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By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

With a new season set to begin in two months, the Callaway High softball team is ready to get to work.

For the past two months, the players and coaches have been unable to get together because of the coronavirus lockdown.

Head coach Robyn McCann has met with the players through Zoom meetings, but she hasn’t been able to see them face-to-face.

McCann will finally get a chance to see her players in person next week, with voluntary summer workouts set to begin following a decision by the Georgia High School Association.

Callaway will have to follow an extensive set of guidelines issued by the GHSA.

Teams won’t be able to use softballs during the workouts, players will have to maintain social distancing, and the groups can’t include more than 20 people, including coaches.

“It’s a start, and I’m glad for us to get back together,” McCann said. “They’re all ready to get back together.”

McCann said the plan is for the workouts to be held at Callaway Elementary School where she is a physical-education teacher.

“I thought it’d be real convenient,” McCann said. “We’ve got plenty of room. We’ve got the whole gym to ourselves anytime we want.”

Not having to share the facility with any other sports teams is a benefit as well.

“That way when we clean, we’ll know nobody else will be in there,” McCann said. “We won’t have to go and clean behind somebody.”

At the start of summer conditioning the team can’t use softballs, but there is still plenty for the players to do.

“It’s kind of complicated when we can’t use a ball, but we can work on agility, and there’s footwork stuff we can do like you’re picking up a ground ball without actually using a ball,” McCann said.

Social-distancing, a phrase that has become commonplace in recent months, will be a key component of summer workouts.

“We’re just trying to get them use to that, and get the hang of it,” McCann said. “They’re used to sitting right next to each other and talking about everything. We’ll get everybody used to being six feet away. We’ll have to build, get them used to that.”

Callaway will be a veteran squad this season, with most of the players returning from a team that reached the state tournament before losing to Rockmart.

Callaway will be in Region 5-AA this season along with Bremen, Haralson County, Heard County and Temple.