Chapman athletics to take part in unofficial Southern California ‘bubble’
For the first time since March 2020, there may be competition returning to Chapman sports in the form of a SoCal-only ‘bubble.’ Panther Archives
When looking up the word “bubble” on Google, you’ll receive the following definition: “a good or fortunate situation that is isolated from reality or unlikely to last.”
That’s a concept that many athletes and sports fans have become all too familiar with over the past seven months, as professional sports teams have adopted a “bubble” format of centralizing competition in one or a few locations to limit the potential spread of COVID-19. First came the NBA bubble in July, followed by the NHL and MLB adopting the concept later on to complete their 2020 seasons and most recently NCAA Division I athletics scheduling a March Madness bubble, set to take place in Indianapolis.
While it’s currently unofficial — and not nearly in the same format — Chapman University is also looking to compete in a centralized group of teams come mid-March, if the test positivity rate for COVID-19 in Orange dips below qualifications for the most restrictive, purple tier of California’s county watchlist.
“That bubble format that you’re going to see a lot of in order for Division I to get their games in is not something you’ll see here,” said Jennifer Dubow, executive director of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC), of which Chapman athletics is affiliated. “(However), if other schools meet our same COVID protocols, we could have those (Southern California) teams play each other.”
Besides Chapman, the only two teams in the SCIAC who have the ability to hold competition this spring, according to Dubow, are the University of Redlands and California Lutheran University. Yet, despite only having two other SCIAC schools eligible for competition, some coaches like baseball head coach Scott Laverty, are not worried about the possible lack of variety of games on their schedules.
“It might just be us, Redlands and (California Lutheran), and we’ll do some setup to have us play each other eight to nine times,” Laverty said. “If we get to start when we’re thinking, we could get 25 games or so.”
In order to qualify for the 2021 Division III National Championship, teams only need to compete in one quarter of a total season, Dubow said, given new rules due to COVID-19. In the past, baseball would have needed to compete in half — 26 of its 52 scheduled games — to qualify for the Division III World Series. Now, that number is cut to 13, per Dubow.
Laverty believes they can find enough competition to schedule 13 within a Southern California pseudo-bubble, which may not only include Redlands and Cal Lutheran, but Division I and II teams as well.
Dubow said most teams at any division could be placed on a schedule for Division III teams, because the NCAA deems them “countable opponents.”
“We could go out of conference and play local Division II and Division I schools because they’re following the same testing protocols as us,” Laverty said. “It’s going to give us better looks at good teams and prepare us for a playoff run.”
The prospect of playing Division I talent is an unprecedented but welcoming challenge to some of Chapman’s players, like junior centerfielder Brad Shimabuku.
“We are one of the top teams in DIII,” Shimabuku said. “It’s a good test to see where we stand against other colleges in the nation and see where we rank on a (division-less) scale.”
No matter who it’s against, the baseball team seems eager to take the field at Hart Park in Orange, California.
“Having the positivity that we’re going to play some games (is exciting),” Laverty said. “How many and against who? We're still unsure, but we’re excited that we’ve got a (hopeful) start date and we’ll work from there.”