Division III Softball in the Age of COVID-19
Mark Allister - As a fan of women’s college softball, I was hit hard by the season’s cancellation. But my stake in the sport is far less, of course, than players and coaches, and so I reached out to see what they have been thinking.
Most college softball players began when they were little girls, playing on in-house town teams before moving on to travel ball and high school competition — they almost literally can’t remember a spring when they weren’t playing softball nearly every day.
The abrupt cancellation contributed to strong emotional reactions. “It seemed like three months passed in about 48 hours,” St. Olaf College’s senior pitcher Julie Graf said. “It was heartbreaking, the fear and sadness of not knowing.”
St. Olaf Head Coach Kayla Hatting explained how fast changes happened for her team. “Our timeline was crazy,” Hatting said. “We played at Rochester the weekend before [and went 4-0, outscoring their opponents 23-1] and got home late Sunday night. Monday was our day off. Tuesday we had our usual 5:00 a.m. practice, and we were talking about our itinerary for our Spring Break trip to Florida. Wednesday we had small-group hitting sessions, and that night stuff started hitting the fan."
“Schools were beginning to cancel their travel plans, but Thursday morning we had our 5:00 a.m. practice again and talked about how our season is still on, and we’re blessed and should be grateful for this opportunity. We had a great practice, and then Thursday night the NCAA said they wouldn’t host the championships.
“Friday morning at 5:00 we talked about how we’re not pointing now to an NCAA tournament but we’re going to work hard toward winning the MIAC [Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference] championship. By noon the MIAC ended the season and by 4:00 our entire season was gone."
“And it’s not just me, of course. This is every coach in every spring sport across the country. It just feels surreal. It doesn’t feel yet that everything has ended. I think we’re going to be hit harder when we all go home for spring break and don’t return to play softball.”
A softball season ending prematurely is shocking, but part of the sadness that everyone mentioned stems from the general turmoil and uncertainty occurring on college campuses in general. Most schools have extended spring breaks, and many are turning to remote learning as a way to keep students apart after the break.
This distancing is crushing for many players, as Hatting explains. “We haven’t been able to come together as a team, because the college began closing down. We’re not really sure that we’ll come together again; perhaps it won’t happen until next September. And this is really hard. Because part of being on a team is supporting each other. When something happens you come together, you spend time together. The toughest part is that they miss each other. And I miss them.”
In those first days after schools canceled their programs’ softball season, seniors, in particular, faced something that they had never imagined. Virginia Wesleyan’s senior Hanna Hull was a First Team All-American last year, after leading VWU to national championships her first two years and in the process being a two-time DIII Player and Pitcher of the Year.
“When I first heard about the supension,” Hull said, “I was initially shocked and then extremely devastated. I completely understand why this decision was made, and my heart goes out to every athlete whose season ended so suddenly. I have always wondered how my career would end, but I never could have predicted something like this.”
Read more at FloSoftball.com
