Gov. Murphy throws out 1st pitch at Last Dance, says he wants to see HS sports in fall – NJ.com

After throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at Friday night’s Last Dance World Series championship game, Gov. Phil Murphy said he believes there will be high school sports in the fall and parents will be permitted to be spectators.

Murphy, a left-hander, threw the first pitch to Jackson Memorial’s senior catcher, Tom Cartnick, at Arm & Hammer Park in Trenton. Jackson and Cranford were meeting the the Last Dance final.

“I believe we can (get high school sports started),” Murphy said. “There are red flags, but most of that of is due to indoor activities like parties, people on top of each other and no face coverings. That’s a recipe for disaster.

“When you’re outdoors it’s structured, you have real coaches with institutional support. I think we’re going to get there.”

A plan developed by the NJSIAA Sports Advisory Task Force, which is composed of athletic directors from across the state – allows official practices for all fall sports to commence on Sept. 14. Competition will start Sept. 28 for girls tennis and on Oct. 1 for all other sports except football, which is scheduled to kick off its season Oct. 2.

Regular seasons will conclude on Oct. 23 for girls tennis, Nov. 7 for football and Nov. 12 for all other fall sports.

“I do think we will have fans at high school events. Of course, they will be subject to the limits of 500 (persons), they should wear masks and socially distance,” Murphy said.

On Thursday, Colleen Maguire, the Chief Operating Officer of the NJSIAA, thanked Murphy for his support.

“The NJSIAA welcomes Gov. Murphy’s stated support for a fall return of high school sports,” Maguire said. “But, as is the case with society as a whole, the biggest threat to health and safety comes not from organized activities like athletic practices, but from large, off-field gatherings and parties. We’re eager to begin our seasons in mid-September, and the degree of success we all enjoy in large part depends on our student-athletes recognizing that risky behaviors could abruptly end their season.”

NJ.com reported Wednesday there is mounting pressure on Murphy to approve all-remote learning. State lawmakers said they are introducing legislation that would require public schools to offer all-remote learning until at least Oct. 31. Two large teachers’ unions, representing thousands of teachers in Essex County and Paterson, have called on the state to cancel plans for in-person classes.

A decision to go to all-remote learning could impact interscholastic athletics. When schools closed due to the pandemic in March, high school athletes lost their spring seasons.

On Wednesday, the Willingboro School District announced its roughly 3,400 students will start the school year with remote learning only. Willingboro has been hit hard by coronavirus, with 712 confirmed cases, the most in Burlington County. The district will seek approval for its plan from the Department of Education.

The Willingboro decision was also based on a districtwide survey of families with close to 2,000 responses. Nearly 70 percent of parents said they would not feel comfortable sending their children back to school, would not let their children ride the school bus and prefer virtual learning.

Willingboro joins Bayonne’s Board of Education in requesting an all-virtual learning plan. The state’s guidelines for reopening expressly say that “Districts’ reopening plans must account for resuming in-person instruction in some capacity,” though it does not specify what will happen if district plans do not follow the rules.

Asked if there should be high school sports in New Jersey if the state goes to remote-only learning to start the school year, Murphy refused to speak hypothetically.

“I don’t want to answer the hypothetical about learning, I just want to see high school sports,” Murphy said.

Murphy was spotted at four different Last Dance World Series games — two at Count Basie Park in Red Bank. He was also a spectator at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater and was at First Energy Park in Lakewood wearing a Hawaiian short on Wednesday night.

“I think this tournament has been a home run, no pun intended,” said Murphy, who was accompanied by Sen. Paul A. Sarlo (D-Bergen). Sarlo managed the Ridge-Wood Blue Devils during the pool play round of the tournament.

Murphy said the NJSIAA would be “key player” in any decisions to further delay or cancel high school sports in the state.

“I really hoping we can learn from this and extend it into the fall season,” Murphy said. “We’ll just have to see how it all goes.”

Murphy called the use of masks “decent” at Arm & Hammer Park on Friday.

“I’d like to see some more masks and face coverings,” Murphy said.

Joe Zedalis may be reached at jzedalis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @josephzedalis. Like NJ.com HS sports on Facebook.