Alabama’s seniors, now left in limbo, certainly deserved better
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — She was warming up with her teammates, and started to hear the musical chants from the stands: “Miss Bailey, Miss Bailey … ”
Something like that’s hard to miss on a regular day, but this was a special one. Alabama softball coach Patrick Murphy has long held individual senior days over the course of the season to honor each outgoing player, and Feb. 29 was Bailey Hemphill’s turn.
Before Alabama played two games that day as part of the Easton Crimson Classic, a ceremony was held in her honor at Rhoads Stadium. Hemphill’s father threw out the first pitch, appropriate gifts were given, yet the part most fans will probably most remember was her entire class from the university’s renowned Child Development Research Center participating on the field as well.
They’re all between the ages of 3 and 5, as Hemphill’s major is human development. Getting them all to stand in a line along the third-base side was like trying to herd cats.
“I didn’t know they’d have shirts and everything,” Hemphill said about the surprise. “So cute.”
Hours later, Hemphill was still smiling about it even after Alabama lost the nightcap in dramatic fashion. Down to its final out, Arizona crushed a three-home run in the seventh inning for a 6-5 victory. Most who had watched the loss described it as heartbreaking.
Little did anyone know, but the heartache was only beginning.
Last week, the NCAA canceled the rest of not only the winter sports seasons, including the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, but the spring seasons and championships as well due to the risk and rapid spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.
In a recent interview with ESPN, NCAA president Mark Emmert said: “The projections coming out of the medical community increasingly became that the virus was going to grow, and the best projections that our medical teams have seen is that May and June will be epicenter time, not diminished time, as this gets spread around the country.”
In a blink, not only was the NCAA’s biggest source of revenue, March Madness, gone, but the future of every senior suddenly put in limbo. The NCAA Division I Council Committee recommended that an extra year of eligibility be granted to all student-athletes who participate in spring sports, but the details will take time to hammer out.
What do the schools do about roster limits? Who will pay for the scholarships?
But for the seniors, even if they do get the opportunity to return, one has to wonder how many will opt to do so.
Some already put the rest of their lives on hold just to come back for this chance.
Alabama softball player Bailey Hemphill tries to hug her entire team on her senior day, Feb. 29. 2020.
Alabama Athletics
So far it doesn’t appear that those participating in winter sports will have a similar opportunity. Their regular seasons had already wrapped up, with essentially just the postseason nullified.
Zane Waddell, the world champion in the 50-meter backstroke, won’t get the chance to win the corresponding NCAA title. Gymnasts Wynter Childers, Maddie Desch and Shae Mahoney won’t get to see if they could have led a postseason run.
At least with women’s basketball the loss to Georgia in the SEC Tournament ended its NCAA Tournament hopes. Outgoing seniors Amber Richardson Cierra Johnson and Ashley Knight have a sense of closure.
James "Beetle" Bolden, a graduate student on the men’s basketball team who transferred to Alabama just for this season, has already posted a goodbye message to his teammates.
But the track teams have 20 seniors on the roster, and the rowing squad 16. Their seasons were set to continue into the spring, along with golf and tennis. Women’s golf standout Kenzie Wright will have to decide whether to turn pro, while the women’s tennis team had a roster full of seniors, which rarely happens in that sport.
Baseball and softball were just getting going. Baseball was 16-1 and about to find out how good it might be with SEC play looming. The roster includes seniors Brett Auerbach, Casey Cobb, Johnny Hawk, Walker McCleney, Kolby Robinson, Dylan Oliver, William Freeman, Kyle Cameron and Justin King.
Despite a sluggish start, softball had national title aspirations. Like Hemphill, who a year ago tied the SEC record with 26 home runs and led the NCAA with 84 RBIs, it hadn’t found its groove yet.
Hemphill was still the player every teammate would want to have in the batter’s box with a game on the line, and similarly no one was counting out the Crimson Tide making a return trip to the Women’s College World Series.
“She’s as good as hitter as anyone in the country and everyone knows that,” Murphy said.
Hemphill was more than a slugger to Team 24, though. She might have been the team’s soul. Powerful at the plate, and dynamic in the dugout, she also came across as someone who might try and huge her entire team at once.
“She’s been the best leader,” Murphy said. “She’s the one who’s held people accountable, which is hard thing to do for this generation – for anyone, really.”
Alabama softball also has senior outfielder Elissa Brown, infielder Taylor Clark, pitchers Sarah Cornell and Crystal Goodman, injured shortstop Claire Jenkins (knee) and graduate student Alexis Mack, who already sat out a season for the chance to play this spring.
Most didn’t even get their senior day. The chances of them all returning regardless of what the NCAA decides, is about none.
While the rest of the world tries to get a handle on things, and often comes across as effectively as those who were trying to get those kids to line up, one certainty prevails regarding the Crimson Tide seniors who were unavoidably robbed of their 2020 season: They deserved better.
