High school sports are back

It was March 13 when the Iowa High School basketball season officially finished with the Class 4A state championship, when Ankeny held off Waukee 78-70. The game was played just one day after the NCAA Division 1 Men's basketball tournament was canceled, one of many dominoes that fell in route a completely empty sports slate.

Monday night's Iowa high school baseball games were the first sanctioned sporting events for a high school or college in three months. The vast majority of professional sports have not returned, but those sports that have returned have done so without fans.

Opening day for baseball and softball was different in many different ways. Social distancing rules will shake up the 2020 season. The dates, of course, will be slightly different, and there will be no waiting for spring athletes to finish up their postseason before they can play. The high school golf, soccer, tennis and track and field seasons were all casualties of the COVID-19 shutdown.

If all goes well, Monday night's games will kick off a solid month of regular season play. Due to the season beginning late, there will be games played almost every single night.

Fans of Iowa high school sports are used to the long wait of summer. The state baseball tournament usually ends one month before volleyball and football season, but fans haven't had to wait three months for games in quite some time.

The 2020 softball season will begin on July 13, the same day as the final baseball games are set to be played. The softball postseason will culminate in the state tournament in Ft. Dodge, which will take place between July 27-31.

The state baseball tournament will begin on July 24. State championships will take place on Aug. 1. That means the fall sports season, as long as everything goes to plan, will start less than a month after the summer season ends.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association and Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union has asked players, coaches and fans to follow guidelines outlined on the associations' respective websites. This will help increase the chances that the season will last, and keep Iowa high school sports fans from another long sportsless drought.