Hitting the field again
Honkers begin practice in hopes of a 2021 season
Editor’s Note: Today is the first of a two-part series chronicling the return of spring sports getting back on the field. Yuba City High baseball is back at Winship Field for the first time since March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the world. On Saturday, we will feature a Yuba City freshman who breaks down what it is like coming into high school in the middle of a pandemic. To revisit our Facebook interview go to https://www.facebook.com/ appealdemocrat.
The pop of the glove, the dirt between your fingernails and effervescent sound of the bat were all present Thursday at Winship Field in Yuba
City where the Honkers baseball program returned to conditioning drills amid COVID-19 protocols.
The season opener is tentatively scheduled for March 8 so long as the county has dropped from purple to the red tier.
Yuba City head baseball coach Dave Rodriguez, right now, said it is still anybody’s guess whether or not baseball will be
played this year.
“I think it is 60-40 percent that we play,” Rodriguez said.
Through multiple safety protocols, Rodriguez is trying hard to keep his team healthy so
the program doesn’t add to the area’s high infection rate.
“We have to be careful because we’re going to be looked at,” Rodriguez said. “We’re on one of the busiest streets in Yuba City so people are going to want to know what’s going on.”
Rodriguez said the team and coaches all have to wear masks when they’re within six feet of each other.
Used baseballs are also thrown in what is called a dirty bucket, Rodriguez said, where they will be sanitized after practice.
“We can do pretty much anything baseball-wise in groups of eight or less,” Rodriguez said. “It’s the same groups all the time so we can have a track record if someone gets sick.”
He also is required to have his team and coaching staff fill out a questionnaire that helps with contact tracing of all positive cases in the area.
“They have to fill out a paper (detailing) possible exposure to COVID,” Rodriguez said.
Despite everything involved, Rodriguez and the team members are very happy to be able to return to Winship Field following a season that was cut short after just four games in 2020.
“Just being back with the team and seeing them out here after we haven’t seen each other for almost a year,” said senior Bryson Reif, on his thoughts during Thursday’s practice.
Fellow senior Gehrig Larrigan said the best part about Thursday was being able to play catch again.
During quarantine, Larrigan said it was tough to find willing participants to leave the house for a baseball workout.
“The hardest part is getting people to go do long toss at a park,” Larrigan said.