Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Lost Season
Local college programs reflect on what might have been in promising spring seasons
Part 1 of a 3-part series on the Lost Season of sports at local universities in the midst of coronavirus.
When collegiate athletics were halted, a casualty of the coronavirus pandemic, the initial focus was for winter teams in the midst of the postseason playoffs. The cancellation of March Madness was, for many, a seminal moment in the realization that things were getting serious.
But what about the student-athletes in spring sports, who didn’t just lose the waning moments of their seasons, but the beginning, middle and the end?
How do you mourn the end of a season that, in most cases, barely began?
“It definitely feels surreal, but in the long run it’s the best thing for everybody’s health and safety,” said West Chester softball coach Diane Lokey. “We all understand, but it’s also heartbreaking.”
There are 24 teams, 19 head coaches and nearly 600 student-athletes at West Chester, and the school’s athletic director, Terry Beattie, acknowledges that everyone has been affected in various ways. Gymnastics was the lone winter program still in action when the NCAA pulled the plug. Head coach Barbara Cordova’s squad still had one regular season meet to go and was set to host the ECAC Championships.
“We are in a new time,” Beattie said. “It will take time to adjust to a new normal, but I am confident we are going to get through this and we will be better because of it.
“It’s certainly disappointing for our student-athletes, especially our seniors. It’s a heartbreaking way to have your career end. But as everyone knows, the decisions were made across the country out of the caution and the best interests of our student-athletes. When you have it in mind, everybody understands.”
Other local colleges have been similarly impacted. Division III Immaculata declined interview requests, saying it does not currently feel comfortable discussing the fallout from COVID-19. At Lincoln, the baseball squad had just finished a southern swing through Virginia and South Carolina when the season was cancelled. The Lions went 2-6 and never made it to their home opener on March 8.
“Our team was very excited about where we could be at the end of the year, and were disappointed that it all ended,” said LU head coach Anthony Pla. “But I think everyone understands the severity of what is going on.”
At WCU, all three of its highprofile spring sports were off to great starts. Baseball, softball and lacrosse were a combined 21-5 when their seasons came to a close.
“There was certainly an initial shock that the season was over and the reality of the day-to-day of not having games,” said Rams’ baseball coach Jad Prachniak.
“But as time went on, it made it easier to come to grips when you see all of the cancellations everywhere. Once we saw March Madness get cancelled, for everybody it sinks in that this is our current normal.”
Prachniak’s team was 7-2 and on a four-game winning streak when it all ended. West Chester had just played three games in North Carolina and was preparing to head to Florida for more when word came to return to campus.
“There is a ton of uncertainty,” he added. “Whenever you have your final game, there is that finality. You are always looking ahead to the next season. But the way this season ended, there is an emptiness. The season was here one day and gone the next.
“Some played their final college game and didn’t realize it at the time.”
Head coach Ginny Martino’s lacrosse squad was ranked second among the nation’s Division II programs when she was informed on March 5 that WCU had grounded all of its athletic teams from air travel. That meant no spring break trip that included a clash with Queens (NC), a rematch of the 2019 national semifinal.
Undaunted, WCU opened its season with a 20-3 home win over Georgian Court (NJ) on March 6th, and a 19-7 triumph over Shippensburg five days later. Soon thereafter, the season was cancelled.
“Our girls played very well considering what must have been swirling through their minds,” Martino pointed out. “In the locker room prior to the (Georgian Court) game, I kept our talk light and in the moment, focusing primarily on the game. I let them know that after they win, we would talk about the future.
“Now, looking back at the conversation after our game with the parents and players, it seems so long ago, when we still had hope.”
The hottest team, however, may have been Lokey’s softball team, who had won a dozen in a row when the season was halted. It had the makings of a special group, poised to have an impactful season.
“It’s more than just the wins or the record,” Lokey explained. “This group was working hard for each other, and that’s the kind of thing you can’t measure.
“And off the field, this group was really getting along. You want your team to gel and get them to work together for the same goals, and they were doing that. Sometimes, chemistry is what drives teams into two different directions -- the winning team and the ones that just can’t figure it out.”
The day before the squad was scheduled to fly to Florida for its annual early season trip, outof-state flights were banned. So Lokey got to work putting together local games, adding home doubleheaders versus Thomas Jefferson and Goldey Beacom (DE), as well as a trip to Seton Hill for more games.
In Greenville, WCU topped Walsh (Ohio) in a doubleheader and was in the middle of another twinbill against West Liberty (WV) on March 12th when the NCAA cancelled the rest of the season.
In West Chester’s final game of the season, the Rams scored nine runs in the bottom of the ninth to win 14-13.
“It was a very emotional moment for our athletes when I had to tell them,” Lokey said. “But I am so proud of them. They dug in. The seniors knew that might be their last game.”
On March 13th, the NCAA announced that 2020 spring athletes would be granted another season of eligibility. The particulars of this unprecedented move have yet to be worked out, but it means that current seniors now have a decision to make.
“It poses tougher decisions for those seniors,” Martino said. “We had eight graduating that now have to make that tough call as to continue on with their life and career, or stay an extra year, or apply to grad school and continue on that path.
“It is an extremely tough situation to be in for them. They worked so hard for four years and to have all of that pulled out from under them just as the ‘fun’ part of the season was upon them is heartbreaking.”
Even if all of the seniors decided to return – which is highly unlikely – things are inevitably going to change when the 2021 season rolls around.
“This group of 30 will never get back together again,” Lokey said. “Even if everybody comes back, next season we will have new freshmen coming in.
“I don’t know the status of our seniors. Most of them will come back, but only time will tell if they all come back. They’ve been working since last September and we had such high goals.”