The Beatless Beat Writer: Softball, Cornball, and the Questions Surrounding Eligibility

When it comes to all of the wide-sweeping cancelations in sports at both the amateur and professional levels, there is one group that could be considered to be hit the hardest.

The senior student-athletes in the NCAA.

I cannot begin to imagine the struggle to deal with this current situation with both dignity and grace. The situation as a whole is disappointing for student-athletes across the nation, but for the seniors in spring sports, well, they had their livelihood stolen away from them in an instant.

The player that this impact resounded the hardest with me personally is senior Crimson Tide softball pitcher Sarah Cornell. With all of the spring sports being postponed indefinitely on Thursday, Cornell was one of the hardest hit by the sudden scheduling changes.

Saturday’s matchup against Bryant was to be her senior day.

I’m just going to sit here for awhile pic.twitter.com/SScXCdyF6E
— Sarah Cornell (@Cornball) March 13, 2020

So far in the 2020 season, Cornell had only seen action in five games and a total of 15-and-one-third innings. Softball season was just getting started, and while the preseason-No. 1 Crimson Tide had gotten off to a rough start, it was beginning to look like the team was turning things around.

Cornell is one of the most-beloved players on the softball squad by both teammates and fans alike. Lovingly nicknamed 'Cornball' by her teammates, athleticism on the field along with her bubbly personality creates a contagious personality that makes it hard to not smile when around her.

Happy Senior Day to my favorite @Cornball. Thankful for you, our friendship, and constant laughs that you provide me with everyday. I hope to be half the person you are one day and make others feel the way you do. Thank you, for everything. 💚#20Forever #5thYear #Please pic.twitter.com/MjQeOJluQR
— Carson O. (@carsonowens12) March 14, 2020

But unfortunately for her, along with many other student athletes, her time has seemingly come to an end.

Of course, Cornell wasn’t the sole senior on Team 24. Outfielder Elissa Brown, infielders Taylor Clark and Claire Jenkins along with pitcher Crystal Goodman join Cornell is having their seasons abruptly come to an end.

Graduate-student outfielder Alexis Mack, who sat out a season in order to return to the field this spring, is also finished.

Obviously softball isn’t the only sport to have its season cut short, but for me personally the sudden end to the season is personified so well in Cornell’s tweet.

As reported late last week, the NCAA is currently examining options on how to handle the cancellations and do right by the senior athletes. While this is a positive step in the right direction, this raises a lot of questions from myself and many others.

Division I Council Coordination Committee agrees eligibility relief is appropriate for spring sports: pic.twitter.com/u7hwYOyTDV
— NCAA News (@NCAA_PR) March 13, 2020

First and foremost, who would this eligibility be issued to? Would it be granted to the men and women basketball players who also saw their seasons end? Would it strictly cover those in the spring sports such as softball and baseball?

Secondly, how exactly would such a process work? I completely understand the thought process of wanting all seniors to be eligible to return for another year, but there are a lot of rules that would need to be altered in order to accommodate them.

Among those rules that would need to be amended would be roster sizes. Teams that retained their seniors for another season would be forced to drop incoming freshmen or other players in order to keep them on the team. That is, unless the NCAA were to increase the roster sizes on the team. In all likelihood, the teams would not maintain a roster filled with seniors in exchange of essentially forgoing freshmen talent.

Another question: what about scholarship caps? Different teams are distributed a certain number of scholarships that can be issued out to players every year. If a team were to retain its seniors to give them another shot, what would be done about the scholarships? Would they be forced to pay out of their own pocket for their school in order to return? Would the freshmen have to give up scholarships?

The easy answer would be to simply raise the numbers of both the roster sizes and the allotted scholarships for a single season, but unfortunately it isn’t quite that easy.

Regardless of what is to come, there is clearly a bumpy road up ahead the NCAA when it comes to providing a sense of relief for its senior athletes.

For now, the only option for athletes like Cornell is to watch and wait. After pouring out her heart and soul into her teams over the past four years and beyond, it is truly a shame to see it all come crashing down in such a sad fashion.

One can only hope that this experience will pave an easier path for athletes to come should something like this occur in the future.

This story is part of an ongoing series by Joey Blackwell discussing what it is like to be an Alabama fan in Tuscaloosa without Crimson Tide athletics. These stories are meant to inform as well as entertain. While some (like today's) might raise more serious questions than answer, the objective is to strike up discussion.

With that being said, what are your thoughts and do you have any answers as to how you think the NCAA can accommodate these seniors?