Oley Valley baseball players appreciate chance to play for state title after COVID issues
Jun. 16—Eddie Standhardt probably will be the starting pitcher for Oley Valley in Thursday's PIAA Class 3A baseball title game against Tyrone.
Two months ago, however, he was in quarantine at home for two weeks because his parents contracted COVID-19. He missed five games and wondered whether he and the Lynx would get to finish their season, especially after their school was shut down for a week in early May.
"I figured they would do everything they could to bring us back and have us play," Standhardt said. "I was definitely nervous if we would have to forfeit any of those games or if we would make the playoffs.
"It had me a little worried, but thankfully everything worked out."
Standhardt is one of least four Oley Valley starters who missed practices and/or games because of COVID-related issues. He was scheduled to pitch in an important crossover game against Brandywine Heights on April 23 until he was forced to quarantine.
His time at home ended almost the same day when several cases emerged in the high school, which was forced to close for a week.
"For me coming off three weeks of not being able to do much, it was definitely hard coming back," Standhardt said. "In that week school was shut down, I went to the (Oley) Youth League field with a couple other players and took some reps.
"It definitely affected the team. We lost to Schuylkill Valley in our first game back."
That was on May 7, one day before the Lynx swept a home doubleheader against Wyomissing and Berks Catholic, their final two league opponents, and clinched a Berks League playoff berth.
"That loss to Schuylkill Valley may have been really good for us," senior Lucas Myford said. "It was a reality check. It gave us the motivation to work harder."
Oley began its postseason the following week and hasn't been interrupted since. The players, though, haven't forgotten the time they've missed.
Freshman Paul Petersen and senior Matt Knowles missed multiple baseball games. Knowles missed several basketball games, too, and had to do contact tracing seven times.
"I missed more than a month and a half of school," Knowles said. "It was hard."
Senior right-hander Garet Blankenbiller picked up wins in the District 3 final and in the state quarterfinals and semifinals. He missed the first week of practice because he was contact-traced for the fourth time.
"It really stunk," Blankenbiller said. "I hated it. I wondered whether we'd be able to finish the season. When we came back after New Year's Day, we had 18 cases (of COVID-19) in the school district.
"We were kind of scared. We shut down for two weeks then and it was iffy from there."
Lynx coach Nate Reed wants to have players who could play multiple positions as a matter of philosophy. That flexibility became important with several of the Lynx missing time.
"We've had kids in different spots at almost every practice," Reed said. "We did that because of them being high school kids and not knowing what you're going to get each day. Then we knew with COVID, if we lost a kid for 10 or 14 days, we'd need someone to fill in."
Oley Valley's baseball team and other spring sports already had lost the 2020 season because of the pandemic. The Lynx are thankful they had the chance to play this season.
"There were some doubts if the season was going to continue," senior Evan Solley said. "That was the most heartbreaking thing as a senior and knowing this team had the potential to be a state champion. There was a lot of discouragement then.
"Thankfully we're still here and we're playing for a state championship."
