The boys and girls of summer head to the diamonds
High school baseball, softball seasons will be held with several changes
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NICK PEDLEY/SENTINEL-NEWS
H-M-S activities director Mark Petersen mows the softball field in Hartley on May 19. State high school athletic officials announced last week that baseball and softball games can begin as early as June 15. The season has been on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Iowa high school spring sports seasons may have been casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic, but summer baseball and softball have survived to play again.
Gov. Kim Reynolds announced May 20 that summer sports may be conducted following a two-month activities suspension due to COVID-19. The governing boards of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union and Iowa High School Athletic Association then voted to approve resuming the summer seasons under Iowa Department of Education guidelines.
Reopening of school facilities and the start of practices for sanctioned summer sports will occur on Monday, June 1. According to the DOE directive, the first contests may be played as early as Monday, June 15.
MIKE PETERSEN/SENTINEL-NEWS
Updated baseball and softball schedules will be released in soon.
"We trust that our administrators, coaches, umpires and fans will responsibly follow the guidelines in place to keep themselves and each other safe," said IHSAA Executive Director Tom Keating in a news release. "This is terrific news and is a step toward getting our student-athletes reconnected to the activities that mean so much to them."
"We know the games will have different circumstances and that we will all have to work together to keep everyone safe, but we are confident that we are up to this challenge," said IGHSAU Executive Director Jean Berger.
Both organizations currently plan to conduct their state tournaments. The five-class state softball tournament is held at Harlan Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge while the four-class state baseball tournament is held at Principal Park in Des Moines.
