A junior varsity coach in the Alliance Baseball League tested positive this week for COVID-19, leading to either tests or quarantines for all of his team’s players, a temporary shutdown of the Bartlett High baseball facility and a change in venue for a varsity tournament that started Friday.
The coach notified league officials of his positive test on Friday afternoon, according to a statement from the league. The Alliance league was formed this year to fill the void left when the American Legion canceled its season because of the pandemic.
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Neither the coach nor the team was identified. The coach was last with his team three days ago at the Bartlett High baseball facility, the league said.
The team’s games have been canceled until further notice. Players on the team must either be tested for the virus or quarantine for 14 days, and they must be symptom-free before they can return to practice or play.
All of Friday’s junior varsity games were canceled.
News of the positive test — the first in two months of playing — came during a week when COVID-19 cases are soaring in Anchorage and the rest of the state.
It came on the same day the Anchorage School District said the school year will begin next month with online-only classes because the surge in coronavirus cases has put the district at a high-risk level. Activities like football practices were halted earlier in the week.
The JV season doesn’t end until the first week of August, but the Alliance varsity season ends next week with the conclusion of two tournaments that started Friday.
One is the state championships at Mulcahy Stadium. That tournament has not been affected, a league spokesman said.
The other is the Matson Invitational, a tournament for teams that didn’t qualify for the state championships. It was scheduled to be played at Bartlett but was moved Friday to the Kosinksi Fields.
The Bartlett field will be closed for 72 hours in compliance with the league’s city-approved mitigation plan and will also be sanitized, the league said.
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