DES MOINES, Iowa — The high school baseball season starts up Monday, and 1A schools Tri-County and Colfax-Mingo will face off in a professional stadium for one of the first high school sporting events in the country since before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The two rural Iowa teams, along with several others across the season, will come to the city to kick off their modified season at Principal Park, which hasn't seen a baseball game since September 2019.
Sports on all levels took a hit from COVID-19. The NHL and NBA are starting to prepare a comeback on the national scale, but the baseball season from the majors down is still in limbo.
Iowa is the first in the nation to bring back high school sports as things begin reopening amid a pandemic.
With no I-Cubs games to be had, a normally-bustling Principal Park has sat empty for what would have been the last two months. But since Iowa is bringing high school sports back, Principal Park took advantage to get baseball back within its walls.
The stadium will be coming back on a limited basis due to COVID-19, with the attendance cap being reduced to 1,933. Social distancing guidelines will also be enforced.
The schedule is as follows:
- Monday, June 15
- 1 p.m. - Tri-County vs. Colfax-Mingo
- 5 p.m. - Ankeny Centennial vs. DSM Roosevelt (double-header)
- Wednesday, June 17
- 1 p.m. - Colo-Nesco vs. Baxter
- 5 p.m. - DSM Lincoln vs. Dowling Catholic (double-header)
- Wednesday, June 24
- 4 p.m. - Pella Christian vs. Grinnell
- 7 p.m. Ames vs. Knoxville
- Thursday, June 25
- 4 p.m. - Ankeny Christian Academy vs. Orient-Macksburg
- 7 p.m. - Gilbert vs. Indianola
- Monday, June 29
- TBD
- Tuesday, June 30
- 4 p.m. Woodward-Granger vs. Madrid
- 7 p.m. - TBD
- Wednesday, July 1
- 5 p.m. Ankeny Centennial vs. Ankeny (double-header)
Admission to high school games will be $8 with kids under three years old getting in for free. Tickets will go on sale an hour before game time, and parking in the Principal Park parking lot will be free.
Concession stands and merch vendors will also be open, with cashless transactions only.
Principal Park will also host several college-level games this summer. Players from various summer leagues with canceled seasons and other Iowa colelge players will be able to showcase their talents in a series of double-headers.