Why?

With a heartbreak emoji attached to the word, the tweet by University of South Carolina freshman guard and Lexington High graduate Olivia Thompson summed up the reaction of sports fans both around and outside Chronicle Country.

Concern about the growing coronavirus epidemic has led to a unprecedented number of cancellations and postponements of sporting events. The NCAA men’s and women’s tournament were among those which were cancelled for the upcoming year, prompting Thompson’s disappointed reaction.

The Southeastern Conference champion Gamecocks finished the regular season 32-1 and were expected to have a top seed with as many as 4 games in the Palmetto State.

In addition to the basketball tournaments, the NCAA announced plans to cancel the College World Series as well as other spring sports championships. This came on the heels of the pro leagues like the NBA and NHL suspending play and Major League Baseball cancelling spring training and delaying its starts.

High School

Just days after SCISA announced plans to suspend its spring sports until April 3, S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster ordered the closing of all public schools.

This took the decision to suspend or cancel spring sports out of the S.C. High School League’s hands. On Monday, the Executive Committee voted 17-0 to also suspend its spring sports until April 5.

On April 2, the league will reevaluate the situation to determine what it will take further action. Should play resume, Singleton said he’s currently challenging league leader to formulate a post-season plan.

“One of the big things we want to be really be careful of is transporting that virus to other communities,” Singleton said. “That was the big piece for us. So we looked at until we can settle and figure what’s going on, we want to just suspend the season.”

“It’s tough”

With the decision to suspend league play looming, Chronicle Country teams took to the field this past weekend for possibly the final time this school year. This was highlighted by Lexington and Gilbert playing 2 games at Segra Park.

The 2 teams faced each other this past Friday, a game won by the Indians 10-4. The Wildcats rebounded with a 7-1 win over Spring Valley, who promptly lost to Gilbert 7-6 on a walkoff RBI double by Joseph Parker.

For seniors like Gilbert pitcher Travis Elliott, it was an emotional 2 days on the diamond with its share of challenges.

“I’m a senior, so it’s kind of heartbreaking thinking about it,” Elliott said.

Both head coaches Ashley Burnett of Gilbert and Brian Hucks of Lexington did their best to keep their players focused on the game.

“Control what you can control,” Gilbert head coach Burnett said. “We don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring. We can only handle today and whatever’s going to happen, it’s out of our hands. Our job is to when they allow us to play, our job is to play our very best. If something happens and it gets suspended or something like that, our job is to be, hopefully, mature enough to handle that and come back ready to play.”

“(The seniors) they’re just in a tough situation,” Hucks said. “They’ve worked their entire lives for their senior years and now, something completely out of their control may impact if they get to play again or have a delay or whatever may be.

“It’s tough. We put our arms around them and tell we love them and hug them and whatever will be will be and we’ll just figure out the next step we go.”