and Jeff is a high school assistant coach. As he mentioned, he’s also an industrial hygienist, so while he appreciates the passion of the players and parents, he also grasps the safety issues as well.

Initially, it was mandatory that all coaches and umpires wore face coverings, but that has since been changed to a recommendation. Steiner thought it was a wise move because heat stroke and heat exhaustion could be more prevalent than contracting the COVID-19 virus. Even with some changes, the restrictions are going to take some work to follow.

“We had things in place, and we still do,” he said. “Like the dugouts. Most of the dugouts are big, wooden dugouts, but still, there’s no way you can keep 6 feet apart in the dugout. What we’re going to do is we’re going to rope off from the dugout all the way around to the backstop, and that’s going to be the extended dugout area for both teams. Now you can definitely distance.”

It’s up to Steiner and the Thunder Elite organization to make sure the guidelines are properly followed. He said he will have a site director at each complex to make sure things run smoothly. The tournament, one of Thunder Elite’s biggest fundraisers, begins Friday evening, with five different age groups competing (10-and-under, 12-U, 14-U, 16-U and 18-U), and concludes with five champions crowned on Sunday.

Steiner postponed an earlier tournament, Y-Town Mayhem, until July 24-26. It was originally supposed to be held in April.

“We want to play youth softball, but we want to do it in a safe manner while we’re protecting players, coaches, fans and umpires,” he said. “We believe that it can be done.”

So do 91 other teams.