Legion State Chairman: ‘Was it right? No.’

“It should’ve been played,” stated Arkansas American Legion State chairman Jeral Howard today regarding the controversy over the championship game of the MidSouth Regional Tournament which was rained out on Sunday and, initially, rescheduled for Monday before being called off in favor of a tiebreaker that awarded the title and the trip to the World Series to Texarkana over Bryant.

“It could’ve been played, I think,’ Howard continued. “In the meeting in the hospitality room (Sunday), I said ‘I don’t want this to happen. I want to go somewhere. They’ve got to play this.’

“But it was handled and I was told it was done,” he continued. “I objected to it. It made me sick to know we were doing what we were doing. Yes, I’m the State chairman but I’m assistant tournament director.”

Bryant had been the winners bracket final victor and had clinched a spot in the championship game going into Sunday’s “extra” semifinal game against Texarkana. With their season on the line, the Razorbacks rallied to survive with a 6-5 win then Sunday, before the rain, ousted Sedalia, Mo., in the losers’ bracket final to set up the final showdown, which never occurred due to the storms at Gary Hogan Field at UALR. Tournament director Ron LaPorte canceled the game and, by the Legion tiebreaking procedures, Texarkana would go to the Series by virtue of that 6-5 victory.

A bid was made to move the game from UALR with its turf infield and grass outfield to Henderson State University’s all-turf field in Arkadelphia where there had been far less rain.

Howard gave the following account of the sequence of events:

“Between 7:30 and 8 (Monday morning), we were at the (UALR) ballpark and Coach (Chris) Curry (UALR baseball) came out and walked the field. He advised Ron and I that, if it rained anymore, we could not play there. It was about a quarter inch just below the grass in the outfield. There was water still standing. You could see the wet areas where there was definitely water.

“At that time, it started misting but when I walked out the front gate, I immediately called (Bryant manager) Darren Hurt and asked him if we would contact Coach (Cody) Hooten (at Henderson) and see what kind of weather they had there and if we could play. I also told him that I’d talked to Hendrix and UCA, and, of course, they got the same blow and heavy rain we did. It came straight south.

“Darren called me back about 45 minutes later and said that the field was playable and if it did rain it might take only 25 to 30 minutes to get the water off so we could continue to play.

“I then called the North Little Rock weather bureau and they said that the rain was going to end in the Little Rock area, fairly early, say 9 or 9:30. They didn’t think we were going to get any more. Then I asked them about Arkadelphia and he told me there were no thunderstorms in any of this. He said it would start raining and it would progress into the afternoon and get a lot more.

“So I gave that information to Ron. He went back in and talked to Coach Curry. He came back out and said they were going to cancel the tournament and they would go to the tiebreaker.

“I called Darren to tell him what was happening and he requested to talk to Ron and I handed Ron my phone. Ron walked away from Jeff (Nakaishi), the other (assistant) tournament director and I. I looked at Jeff and said, ‘Did he ask you anything whether to cancel this or get your opinion or anything?’ He said, ‘No.’ And (LaPorte) didn’t ask me either. I had no idea he was even going to say that.

“At that time, I told Jeff, ‘I’m working with Darren Hurt trying to contact Coach Hooten and we’re getting a positive feel on that, about that field can be played on.’ Jeff told me, ‘I think we should go.’ I said, ‘I do too.’

“When (Ron) hung up — and I did hear him close out with Darren, something to the effect that they couldn’t talk about it anymore, there wasn’t anything else to say — and he handed me my phone.

“I still couldn’t believe that we weren’t going to (move to Henderson). Anyway, he called it. None of us had any input. He said he talked to National and National agreed with him. Have I talked to National? No. I haven’t talked to anybody. Did they know the whole story? I don’t know. I wasn’t privileged to be in that conversation. Ron said to move forward, and what we were doing.

“It was a shocker to us too. The thing about it was, I did tell Ron that I had a bus there, that we could move Texarkana and there was no doubt in my mind that Bryant could drive down because they’re just about halfway between. I said we have all the transportation. I furnished cars to (official stat keeper) Stanley (Bell) and to Jeff. So we had transportation. And, of course, Ron lives in northwest Arkansas. He had his vehicle and, of course, I had mine.

“It was one of those deals where, as assistant tournament director and, being in the military, if you get an order to do something, you do it.

“Was it right? No.

“I called the weather bureau (Monday) afternoon, late, and asked for a report on what kind of weather we had in Arkadelphia. The weather bureau told me that the rain quit at 10:01 (a.m.) and they had .52 inches of rain. The way he was so fast with it, I assumed somebody else had called him to get that too.

“Of course, Darren sent out a protest right after midnight. I didn’t read it until about 6:30 or quarter to 7 (Tuesday morning). I filed it with (American Legion Baseball Assistant Director and Assistant Program Director) Steve Cloud, my boss. And I stated in it what I’ve said here, that Jeff and I were not asked about it.”

Howard reiterated, “I promise I did not take sides on this. Both of those teams are great and both of those head coaches are friends of mine, I feel like. Every time I do anything, just like the pitch count we did in the State and the area (tournaments), I met Darren and (Texarkana coach) Dane (Peavy) in Little Rock way before we decided about it last fall. I said, ‘Guys, I’m going to depend on you because you’re two of the best coaches we’ve got and I want your input.’ We set that up and we talked (with them) about it all the way through and they were the big supporters I had.

“So the last thing I wanted to do was, number one, lose a friend,” he added. “But what irritates me is that my credibility went over the line there and I didn’t like it. I understand that if we had gone (to Henderson) and couldn’t play, I would understand that.”

“Dane felt the same way. I told him, ‘Dane, I don’t like what’s going down.’ And he said, ‘I agree. We should play it.’”

There was talk about making it a seven-inning game too.

“I said we need to move it to seven because we don’t have a lot of time,” Howard recounted. “We’ve got to start by 1 and be through by 5 (p.m). We’ve got to have pictures sent and all of that. When we were talking about that, it was about 10 o’clock (Monday). It would’ve been no problem to get (to Arkadelphia) by 12 o’clock.”

On a side note, Howard mentioned that in Legion tournaments with nine-inning games, unless there’s a 10-run lead after seven innings, no game is complete. If time had run out or the game had gotten rained out without completion, it would not have counted.

“If it was only in the seventh inning, Bryant could’ve been ahead 9-0 and only needing one run and didn’t have it, it’s not a complete game,” he explained. “In the Major Leagues, in a nine-inning ballgame, they can say that’s a complete game after five innings if it’s rained out. We can’t do that. The only time we can cut a ballgame short is on a 10-run lead, in a nine-inning game, if somebody’s ahead at the end of seven, or in a seven-inning game, in five.”

In other words, if the game had started, reached the 5 o’clock deadline or had been delayed or rained out, since it hadn’t been completed, it would’ve been determined by the tiebreaking procedures as well.

 

 

6 comments

  1. Madison McEntire

    My question is this — what would have happened had it rained all day Saturday and Sunday with three or four games being rained out and more teams still alive in the tourney? Would they have just picked a name out of a hat as the winner?

    Rainouts are a part of tournaments, they happen all the time. The planning was extremely poor not to allow at least a full day or possible two days to make sure this was settled on the field.

    The decision was wrong and would be just as wrong if they had awarded the championship to Bryant. These kids, coaches, and parents from both teams have too much hard work, time, and money invested in it to see it end like this.

  2. Steve Glenn

    Since they are no longer allowing you to post messages on the American Legion website I suppose due to the negative postings I thought I should post here. The decision to cancel the Championship Game of the Mid-South Regional was blatantly wrong. The decision has been appealed to the American Legion National Appeals Board and we are waiting on their ruling. For an organization that holds itself out as one that encourages young men to do the right thing on and off the field they have only one choice, which is, to address the facts and correct an injustice. There is no question the Championship Game could have and still can be played if the American Legion representatives would have or would put aside their own best interest and do what is right for the players. It is unbelievable this situation has gotten to this point with an organization such as American Legion baseball. It is never to late to do the right thing!

  3. Jim Sandidge

    So basically Ron LaPorte had other plans for Monday and could not be bothered with something as trivial as an American Legion Regional Championship game that 30 or so boys on two teams had played all summer to get to a winner take all game. Perhaps he needs to be relieved of any and all American Legion duties to prevent this travesty from happening again. How do we get the ball rolling on his removal?

  4. I feel sick to my stomach for them Bryant boys after reading this article about the behind he scenes fiasco.
    This was the doing of one person and one person only RON LAPORTE. Ifbhey ever even looks a an American legion baseball game again it’ll be too much. He’s GOT TO GO!
    he didn’t want to be inconvenienced by driving an hour away. Period end of story. So damn lame.

  5. salty coach

    State baseball chairman can’t over rule a tournament director? Good to know this shady stuff doesn’t just happen in my state. Legion baseball is antiquated, people still doing g everything with pencil and paper. I’m about through with it.

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