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Happy Easter everyone, hoping you’re able to spend this day with family healthy and safe.
I tend to always look for a ray of sunshine in any situation and regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, I’m optimistic that we’re going to turn the corner on this era of “self-isolation” and “social distancing” soon. Reports are that some states have peaked and others soon will.
As a person of faith, I recently participating in a 24-hour fast on Good Friday so that the “pandemic may be controlled, caregivers protected, the economy strengthened, and life normalized.”
Still, the numbers are daunting:
- globally, over 1.7 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed with more than 108,000 deaths.
- in the U.S., there have been nearly 530,000 coronavirus confirmations with over 20,000 deaths.
- the United States has more deaths from COVID-19 than any country in the world.
- New York state—with its 181,000+ cases and more than 8,600 deaths—has more of both than China, where this coronavirus is thought to have originated.
- New Jersey, with a reported 2,183 deaths as of today, has more coronavirus deaths than those killed in 9/11.
On the social side, most of us are house-bound and very infrequently going out. Movie theaters are closed, restaurants offer only take out, church services are off and interacting with groups larger than 5-or-10, depending where you live, is strongly discouraged or even prohibited.
And we’re encouraged to go out only for “essential” reasons, such as for food shopping or necessary medical treatment, and to wear protective masks and gloves. A man was forcibly removed by police from a Philadelphia city bus for not wearing a mask (warning: language in video). Scary times, indeed.
It’s hard to believe that today, right in the middle of spring, we’re without college and high school softball—no NBA, MLB or NHL to boot—as we celebrate Easter Sunday. Summer activities could be in danger and even fall sports like football are leading to contingency plans. Hopefully, it won’t come to any of this and we’ll be back to our normal lifestyles sooner than later.
Personally, it’s been a very unusual month: my beautiful and smart soon-to-be 19-year-old step-daughter Olivia had symptoms of COVID-19 last week and we were obviously concerned… fortunately, it turned out she “just” had a viral infection.
My daughter Courtney was scheduled to be married in June to her wonderful fiance Rob, but it’s been postponed to August–and hopefully it will happen then.
A grocery store my wife and I shop at regularly, located about five minutes from our home, had two workers confirmed to have the coronavirus. Many of us know people who are infected with the disease… some know people who have died.
Then there’s the economic side: I have spoken to three club coaches in the last week who had to make our conversations brief because they were in the process of laying off people in their company.
I have spoken to coaches who worry that their “day jobs” are in peril. One who runs a softball facility told me he doesn’t know how he can go more than four weeks more without it putting his job in peril.
I pray for you all who are facing these stressful situations.
And, of course, we reported last week that a talented sophomore softball player, Jo Smith from Stockton, California, felt the stress and depression of the COVID-19 situation and—we say this somberly and with the permission of her mother—took her life.
Through a friend, we were told Jo’s mother “is supportive of using Jo’s story as a teaching tool to talk to our youth. She wants the softball community to know how this isolation can affect all of us but especially a normal, vivacious 15-year-old girl who had the world ahead of her.”
This, to me, was the most heartbreaking result of the coronavirus I’ve personally been a part of. Posting this story brought tears to my eyes, especially as a parent to teenagers. I pray we can all get with our children and make sure they’re OK and are not hurting as Jo was.
Many are donating towards a scholarship that will be awarded in Jo’s memory to “assist a female athlete who aspires to play at a college level but may be experiencing hardships in their lives.” Click HERE to access the GoFundMe page which has more details.
On a positive note, I want to thank the numerous people who’ve reached out with messages of support to me personally and to Extra Inning Softball.
One of the themes I’ve very much appreciated and heard a lot from players, their family and coaches is along the lines of “Thank you for the continued softball coverage, it gives us something to look forward to and a way to keep hope going and feel connected to our sport.”
We’re fortunate to have a great softball community behind us and our number of subscribers and readers is growing. We aren’t going anywhere!
I’m happy to say that we have a lot of big plans ahead and will continue to grow the sport—even while the playing on the field is temporarily suspended—through my favorite part of the job: telling stories and honoring these very deserving athletes, coaches and others who make it all happen.
This week we will announce our next round of team and player rankings. We have some cool features in the works and will continue breaking news and being a mirror to what YOU want in terms of fastpitch coverage.
May you have a great Easter day, spending time doing what you love with those you love.
Feel free to email me with your thoughts, too…
All the best,
— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball ([email protected])