Little League Controversy Abounds

There's been a lot of conflict in youth baseball this week. First, there was the incident where a team walked a good hitter to they could get the final out of the game against a cancer survivor. And yesterday, a team had to forfeit a game that would've landed them in the regional finals for the Little League World Series, because a coach forgot to get one kid an at-bat. And all of this is happening before Skip Bayless's yearly article about how we're harming all of these kids by putting them on TV. Things were so much purer when Harold Reynolds was involved.

Yesterday, Portsmouth and Colchester played for the right to play in the game that decides who goes to the LLWS. Colchester won the game, 9-8. Until it was discovered that the Colchester coach failed to get one kid his necessary at-bat. The game was handed Portsmouth on a 6-0 forfeit instead. Colchester's going home.

Ouch. That's a rough way for a group of 12-year-olds to lose. I'm guessing there were a lot of temper tantrums thrown in the Colchester area last night, from petulant kids and petulant parents alike. The coach should probably grow eyes in the back of his head. Youth sports parents don't always react well to this sort of thing. I feel bad for the kids, but hey... life lessons, I suppose.

Colchester called out on a rule-book violation [Burlington Free Press] Moral Turpitude In The Little Leagues [the mighty mjd]