Lady Panther pitcher Julia Cheney prepares to release the ball toward the plate during a 2019 game. The FHS team is in quarantine until Sunday due to COVID. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
The coronavirus pandemic is still impacting local high school sports.
The Fairbanks High School softball squad has been in quarantine since March 18.
They will remain in that status until Sunday (March 28).
“We will have 10 days of no contact, so that means 10 days of no practice,” said FHS head coach Amy Sines.
The Lady Panthers won’t have much time once they are released from quarantine before they jump into the 2021 season.
Fairbanks is scheduled to open the campaign the following day (March 29) by hosting Northeastern.
The schedule has FHS playing each day next week (weather permitting).
“Our first games of the season are league contests, so we better be ready to play,” said Sines.
Even though Fairbanks has had a shutdown, there is no plan to push back any early-season games.
“It’s hard enough to reschedule rain-outs, so since we are able to play, we will play,” said the coach.
Despite the fact the Lady Panthers haven’t been together as a team for a while, Sines has still urged her players to remain active.
“I have asked our players to work on their own and make sure all the hard work they have already put into the season doesn’t go to waste,” she said.
The team was able to scrimmage Marion Pleasant last week before its shutdown.
“Thank goodness we were at least able to do that since we lost three scrimmages this week,” said Sines.
The team went into quarantine after being too close to each other in their small dugout at the Milford Center diamond.
“With 16 players on the team, it’s hard to be six feet apart in our dugout,” said Sines. “I have been working on assigning spots for the girls to stand so we can stay away from quarantining the whole team.
“If this happens again, we hopefully won’t lose all 16 players.
“We will also have girls stand in the bullpen outside the dugout so we can spread out more,” she said.