Noxapater head softball coach Jodie Duran said all her team was waiting on to return to the field and complete the 2020 season was the okay signal.
“They are begging to play,” Duran said of the Lady Tigers who, like the rest of the spring sport athletes around the state, saw their season halted due to the Coronavirus pandemic. “They may need practice, but they will be ready to play on day one. We have a brand new set of uniforms I picked up during spring break that they haven’t even seen.”
Whether or not the Lady Tigers will get to wear them in a game this year has yet to be decided as the MHSAA is waiting to make a final a decision on when, or if, the season will resume.
“I have four seniors and it does affect them,” Duran said. “They are to the point that they just want to be able to play one game so they can have a senior night. They are missing out on so much of their last year of high school.”
Noxapater plays in the same division with Ethel, Nanih Waiya, French Camp and West Lowndes. Normally each school plays the other twice in a round-robin format to decide the region championship and seeding for the playoffs.
“We have not played (division games) at all,” Duran said. That means a single round-robin format or perhaps even a double-elimination tournament would have to be implemented to determine the region champion.
“We got off to a good start,” Duran said of her 2-3 Lady Tigers. “I think we had a chance to have a good season.”
She said she was pleasantly surprised by the pitching performances of Morgan Duran, who came into the season with very little experience in the circle but has developed rapidly.
