Fairbanks southpaw pitcher April Ward delivers the ball to the plate during a 2019 game. Whether Ward or anyone else will be able to take to pitching circles throughout the state this spring is in limbo due to the coronavirus. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
“We would hope to be back sometime in April.”
Those were the recent optimistic words of Fairbanks High School head softball coach Amy Sines.
Sines’ program, like all other spring sports teams throughout the state, is in shutdown mode due to the coronavirus pandemic.
No one currently knows what the season will look like if spring sports are permitted to be played at some point.
There have been suggestions of an abbreviated regular season schedule beginning in early May and then going right into post-season tournaments.
“We’re just really going off news from the Ohio High School Athletic Association,” said Sines. “However, if we can’t get back next month, I really can’t see us playing games this season.”
The most recent update from the OHSAA has spring sports still in a postponed phase.
The veteran Lady Panther coach said she feels badly for sports seniors throughout the state, noting the 2020 campaign would have been their final time representing their schools in various athletic endeavors.
The Fairbanks softball roster includes four seniors this spring in first baseman Allison Kise, shortstop-pitcher Bella Rowland, pitcher April Ward and her twin sister Ashlyn, who roams the outfield.
Sines said a prolonged shutdown would put younger softball players behind in their development.
“That would mean a whole year without those girls begin able to compete,” she said. “However, we’re (each team in Ohio) all in the same boat.”
Whether there are any summer athletic ventures during the coming months remains to be seen as well.
That will depend on how long the state’s “stay-at-home” mandate (which was implemented at midnight last week), impacts activity.
“The girls need the summer to keep up with their skills for the high school spring season,” said Sines.
The Lady Panther coach said she hopes members of her team work on their own to remain in softball shape.
She also wondered whether the OHSAA might expand the 10 days of off-season work coaches may use in order to instruct their teams.
“Maybe the Ohio High School Athletic Association could give us some grace on that at some point,” said Sines.
The coach also had several ideas on how the season could continue if the school shutdown is lifted by Governor Mike DeWine.
“Normally, we play conference opponents twice each season,” she said. “If we could have an abbreviated schedule, it could include canceling all non-conference games and playing conference opponents only once this spring,” she said. “After that, we might be able to go into the tournaments.
“That’s also going to depend on what the weather does this spring,” said Sines. “I know the OHSAA doesn’t want to extend the tournament. They still want state championship tournaments finished the first weekend in June.”
The Panther coach acknowledged the window for the 2020 campaign is rapidly closing.
“If we don’t get back sometime in April, I guess we’ll have to cancel the season,” she said.