Monday, August 8, 2011

Cherryville Legion season ends in home-plate brawl

Cherryville Post 100's American Legion baseball season came to a bizarre end -- a double forfeit after a benches-clearing brawl at home plate, the Gaston Gazette reported.

Cherryville, the North Carolina state champion playing the the American Legion Southeast Regional at Sumter, S.C., had just taken a 4-0 lead against Douglasville, Ga., in a game early Sunday morning.

Douglasville's catcher fired a baseball into the back of Cherryville's Blake Mosteller as Mosteller headed for the dugout after scoring the fourth run, the Gazette reported.

That started a brawl at home plate that involved most players from the two teams. After consultation the Gazette said included national tournament officials, a double-forfeit was declared, ending Cherryville's season at 32-8.

The winner of the Southeast Regional will advance to the national tournament in Shelby later this week.

For the complete story, click here.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sports builds character!

Anonymous said...

The Georgia team should have been the only one thrown out of the tournament. If the catcher really had a problem with what was said, he should have let the coach or umpire handle it, and if they didn't, the pitcher knows how to handle it. And I'm aware that this isn't pro-ball and I'm not advocating trying to intentional hurt someone, but there are unwritten rules that should be followed. It's just sad one kid's emotions got the best of him, did something stupid, and it cost both teams a chance at a potential World Series bid.

Anonymous said...

Why don't you get it....by RULE both teams had to be disqualified for leaving the bench. Can't change that. It is understandable that Cerryville fans would not get that since their team has always gotten the benefit of calls by the umpires and favorable rulings from the North Carolina legion for years at the expense of opposing teams.

Anonymous said...

i believe tat someone doesnt like cherryville, because there saying we get calls in our favour. thats busch we never get calls i play on the dang team and we have got many calls in our favour since i started playing three years ago!!!!

Anonymous said...

I've never heard of being tossed from a game for leaving the bench. I played legion and I play in college and never have I ever heard of an ejection for that. I think the legion officials had to react for the sake of reacting. And yes there should have been a hand-full of ejections for a skirmish that lasted 10 seconds and an assault charge on the catcher with the mandatory suspensions for whoever involved. They couldn't let one team advance because it would hurt the reputation of American Legion. Some of the funnest, hardest fought, and dirtiest baseball you will ever play is in legion and they make you stand on the foul line before the game and repeat an "honor pledge".