Texico hopes some baseball season survives

TEXICO — In a perfect world, Texico’s baseball team would be starting its quest for a fifth consecutive state championship this Thursday.

But as we know from turning on any news at any time during the past few days, the world is far from perfect and the coronavirus is right now the leading cause of that imperfection across the globe.

What went from people good-naturedly washing their hands long enough to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ twice has transformed into a pandemic, resulting in life being interrupted with school closings, sports leagues and events suspended, late-night talk shows being held without studio audiences, then those talk shows shutting down altogether.

The country is in an official state of emergency.

In New Mexico, public schools are closed for this week and the next two after that. That announcement came early last Thursday night, and means no spring sports for that time period, at least.

Amid it all is the only local sports team that was entering this spring as a defending state champion. Texico’s baseball team, actually, is a defending champion four times over, having won state titles from 2016 through ’19.

2020 was supposed to be the Wolverines’ quest for five straight, and maybe it still will be, because as of this writing, the spring season hadn’t yet been completely trash-canned. As last Thursday’s late-afternoon practice at the Texico baseball field was ongoing, the Wolverines thought their season — scheduled to open March 19 against Midland Christian in Eunice’s Cardinal Classic tournament — was going to be delayed about a week. An hour or so later they found out it was pushed back even more, putting the season’s status in question.

Will the quest for five in a row still occur this spring? Or will that quest have to wait until 2021?

Sports on hold is a source of disappointment and frustration for all teams — from the pros on down — and their fans. It’s especially so for a reigning four-time champion.

“We’ve had unbelievable weather the last couple of weeks and everything was looking pretty good,” Wolverines head coach Ty Thatcher said, while watching last Thursday’s practice at the Texico baseball field. “We played a pretty good combo game on Tuesday (of last week) versus Dimmitt with the offseason kids and jayvee competition, and had a 4-3 win. And then the whole coronavirus thing hit the last 48 hours that kind of put a damper on things and a lot of question marks in the air with what’s going to happen. Everybody in the nation understands a little bit of what’s going on, but nobody really knows exactly what’s going on.”

“It’s crazy,” Texico junior catcher David Davalos said. “The coronavirus is a pandemic now, but I guess we just need to stay focused and come ready to play when the time comes, when the governor tells us to come play. Right now we’re getting the most of it out here and getting some cuts in, doing what we can.”

“It’s a crazy situation, you know? It’s all over the place,” Wolverines senior utilityman/pitcher Manuel Loera said. “The seniors are a little upset with there being questions of if we’re going to have a season, if we’re going to be able to play another season.”

“It’s kind of wild,” Texico junior infielder Freddy Davalos said. “You see things happen around different countries; you never really think that will happen in yours, or even in your state, being delayed by all this.”

It seems like a hundred years now, but just about a week ago the Wolverines were excited about the season, confident in their ability to win another state championship. Now they’re just hoping for a chance to even compete for it.

If play resumes in early April, will that be enough time for an abbreviated season? Can make-up games be tacked on at the regular season’s end?

“It’s all unchartered territory at this point,” Thatcher said. “They’ve never extended baseball season past graduation in the past. And I don’t see them doing that this season.

“At this point,” he added, “we’ll take a shortened season.”

That’s a sentiment all the Wolverines share, and no doubt every spring sports team throughout the country. Any season would be welcomed.

“It can be a little difficult at times not knowing when you can play, or not knowing if you will play for the rest of the season,” Freddy Davalos said. “But we’ve got to keep strong and try to do our best and stay focused on this great sport.”