Iowa becomes 1st state to resume high school sports with baseball, softball

By: Chris Harlan
Monday, June 1, 2020 | 3:36 PM

While Pennsylvania debates the future of fall sports, Monday was the first day of baseball and softball season for high schools in Iowa.

Like the rest of the country, the Iowa High School Athletic Association and the Iowa High School Girls Athletic Union canceled spring sports seasons, but the state reversed course last month. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds let high school teams resume practice after midnight Monday with opening day scheduled for June 15.

According to ESPN, the players at one Iowa high school “gathered in a socially distant circle, the softball team counted down the seconds to 12:01 and threw their gloves in the air in celebration over the first known high school practice in 2½ months.”

Collins-Maxwell high school softball and baseball players got onto the fields at midnight on June 1, the first day they're able to do so during the pandemic. Here are some pictures of the practice. #COVIDー19 pic.twitter.com/6r1SEAodgS

— Sarah Beckman (@SarahBeckman3) June 1, 2020

ESPN said Iowa was the only state to push spring sports to the summer.

The Iowa baseball championships are scheduled for Aug. 1, nine days before schools are scheduled to start football practice.

That state’s departments of public health and education issued a list of covid-19 guidelines for teams including a ban on dugout use. Also, the players’ items “should be lined up against the fence at least six feet apart.”

If parents intended to stay for practice, they must remain in their cars.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.