Lost baseball season tough pill to swallow
■ The team was hoping to make the playoffs for first time since 2016.
The hope around the Siloam Springs baseball team was the 2020 season was going to be the year the Panthers ended their playoff drought.
Siloam Springs hadn’t qualified for the state playoffs since 2016, but a team loaded with experienced seniors felt like it could be the one to break that streak.
Unfortunately the Panthers will never know. Their season came to an end on April 9, just like all the others when the Arkansas Activities Association canceled the remainder of the spring sports season due to the covid-19 pandemic.
Coach Alan Hardcastle said letting his team know the season was over was extremely difficult.
“After 15 years of coaching, I had to send out a message to my team that their season has been canceled,” Hardcastle said. “It’s hard to answer questions like, why us? Why now? How can my senior season be over before it really got started? As a coach, you
work hard to prepare your players for every scenario that they could encounter during a game. As coaches, we come up with a plan and strategies to defeat the competition we play, but how do you tell your seniors and the rest of the team that their season is over?
“As a coach, there is nothing that can prepare you for this type of scenario. All I can say is, you can’t take anything for granted, live in the moment and always know that it can be over in a blink of an eye.”
Siloam Springs played a total of seven games in 2020, winning two games — once against Mountain Home and once against Huntsville. The team did not play a home game in 2020.
“I hate this the most for my seniors, Reed Willbanks, Isaac Price, Taylor Pool, Tanner Broyles, Dalton Cook, and Dakota Herrel,” Hardcastle said. “They will never be able to get this year back. I told them in a group text the other day that I was sorry and that I have never been so proud of a group of young men. I know this will make them stronger and can’t wait to see what the future holds for them. They may never be able to wear a Panther jersey again, but they will always know what it means to be a Panther.”