By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–An asterisk will always accompany any abbreviated records from the 2020 spring sports season.
For several Union City High School senior athletes, that symbol will be a forever reminder of what could or might have been.
The coronavirus pandemic robbed 23 UCHS student-athletes of their final chance at making memories that would last a lifetime.
A handful of games were played by several Tornado entries before COVID-19 essentially shut down all school functions in mid-March, leaving participants, coaches, parents and fans to wonder ‘what if?’
Both the Union City baseball (3-0) and softball (1-0) can technically lay claim – as jokingly pointed out by their respective coaches — to unbeaten seasons. So can the Lady Tornado tennis squad, which won its only match played against Halls before the spring sports campaign was first suspended, then canceled.
Neither the UC boys’ netters nor the Twister soccer squad could make that claim, and the Tornado track program was shut down before it ever officially started with a meet.
Union City Director of Sports Turf Management Chris Crockett paid respects to all Purple and Gold spring sports athletes earlier in the week by painting names, numbers and logos on the teams’ respective fields while also giving them the backdrop for traditional Senior Night photos with family – with the proper social distancing.
The lights and scoreboards at all fields and the lights at the UC Middle School tennis courts were turned on for 20 minutes at 8:20 (2020 in military time) Tuesday night, commemorating the Class of 2020.
Both Cole McAdams and JB Suiter said it had been a challenge trying to put the big picture into perspective for their teams, and especially their seniors.
“This has been a trying spring for our baseball program and for the entire country,” said McAdams, Union City head baseball coach. “Our players were obviously disappointed in missing the opportunity to compete for a state championship and were looking forward to their time on the field.
“For our seniors, it has been particularly rough. All five have worked tirelessly to get to this point of their baseball careers and they were leaders on and off the field. They had big shoes to fill this year but were ready to step up and lead the team.
“No doubt they are all disappointed in how things transpired, but we just tried to lessen the disappointment a little by joking with them that they could proudly say they are the first and only senior class to go undefeated in a season.”
For his part, Suiter insisted the disappointment of a lost season for his program, and especially a pair of seniors, was tempered a bit by coming to terms with the fact there were no other options.
“I really hate the scenario for all athletes this spring, but due to the circumstances, we all absolutely get it,” the Lady Tornado skipper claimed. “Safety must come first for our student-athletes. Both Kyndall (Davis) and Kallie (Worrell) have been instrumental in our team over the last few years. They have both grown as athletes, but also have become stronger students and have grown personally.
“I’m thankful that our school system and sports turf management allowed us to honor them both and their families for a modified Senior Night. While I wish we could have completed a full season, I am just as eager for them to get to college and work towards their next goal in life.”