Photo by Hayley Parsons

Freshman Luke Batson swings the bat on home plate at one of the games

Freshman Luke Batson swings his bat, making contact with the ball and watching it soar over to right field. Rejoicing in his hit, Batson reminisces on the idea that he never has to miss out on another game. 

“Being quarantined even if I wasn’t sick would be very frustrating,” Batson said. “I would not be able to play in the games even though I wasn’t sick.”

Mansfield District collaborated at the beginning of the year on enforcing a rule in which if someone is contact traced, they would automatically be dismissed from school for two weeks. With this regulation, sports teams suffered because teammates would miss out on games even if they weren’t sick. 

“It was frustrating that I wasn’t able to do anything outside of school,” Batson said, “or not being able to go to school and see my friends.” 

Though this practice served its purpose, with time, MISD relieved the enforcement and replaced it with a new set of rules. Now, if students wear their masks consistently and properly they no longer will have to quarantine if a peer is contracted with COVID-19. Freshman Jacob Greenman rejoices in this new byline along with the rest of the freshman baseball team. 

“The new rule will definitely be helpful if something does happen,” Greenman said. “This way, the whole team won’t be out.”

Sports all-around MISD, like the baseball team, can celebrate knowing that no one has to miss out on playing anymore. With this new rule, the teams are reassured that the number of teammates won’t falter under the penalty of another COVID-19 protocol. 

“Yes, I think this will help our sports,” Batson said, “because we won’t have people out so our sports can have the full team to play.”