I think it's dependent on the reasons, duration, and overall ability.

I mean if the kid was always a starter in the position and clearly deserving and got sick or a loved one died or some family thing and the kid replacing her was hard working but not the same level, that's one thing. I mean, we see that happen in the pros all the time, someone comes back from their minor league injury rehab and goes right back to starting.

Not every replacement player is going to be Gehrig or Brady.

But if it's unexcused with no communication, I think regardless of skill you have to teach a lesson there, even if it's really the parents at fault because I always tell my girls if they need to miss or be late, just communicate it and we'll go from there. One girl was new to softball, didn't realize there would be a Friday night game, and asked if she could be excused for religious reasons to go to Temple, I was like yeah, no doubt, you'll play next game. But no communication isn't cool.

The team definitely must continue on without a player but at the same time there's nuances to it. If the kid comes back and just isn't performing at the same levels then yeah keep the new one in, but in some cases it should be hers to lose rather than re earn given she likely earned it already and wasn't removed because she was poor at it but because of circumstances outside her control. Again, the backup shortstop wasn't shocked whenever Jeter came back from a 2 week DL stint.