BELTON, Texas — For the first time since early March, Central Texas played host to a sporting event. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes will hold their annual Victory Bowl All-Star games.
Softball took center stage this afternoon at Dee Dillon Field on the campus of Mary Hardin Baylor.
The blue team had trouble getting the bats going as the red team capitalized with runners in scoring position to win 5-2.
Baseball will follow suit at 2 p.m. Friday at UMHB's Red Murff Field while volleyball will take place at Vanguard High School at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
"The kids will have a mask with them," FCA Area Director Seth Chambliss said. "If they are closer than six feet, they've got to have a mask on. Primarily it will probably be the dugout. Coaches have stipulations where they will have gloves handy in case something goes wrong. We will have hand sanitizer all over the ballpark."
All games will be live-streamed at heartoftexasfca.org. Fans will not be allowed in the stands or anywhere in the ballpark.
"We are absolutely operating within the state of Texas protocols to be able to do this and so we will adhere them to the tee," Chambliss said. "I cannot stress enough, please no fans. Don't be the reason that we don't get to do it. Just enjoy the weekend."
Due to COVID-19, this will be the first year that football will not be played at the victory bowl.
"We had a pretty good idea that football would probably not get to take place no matter how loose the protocols got because of proximity and because of numbers," Chambliss said. "We knew that one was almost certainly going to be a no go."
The FCA got creative and decided to use Madden '20 to play the game. A live stream of the game will begin on Saturday at 6 p.m. at heartoftexasfca.org.
"They were able to use that and create likenesses of the players," Chambliss said. "Our staff has been working on this probably since late March. Where else can you see yourself on a video game, ever. Let alone playing football."
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