Photo courtesy of Cathy Edwards.
The 2020 Hoover High School baseball seniors. Adam Moseley said the most difficult aspect of the Bucs not being able to complete the seasonis the lack of closure, particularly for the departing senior class.
The last few days of competition were a whirlwind for Adam Moseley and the Hoover High School baseball program.
The weekend of March 13-14, the Bucs were slated to travel to Oxford, Mississippi, to play some out-of-state competition. That Friday evening, the team had tickets to go see LSU face off against Ole Miss, where Hoover alum Cole Baker now plays.
But because of the rapidly-evolving COVID-19 pandemic, rumors began swirling that the Bucs’ trip may not happen.
By Friday, the trip was off, and Hoover ended up scheduling games against Enterprise and Ramsay at home on Friday and Saturday.
“It was a really weird locker room,” Moseley said of the weekend. “You really didn’t know if that was going to be your last game or not.”
Moseley had the foresight to honor the seniors on that Saturday in typical fashion. All the seniors played in the 13-6 win over Ramsay.
“That was fun to see,” he said. “We were able to do that, and we had some of our seniors in the second game and pulled them out in the fourth inning.”
The plug was pulled on high school sports after that weekend, with schools closing for a projected two-week period. But on March 26, Gov. Kay Ivey and state schools Superintendent Eric Mackey announced schools would switch to alternate instruction for the remainder of the spring, including the cancellation of all spring sports.
“It was a tough, tough day,” Moseley said of that day. “It was similar for me to the end of a season. There were tears shed, for sure.”
Moseley said the most difficult aspect of the Bucs not being able to complete the season is the lack of closure, particularly for the departing senior class.
“You feel like you’re at fault as a coach because those seniors did not have a typical senior year,” he said.
In each of Moseley’s first 15 seasons as a head coach, he knew immediately when his team played its final game, whether it was a season-ending loss or a state championship triumph like the 2017 Hoover team. But this year was different. There was no way of knowing at the time that the team would not be able to assemble again after its games on March 14.
There was reason to believe the 2020 Hoover squad had a legitimate chance to make waves in the outcome of the Class 7A season across the state. The Bucs had a 12-4 record and won five of their last six games.
“I thought we were in the mix to really be in the conversation,” Moseley said. “When you get to that point [the playoffs], it’s about who’s playing well at the right time and the bounces that go your way. I also thought it was as deep a year as there ever has been around here.”
As unfortunate as the situation was, Moseley said it is the epitome of sports teaching young people about life.
“It is the world’s greatest ‘life’s not fair lesson’ of all time,” he said. “It’s never fair.”
Moseley lauded his class of 12 seniors for being one of the most mature groups he has ever coached. He has seen them go in their own directions now that school is no longer in session and believes each of them will have an impactful story as a result.
“We have seniors who I truly believe could take a normal job and be truly successful people in society right now,” he said. “Great young men, insanely mature and successful people down the road for sure.”
