ROYAL CITY — Springtime brings flowers blooming, longer days, warmer weather and, of course, and baseball. Now, athletes such as Royal High School’s J.C. Worsham will have to wait for their return to the diamond for another season.

Worsham said simply, “It sucks.”

“I wish I was playing for sure,” he said. “This was going to be my last year playing with the Knights, so I’ve just been trying to keep working out and try and get some work outs in when I can.”

While his senior season seems to have slipped away, Worsham’s time on the baseball diamond won’t be over when he leaves Royal City. He announced his commitment last week to continue his playing career at College of the Redwoods in California.

Worsham said the junior college first contacted him in February, asking if he’d committed anywhere yet. After visiting the school on a three-day weekend, the Royal senior said he liked what he saw.

“I feel pretty blessed that I have the opportunity to play for two more years, because I really do feel bad, especially for some of the seniors here in Royal that I know love playing baseball,” Worsham said. “It just sucks that they got that taken away, because I know some of them aren’t going to play after high school. It just sucks having that taken away.”

As someone who cried, himself, when he found out the season was canceled, Worsham said he can’t imagine how the athletes not continuing their athletic careers feel.

Worsham said he was first interested the game of baseball when he played tee ball in Moses Lake around the age of five. He said he just fell in love with the sport.

“My dad really likes baseball; he played through high school and really just motivated me and helped me get to where I am today,” Worsham said. “He really supported me in all the summer ball stuff. My parents have really supported me in all that.”

As a freshman pitcher with the Knights, Worsham said he sat behind a pair of really good pitchers in Kaden and Sawyer Jenks. It wasn’t until his sophomore year, Worsham said, that he really got the chance to throw.

“Mike (Buster) really took me under his wing because my form was bad,” Worsham said. “He fixed that for me. Ever since then, as I’ve been growing and getting stronger, I’ve just been throwing stronger.”

Buster, an assistant coach with the Knights, is someone who Worsham said has played a big role in helping him become the pitcher he is today.

Worsham is a right-handed pitcher, who bats left, and added that his slider is probably his most lethal pitch.

Heading into the summer baseball season, Worsham said he’s still hopeful they’ll be able to get some games in before in he heads off for his freshman season at CR.

As a freshman in California, Worsham said he has his sights on working to land a starting spot, but knows that will be tough with an abundance of returnees who’ve been granted an extra year of eligibility.

Worsham said he’s already been in touch with the head coach about finding housing next season. After CR, Worsham said he’d like to move on to a four-year school to continue his education.

“I want to transfer from there, go to a bigger school,” Worsham said. “Playing baseball would be ideal, but I definitely want to take my education into account first, I think.”

Worsham said he hasn’t really thought about a degree yet, but plans on starting with his general education next fall as he finds a major.

Wrapping up his senior season from home has been tough, Worsham said, with him and his friends doing what they can to keep in touch.

“I feel like we’ve all been trying to stay in touch over text,” Worsham said. “I definitely still miss it. We always worked hard at practice, but we’re always going to be messing around, so I definitely miss being out on the field with my friends. I feel robbed of that.”

Whether it’s video games, group chats, or just texting, Worsham said they’ve just done what they can to keep in touch while they’re separated.

Without his parents’ support, Worsham said he wouldn’t have been able to make it to this point, being able to extend his playing career after high school.

For now, Worsham will have to continue to wait, maybe even until next spring when the flowers bloom again and the days grow longer.