The Alabama High School Athletic Association announced late Wednesday night that all of its playoff activities would be canceled through Monday, May 4 because of the threat of swine flu.

The decision came after schools in the Huntsville/Madison area announced they would shut down through Monday because swine flu cases had been identified there. That action would have prohibited all athletic events for those schools, including participation in this weekend’s state championship track and field meets.

In the wake of the move by Huntsville, AHSAA Executive Director Steve Savarese said that he had consulted with their Medical Advisory Committee, which advised him to shut all contests down.

The action means that area softball tournaments involving Mortimer Jordan, Hayden, Gardendale, and Corner will be postponed until further notice.

Fultondale, which plays in a two-team area in Class 2A and therefore only had to play a best-of-three series against Vincent, played those games on Wednesday and avoided the shutdown.

We’ll have more on this story as it develops, with full coverage in Saturday’s edition of The North Jefferson News.

Robert Carter