The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on sports around the world (all times local):
∙ Prep baseball has returned to Iowa.
Colfax-Mingo faced Tri-County on Monday as Iowa became the first state to have a varsity baseball game since the coronavirus pandemic closed down sports across the country in March, the Des Moines Register reported.
In addition to the baseball game played at the Principal Park in Des Moines, home to the Chicago Cubs’ Triple-A team, the Iowa Cubs, A number of softball games in Iowa started later in the day, the newspaper reported.
The game between two schools with less than 200 enrollments, in front of an announced crowd of just over 360, was possible because Iowa sponsors high school sports in the summer. It is the only state to do so.
Colfax-Mingo used a seven-run seventh-inning for a 10-0 win over Tri-County.
“With two weeks (of practice) and the kids not throwing ahead of time, you’re not sure how that first game is going to go,” Tri-County coach Scott Edmundson was quoted as telling the newspaper. “Now we’ve got the rust off and know where we’re at, and we’ve got things to on.”
・All the baseball players from Roosevelt High School kneeled during the national anthem prior to the Roughriders’ game against Ankeny Centennial at Principal Park in Des Moines, Iowa, to protest racial injustice.
The Des Moines Register reported that the Roughriders’ coaches stood behind their players, literally and figuratively, as the anthem played.
“Coach brought it up during practice, just with everything going on,” senior Alex Pendergast was quoted as saying. “We talked about it as a team and came to a decision, as players, to take a knee and give more attention to the problem at hand.”
Pendergast knew it was important for the team to kneel together.
“I feel like that’s a big deal,” Pendergast told the newspaper. “If we had some standing and some kneeling, it wouldn’t have been as big as a deal. But that the whole team came together and everybody kneeled, I think it makes a big difference.
“That’s a big part of why we did it. There’s so much diversity at Roosevelt and on our team. It’s our responsibility to stand up for our community.”
∙ Michigan’s athletic department says football and basketball players are welcome back on campus starting this week if they choose to take part in voluntary strength and conditioning work.
Michigan says its process for reopening the athletic campus includes a 14-day pre-report risk assessment and a six-day resocialization period to campus. The resocialization period includes COVID-19 and antibody testing.
Players and staff will have daily screening before being admitted to facilities. People who test positive for COVID-19 will enter a defined quarantine protocol.
The second phase of returning student-athletes to the Michigan campus will include cross country, field hockey, golf, soccer, tennis and volleyball.
・Iowa’s athletic department reported two positive COVID-19 tests during the second week of its return-to-campus protocol.
The school did not disclose whether it was athletes, coaches or staff members who tested positive. In the two weeks since Iowa began testing, there have been three positives and 343 negatives.
According to an Associated Press count, at least 45 athletes, coaches or staff members at a total of 17 schools have tested positive since June 1.
・The PGA Tour will keep the 3M Open in Minnesota on schedule, but the second-year event will be played without spectators on site.
Tournament officials announced Monday that the state’s health guidelines currently in place for public gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic will keep the galleries empty throughout the weekend of July 23-26. Attendance at the TPC Twin Cities course in Blaine, a suburb north of Minneapolis, will be limited to players, caddies, staff, media and other personnel deemed essential to the operation.
The PGA Tour resumed last week after a three-month hiatus because of the virus outbreak. No spectators were admitted at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Texas, and the next three events will also be held without fans.
The Memorial tournament in Ohio, rescheduled for mid-July right before the 3M Open, has received state approval for a limited amount of spectators.
