WE’RE STILL WAITING, LITTLE LEAGUE…

I’m eager to talk again about that controversial ending to the Wash St Oregon LL Baseball playoff game in which the winning team would be going to Williamsport to play in the national championship tournament. And indeed Wash St did make it to Williamsport….but Oregon was not asked.

And forgive me, but I just can’t get that sour taste out of my mouth as to how and why the team from North Bend, Oregon is back home, still wondering what they did wrong and how they were eliminated because a couple of adult umpires screwed up a foul ball call.

Friends, I know some of you have reached out to me and pointed out that this was just a “teaching moment” for these Oregon kids…and I hear you on that….but to me, a teaching moment occurs when the player makes a key mistake or a crucial error to lose a game.

In contrast, a teaching moment based upon an adult’s mistake – and a mistake that could have been corrected – is just not acceptable.

But in this case, these kids were victimized by shoddy umpiring by adults. The kids did absolutely nothing wrong.

In other sports where there are whistles to end a play, kids are taught to keep playing hard until a whistle blows. In baseball, if an umpire signals that a ball is foul, you stop playing.

My basic question? Why didn’t LL get with the two umps who worked the game and figure all of this out? The third base ump signaled foul – and the home plate ruled fair. And then, once they had the facts here – why didn’t LL then try to work out some sort of reasonable compromise – and then let the world know about it!

That is, LL apparently felt that once the video replay showed that the ball was fair, well, that was enough to allow the winning run to score. But no!! The video replay also showed the third base ump signaling the ball was foul – and that’s what bothers me about this outrageous game outcome. Why didn’t the LL umpires recognize that the Oregon kids depended on that foul ball call - and that’s why the runner was allowed to scamper home. It just wasn’t good sportsmanship.

LL makes such a big deal about sportsmanship – and this was a perfect opportunity, and they blew it! Take a listen to my special guest Steve Kallas on this show, along with some terrific callers. Listen here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff