BY PAIGE GRIESSE (’15)

A softball player hit a ball that went too high and broke a sprinkler head during a practice on Thursday, causing the gym floor to flood.

“Most of the water came out of the one sprinkler head and set off the alarm which brought the fire department,” Athletic Director Mr. Kevin Jarrett said.

A number of staff members helped clean up.

“Staff started cleaning around 6 and finished around 8 pm. It took a little less than two hours to clean up,” Jarrett said.

The water caused damage to the floor.

“Right now it looks like the floor was covered with water from about the visitor stands to right about to the Ace in the middle,” Jarrett said. “These floor boards are super dry and have never had moisture so when it flooded, the boards concaved and sucked in the water and probably won’t dry out.”

The school has an idea to hopefully fix this this situation.

“What we are thinking about doing is taking off the top layer of paint and sanding the wood down to help dry them out and hopefully while we do that we can repaint the ceiling and fix other things that need to be done while not having to worry about getting paint on the floor,” Jarrett said.

The real problem that the school is facing right now is what they are going to do in the summer when the gym needs to be utilized for volleyball camp, basketball camp and summer PE.

“The issue is, if we have to tear up the floors, what are we going to do about all of the camps we run in the summer?” Jarrett said.

The school is trying to avoid this situation from happening again at all costs.

“I think in the future we just need to be careful how we use the softballs and baseballs in the gym,” Jarrett said. “We definitely will be more cautious in the future.”