By By Chandler Myers
Pigs flew around the state this weekend after the Alabama High School Athletic Association canceled all athletic events late Wednesday night due to the swine flu epidemic forcing the closure of three school systems in the Huntsville area.
AHSAA Executive Director Steve Savarese said that the events would be postponed due to the illness being reported in Alabama schools.
Currently statewide, the AHSAA was holding playoffs for baseball, softball area tournaments as well as track championships that were to take place on Friday and Saturday in Gulf Shores and Troy.
Assuming that schools and athletic teams get in the clear with no reports of the sickness, the athletic events could start back up as soon as May 5 with the track championships needing to be rescheduled.
Savarese said canceling the events was a final option, but one that needed to be done.
Locally, the swine flu cancellations is affecting the Escambia County softball team, which had to cancel a game against Robertsdale on Thursday and had an area tournament this weekend.
ECHS athletic director Kyle Davis said Savarese and the AHSAA made the right choice in calling off the events.
As for the Blue Devils football team, Davis said he was not sure if the first day of spring practices would be canceled.