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End of season disappointing for promising Jesuit team
Andrew Keesee reports
TAMPA, Fla. - The FHSAA gave high school spring teams like Jesuit baseball a glimmer of hope three weeks ago.
If regular activities could resume before May 4, they would consider extending the spring season through June 30.
That glimmer of hope faded out on Monday when the FHSAA officially canceled all spring sports for 2020.
Tampa Jesuit baseball, considered by many to be the best high school team in the country, was devastated that a shot of back-to-back state championships was taken away.
"On the field, there's always something we can do," Camden Minacci told FOX 13 Sports. "We can pitch our way out of it. [We] can hit [our] way out of it, but there's nothing that we can do now."
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"It's out of our hands now, and that's a hard pill to swallow," the Jesuit senior pitcher continued.
"I always knew my last would be emotional," Bennett Lee said. "But just hearing the finality of it really got to me."
Many of Jesuit's seniors, Minacci and Lee included, will get to continue their baseball careers at the college level, Wake Forest and Tulane, respectively.
One might think that would make them feel better. It doesn't.
"College and pro baseball are obviously really fun," Lee said. "But high school baseball is really the last innocent form of baseball that you can have the most fun with your best friends."
However, as bad as it is that their senior season was cut short, they know this is for the greater good.
"Obviously what's most important is the safety of our community, and our country," Minnacci said. "If that means canceling high school baseball, and canceling high school sports then I'm more than OK with it."
"I kind of understand the gravity of the situation so it gives me a little bit more consolation knowing it's for the right thing," Lee said.