Stories regarding sports at Mizzou and COVID-19

Life felt so normal. It’s only been a month since I was regularly covering Mizzou sports and athletic events in Columbia. Now, everything is shut down and theirs no sports for the foreseeable future. It’s unfortunate that I am deprived of what consists of most of my days. However, there’s a greater cause at hand. In regards to Mizzou sports, I wrote multiple stories on how the COVID-19 outbreak impacted the Missouri softball team. Initially, games were suspended until March 30th, then again until April 15th. Finally, the Southeastern Conference canceled all spring athletic competition. It was a pleasure to cover these sports for the time being. I love baseball and softball is a relatable variant of it. I love the unknown of those sports. In basketball, you know the best player will most likely score 20 or more points. In football, you know the great quarterback will likely have a big game. However, in baseball/softball, anything can happen. The cleanup hitter could hit two home runs or strikeout four times. It’s nice to try to find a story on the spot when you aren’t allowed that ability to know who you’ll most likely cover following a game. Here’s my stories on the team and how the coronavirus has impacted them:

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/sports/mizzou_sports/missouri-softball-among-other-sports-suspended-until-april-15/article_d6e44882-64a6-11ea-b8c4-83d9d8b2a51a.html

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/covid19/mu-softballs-season-comes-to-an-end-following-covid-19-concerns/article_aa2e6ef6-693a-11ea-9e43-839a6673d048.html