Forty-eight hours after a forfeit appeared to put a sudden end to their Babe Ruth season, the Palo Alto 13-year-old All-Stars will be allowed to determine their fate on the field. The question is whether that is fair to a Bel/Mateo team that thought it had clinched the District 6 title and may now find itself shorthanded this weekend.
“It’s a pretty unfortunate situation,” said Bel/Mateo manager Chris Davidson, who did not agree with the district commissioner’s decision to overturn the forfeit. “A group of kids in Palo Alto got taught a lesson that it’s not what you know, but who you know. They should be embarrased of themselves. They shouldn’t be able to look at themselves in the mirror. It’s an absolute joke.
“They deserve a better coach. They deserve a coach that knows the rules.”
Facing elimination, Palo Alto led 7-0 on Tuesday with left-hander Kodiak Conrad on the mound. Conrad, who had pitched two innings in Sunday’s 7-3 loss to Bel/Mateo, had reached his limit when Palo Alto manager Dave Jefferson went to the umpire for a clarification on the innings-pitched rule. According to tournament rules, no pitcher may toss more than a total of seven innings in consecutive games.
When Jefferson tried to make a change on the mound, the umpire cited a high school rule that didn’t allow the move because Conrad had begun his warm-up pitches. The Babe Ruth League has no such rule.
“That was the core basis for the forfeit being overruled,” said Palo Alto Babe Ruth President Ed Lauing, who filed the appeal.
The district accepted the appeal and conducted its own investigation before overturning the forfeit, Lauing said.
“We did everything that we were supposed to do by the book,” said Palo Alto manager Dave Jefferson, who last year also was forced to forfeit an elimination game up 7-0 due to a different sort of pitching violation. “It seemed that Belmont was trying to push forward the forfeit.”
Lauing added: “This is about kids playing baseball and one of the rules in Babe Ruth is that you do everything to keep the game from being decided by a forfeit.”
Bel/Mateo President Steve Vega, who was on his way home from the 15-year-old All-Star Tournament, was not aware of the district commissioner’s decision.
“To my understanding, that is still under review,” Vega said.
Palo Alto, meanwhile, was confident the tournament will resume this weekend with Bel/Mateo at the plate to begin the top of the sixth, down 7-0. A winner-take-all game will follow if Palo Alto can sustain the lead.
“After all this anticipation and the kids’ excitement, for it to all end without being settled on the field it would have been a very sad outcome,” Lauing said.
Palo Alto has scheduled a practice for today. Bel/Mateo might not have the same luxury.
“We may not be able to field a full team or even a full coaching staff,” Davidson said. “It’s an unfortunate situation because of work conflicts.”
Email Vytas Mazeika at vmazeika@dailynewsgroup.com.
