North Carolina was involved in yet another scandal involving an athletic team, as part of allegations that a softball team conspired to throw a game in order to eliminate a tougher opponent.
Washington’s South Snohomish Little League team was accused of throwing the game versus North Carolina’s representative from Rowan in order to knockout Central Iowa due to a tiebreaker in the pool play stage of the Little League Softball World Series.
Washington had already qualified for the semifinal round with one game left to play, and reportedly sat their best players and ordered the remainder to swing at bad pitches or bunt to ensure they lost their game against Rowan. It resulted in the North Carolina squad winning 8-0 along with a no-hitter that left Central Iowa eliminated and heartbroken.
While watching the game unfold, the Central Iowa girls also quickly realized what was happening.“It took about a half inning for the girls to catch on,” Husak said. “We were trying to keep it from them, but you could see when they caught on that the tears started to pile up. It was pretty emotional.”
Chris Chadd, Central Iowa’s league president, told The Des Moines Register that he felt team should be disqualified, though he didn’t blame the adolescent players for following adult coaches’ instructions.
"It's clear to everyone that they basically threw the game," Chadd said.
"It's not the girls' fault," Chadd said. "It's the coaches...they should be disqualified."
Such tactics are clearly against Little League Softball’s rules — as well as basic sportsmanship.
When a manager or coach instructs his/her players to play poorly for any reason, such as, but not limited to the following, such action may result in the manager’s removal by the Umpire-in-Chief, and/or removal of the manager, coach(es) and/or team from further tournament play.1. losing a game to effect a particular outcome in a Pool Play Format tournament
After filing an appeal, Central Iowa was given a chance to face Washington in a playoff Monday morning after officials released a statement saying they received “credible reports some teams did not play with the effort and spirit appropriate for any Little League game.”
Central Iowa ended up winning 6-3 in a triumph of cosmic justice (and a fatal fielding error).
They will play Rhode Island’s Warwick North Little League in a 7 p.m. semifinal Tuesday. North Carolina is also scheduled to play their semifinal Tuesday night.
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