Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
‘WE’RE DEVASTATED’
Players, coaches react to the postponing of spring sports
Under normal circumstances, March is one of the busiest parts of the Florida athletic calendar.
Baseball, lacrosse, softball, tennis, track and several more sports seasons should be in full swing.
That isn’t the case in 2020, though. As cases of the new coronavirus have risen in Florida, the Florida High School Athletic Association announced Wednesday that athletic events across the state were postponed indefinitely. Prior to the FHSAA’s announcement, Broward and Palm Beach counties had announced the suspension of athletic events, which went into effect Monday.
“We knew it was just a matter of time after Broward did it, but obviously, [I’m] disappointed but understand the situation, and it’s for everyone’s best interests,” Palm Beach Central baseball coach Tony Gullo said. “It’s just really sad — for the seniors, especially.”
Palm Beach Central, a 2019 state semifinalist, got 10 games in before the season was postponed. Gullo said his pitchers were just starting to get stretched out to their normal pitch counts. While the season is delayed, Gullo said he’d like his players to still stay loose and ready to play.
“We told them, ‘Realize how sore you were that first week,’ because some of our guys did not prepare properly for tryouts,” Gullo said. “If, in fact, we are able to come back and get after it, we don’t want to go through that all over again.”
The Broncos played their final game before the suspension on Friday: a 5-4 loss to Palm Beach Gardens. After the game, one senior was upset that his high school career could be ending much earlier than expected.
“I know one [senior] was very upset after our game Friday night,” Gullo said. “And it was just tough. At the time, even on Friday, I was optimistic that we’re going to be able to continue once the down period is over. … I was upset to learn that we’re out of school until the 15th because of baseball. So it’s tough. I don’t know what to say because we don’t know what’s happening.”
Senior Cardinal Gibbons pitcher Timmy Manning was also disappointed when the season was postponed. The Chiefs star was hoping to get his team back to Fort Myers after they fell just short of a state title last year. Manning was off to a stellar start to the season for the 9-1 Chiefs.
He was 4-0 with a 1.17 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 24 innings on the mound, and he was hitting .538 with a home run and a 1.416 OPS at the plate.
“Obviously, we’re devastated,” Manning said. “You followed our run last year, and that’s been pretty much the only thing on our minds this year was getting back to [the state title game]. We feel like we have the team that can win it all this year. I think we’re the team to beat, and it really sucks knowing that this would be the team that we have to win the state championship [and we] wouldn’t be able to play because of this virus.”
In the meantime, Manning said he is working out at the Florida Baseball Ranch in Lakeland.
“This is where I’ve been training for four years,” Manning said. “They’re the best around, when it comes to pitching. Just getting better every single day and treating this like a mini-offseason.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday that schools across Florida will be closed until at least April 15, and the FHSAA said that would be the earliest the spring seasons could resume.
“Hopefully, this all gets ironed out,” Gullo said. “And hopefully, when we go back in the middle of April, they say, ‘Game on.’”