The Coronavirus threw a wicked curve at the Smoky Valley baseball team this spring, sinking the entire season before the Vikings had a chance to notch one victory. “I found out in a group text that day that we were shut down, and it made me pretty mad,” Brandon Malm said as his teammates worked on hitting and fielding drills at their new practice field this week.

As restrictions were lifted for sports in Kansas, coaches began counting players and calling other coaches to see if they could set up a few games. “My phone and email started blowing up all at once,” Coach Kelly Dauer said.

The Vikings take on Southeast of Saline Trojans Thursday, June 11th at 5:30pm at the practice field near the overpass. The rest of their home games will be played at Bethany’s baseball field as restrictions will be lifted at the facility on June 15th. Vikings shortstop Ty Miller praised the effort of area coaches who jumped into high gear to plan a number of games in a short time. “The coaches have done a lot to put this together and it’s great to be back playing baseball,” Miller said.