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Thursday, July 03, 2008

Mile High Forced To Forfeit

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
      Little League is a stickler for the rules.
    The District 5 all-stars juniors-division double-elimination softball tournament game between the joint Zia/East Mountain Little League team and its opponent, Mile High Little League, at Vista Grande Community Center was all set to go on Monday.
    Zia's Marisela Lazano was at the plate, and the Mile High battery was warmed up and ready to go as they waited for the umpire to take his post for the start of the losers' bracket second-round game.
    That's when the 13- and 14-year-old game was stopped and a lengthy conference between the umps, the managers, the tournament director and, by telephone, the district administration in Albuquerque, Little League's regional headquarters in Waco, Texas, and its national honchos in Williamsport, Pa., ensued.
    “I found out that they (Mile High's all-stars) had a player who was ineligible,” Zia/EM manager Claudette Chavez said. “She didn't play in any of the (juniors) games that we played them in the regular season.”
    Mile High was forced to forfeit the game for its failure to field a nine-player squad after the one player was declared ineligible. Zia/East Mountain — by virtue of a bye in the first round of the losers' bracket and MHLL's elimination on Monday — advanced to the first game of the championship round.
    As a result, Thunderbird Little League, which was undefeated, was to play Zia/East Mountain in a late game Wednesday. Mile High had defeated Zia/East Mountain 9-1 in a first-round game on June 26 before they lost 8-4 to Thunderbird on Saturday.
    The bottom line, although even the plate umpire noted that there was some conflict between separate sections of the rule book, is the one Mile High athlete didn't play in 60 percent of her regular-season games at the juniors level, a requirement for participation as a juniors all-star That left Mile High with only eight players, and it had to forfeit.
    When the decision was relayed from Williamsport through to the cell phone of East Mountain Little League President Karen Demarest, some of the Mile High parents initially responded with some verbal barbs directed at Chavez. But then they checked themselves and concentrated on consoling their tearful players.
    “They ruled that one of my players was ineligible…,” said Mile High manager Mike Salazar, a former Moriarty High boys junior-varsity basketball coach. “She played in one game (at juniors) in the regular season for us. Now, we're done. That was our second loss.”
    Salazar said Wednesday that he formally protested the ruling on Tuesday morning.
    “I feel bad for the (Mile High) girls,” Chavez said. “It's not their fault. The girls don't know the rules.”
    The Zia manager had done some pregame research.
    “I got the scorebooks from East Mountain and Thunderbird, and she didn't play in any of their juniors game either,” Chavez said. “According to (Salazar), she played in one game with them against Atrisco.”
    Juniors First Round
    Kacie Humble, in sheer glee, leaped into the air as the Moriarty High sophomore-to-be scored Zia/East Mountain's sole run during her team's loss to Mile High. The 5-foot-4 right fielder slid home after racing from third on a wild pitch.
    “This is my first year playing softball,” Humble said. “I'd never done it before. It's fun.”
    Four East Mountain all-stars, including Humble, were assigned to Zia to form the postseason squad.
    “It was hard at first,” Humble said. “But then we came together.”
    Mimi Trusiano, a 5-1 East Mountain High rising freshman, was the team's catcher.
    “We've got to work on our hitting,” she said.
    Sandia Park's Destinie Garcia, who will be a ninth-grader at Manzano High, was in left field.
    “It's been kind of weird,” she said. “But it's kind of nice getting to know new people.”
    Leanna Ederer, a Manzano ninth-grader-to-be from Cedar Crest, also was an all-star selection.
    “I pulled my tendon in my arm throwing,” said Ederer, who watched from the bleachers. “I usually pitch or play second base or shortstop.”
    Caitey Amberg, the winning pitcher who went the distance, had 16 strikeouts in the game.
    “My curveball was really working,” said Amberg, an Eldorado High freshman-to-be.
    Minors and Majors
    The Zia/East Mountain 9- and 10-year-old minors all-stars were eliminated from the District 5 tourney. Thunderbird and Mile High respectively beat them 11-7 on Friday and 26-14 on Monday.
    Alyse Talamante was Zia/EM's catcher in the first game and was the starting pitcher in the second. The Route 66 Elementary rising fifth-grader is in her first year of organized softball play after competing with the boys in T-ball and in rookies baseball.
    “I was going to play baseball, but some of the boys kind of treated me bad,” she said. “Now, I love softball.”
    Jordan Ramkowsky, who will be in the fourth grade at Route 66, played in left field.
    “We were close (in the first game),” she said. “We were almost there.”
    Darian Foot, a South Mountain fifth-grader-to-be, was in right field.
    “I think we did pretty good,” she said. “But we probably needed to hit a lot more.”
    Chloe Nance, an East Mountain all-star, played with the Atrisco Valley majors (11-12) team. Thunderbird beat Atrisco 17-4 and 12-1 on Friday and Saturday to win their two-team tourney.
   

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