The RPI softball team will finally be allowed to practice in small groups on Monday, the first time the players will gather on a field since their 2020 season was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Engineers were undefeated through a dozen games and playing in Florida when college sports came to a halt a year ago.
“Certainly, my kids are ready to get out and get on the field and do something, even if it is small groups,” RPI head coach Amber Maisonet said Wednesday. “They’re ready for anything at this point.”
They still don’t know if they’ll be able to play games this spring. But RPI took a significant step with the announcement on Wednesday its athletic teams will be able to participate in training and conditioning.
Until now, RPI has had the strictest COVID-19 precautions of any NCAA school in the Capital Region. RPI’s athletes have not been able to hold any team activities — either practices or games — or use the school’s athletic facilities this academic year.
RPI associate athletic director for communications Kevin Beattie said the plan is for the spring teams — including softball, baseball, lacrosse, golf, tennis and track and field — to start workouts on Monday, followed later in the week by the fall and winter teams.
In a news release, RPI said any participation in games this spring will be “dependent on the overall public health situation,” encompassing the school and the communities around RPI and its opponents.
RPI is currently in a campus-wide quarantine but plans to return to in-person classes on Monday, depending on test results, the school said.
The Liberty League, which includes RPI, Union and Skidmore, is beginning its spring sports schedule on March 26. Union and Skidmore are already committed to competing.
“Knowing that our last competition was more than a year ago, we couldn’t be more excited to give these kids the opportunity and some normalcy and get going in a week or so,” Union athletic director Jim McLaughlin said.
Union already allowed its athletes to practice this academic year under COVID-19 protocols.
“Thankfully, we’ve been able to engage throughout to make sure fitness levels are where they need to be,” said McLaughlin, asked if his teams will be ready to play on March 26. “Our athletic training staff does a terrific job of monitoring and we’ve been in full swing for a couple of weeks now and I think they’ll be ready to go.”
RPI athletic director Lee McElroy acknowledged his athletes are eager to do something, especially when all the surrounding schools are active.
“There’s a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of excitement,” McElroy said. “Again, as we have since this all started, we have been driven by following the science and the metrics.”
RPI’s teams won’t be ready to play games on March 26. But the Engineers could join Liberty League competition later in the spring, according to league commissioner Tracy King.
“In all of our sports, we will have an odd number of teams, so we would simply be able to plug RPI into the bye dates,” King said. “It wouldn’t be a problem if RPI opts to compete.”
Maisonet and baseball coach Keith Glasser anticipated it would take about four weeks of practice for their teams to be ready to play, which could start the season in mid-April.
“You always want to be as hopeful as possible with everything that’s gone on in the last year,” Glasser said. “Losing last season, you’d hate to have it happen again. But we’ve got to be prepared for both scenarios. If and when we get the go-ahead, it’ll be awesome to get back on the field and compete and practice and see your teammates and do all the things you want to do as a student-athlete.”
