MEMPHIS, Tennessee —
The fields at Gameday baseball are no longer silent. This weekend's youth baseball tournament marks the first sporting event in the Memphis metro area since the COVID-19 shutdown.
"The children are just so ready to get back into normal life and get back into sports and this is wonderful," said grandmother Sherry Moore.
The loss of baseball was particularly hard on the McCord family who moved to Collierville from Oregon earlier this year. 11-year-old Tanner had just started school when quarantine began.
"Traumatizing really, heartbreaking. Wanting to find a new normal but you can't start it yet because you can't leave your house," explained mom Amber McCord.
"It's been pretty hard you know, going to school for like 3 weeks, and then baseball gets cancelled. It's hard yeah, but now we can play," Tanner said.
Gameday baseball put in a long list of precautions, including limited capacity and removing bleachers. Many adhered to the guidelines, but some did not.
"I'm still a little nervous, I'm not going to lie," Amber said.
"To be honest, I'm quite terrified of what could happen if people don't abide by the protocols, because this could be a petri dish,” said Andrew Bowie, head coach of a team.
“Stay away. I have my mask, but I won't let him go in the dugout," said Amber.
"This is real. This is out there, and we're trying to figure out what, how do we continue to live our lives during it," dad Ricky Dyer said.
The question remains: will events like this work going forward?
"I do think that it is essential that if we're going to be able to keep playing for people to behave, and I hope that happens. It is not a guarantee," Bowie said.
The only guarantee is that every team will play three games this weekend and hope there will be plenty more to follow.