C’MON LITTLE LEAGUE in williamsport…DO THE RIGHT THING!

So I’m watching the Oregon-Wash State LL playoff game this past Thursday evening, where the winner advances to Williamsport. For any 12-year-old ballplayer, playing in the LL World Series is a thrill of a lifetime.

But something happened at the end of that Oregon-Wash State game that leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth.

Now, I’ve seen some screwy endings to all sorts of ballgames over the years, but this one was indeed something else – and I still am waiting for someone from LL in Williamsport to explain what happened.

The game was in extra innings, and in the bottom half of the inning, the potential winning run for Wash State was on first. The batter then hit a high chopper down the third base line – the only question would be whether it would be called fair or foul ….and sure enough, the third base ump who was tracking the ball immediately raised both his arms up, which is the universal signal for a foul ball.

Even Jessica Mendoza, who was working the game on ESPN, said it was very clear that the ump had ruled the ball foul. As such, every Oregon player out in the field immediately relaxed, and stopped pursuing the ball --- after all, the third base ump had ruled it foul.

But the third base coach – who was standing maybe 10-15 feet from that same ump who had raised his arms – that coach must have heard something different….because he then started to frantically wave the runner from first all the way around third and to home to score.

Again, the ump signaled the ball was foul….and the team in the field visually relied on that call that it was a foul ball, and as such, they really didn’t pursue the ball. They rightfully ASSUMED the ump had called it foul.

As you might imagine, there was total confusion on the field and in the broadcast booth. Nobody knew what was going on. The umpires then got together to talk and to review the video. And after several agonizing minutes, the home plate ump ruled that the batted ball was fair, and that the winning run had thus scored on the play, and the game was over.

Of course, the winning team from Wash State was delirious – and the losing team from Oregon – was absolutely crestfallen – everybody saw that the ump clearly signaled that was a foul ball.

Oregon has a major beef in this. I didn’t hear any explanation coming from LL. And look, I know this is only LL – but with that unexpected loss, the Oregon kids lost a chance to advance to Williamsport.

And just yesterday afternoon, I read that the Oregon coach is now appealing to Williamsport to do the right thing, and to invite and include Oregon to the playoffs which start this coming week. The coach – his name is Brett Hartlaub – says: Little League has an opportunity, I think, here to come out and do some good stuff. Let’s see if they’re smart enough to do that.”

I agree – LL Baseball – do the right thing here.

You could, as the coach suggests, bring both teams to Williamsport to compete. Or you could even arrange to pick up the game at that point and have a do-over. Make it into a kind of play-in game. That would be reasonable for both teams - and in my opinion, the right thing to do in terms of sportsmanship.

And please provide an explanation as to what happened. If the video confirmed that the ball was fair, then doesn’t the same video show that the third base ump ruled that it was a foul ball?

If yes, then why not try to do the right thing? Simply say that the umps made a mistake, and then just put the runner to second, and the batter gets first. DO NOT penalize Oregon for relying on the ump’s call that it was foul.

And speaking of sportsmanship, here also was a golden opportunity for the Wash State coach — that’s right, the winning cpach — to have stepped up and said, “Look we won this game on a really wild set of circumstances. I think we should say to LL that both teams should advance to Williamsport. That would be the right thing to do here.”

It’s now time for the people with LL to step up and make a decision. Again, just do the right thing here. We had some pretty heated calls about this. Listen here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff