Aussie Peppers Out For NPF Season Due To COVID-19 Concerns

The Aussie Peppers will miss the 2020 NPF season due to COVID-19 concerns and travel restrictions, the league has announced.

The Peppers, which feature several members of the Australian women's national softball team, planned to use the NPF's early-season schedule this year as preparation for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. The Olympics have since been postponed to 2021.

"Although we are disappointed, we regard our players' health and safety as paramount to all else and understand the current global pandemic of COVID-19 makes the participation of Softball Australia as the Aussie Peppers impossible for 2020," NPF Commissioner Cheri Kempf said in a statement. "We look forward to the future—2021 and beyond—when we will all compete together again."

NPF officials recently announced an indefinite delay to the 2020 season, which was supposed to begin April 10. The league plans to announce further 2020 scheduling decisions on May 1.

The Peppers completed their inaugural NPF season in 2019 in fifth place with a record of 12-31.

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