Savvy Little Leaguers lose on purpose to avoid facing a better team

By Fusion Staff  |  August 18, 2015 | 5:01pm
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Apparently, it’s in the Little League rulebook that the players must “strive to win.” At the Little League World Series of softball in Portland, Ore., one extremely savvy group of 12-year-old girls (and, presumably, their coaches) disregarded this soft-ass pansy rule, and instead threw a game on purpose because they didn’t want to play the good team in the finals, the Des Moines Register reports. That’s some good shit.

The South Snohomish Little League squad ran through their first two games with no problem, wiping out opponents by a 21-0 margin. They barely squeaked by Iowa, though, meaning the preteens had significant incentive to make sure Iowa didn’t advance any further. And so what’d they do? Lost to North Carolina on purpose, of course, so Iowa couldn’t go through. And how they’d do it? By ordering every hitter to just go up and bunt. Not one hitter got on base.

Against all odds, parents got upset! Chris Chadd, president of Central Iowa Little League and owner of the name “Chris Chadd,” told the Register that “it’s clear to everyone that they basically threw the game.”

I see only one flaw in the Washingtonians plan here. If you’re going to just straight throw the game, why be so obvious about it? Bunting every single time up is going to draw so much unnecessary attention. The gamesmanship is strong, but the execution was lacking. Something to work on for next time.

Anyway, the Iowans protested, and now Washington has to play a tiebreaker against Iowa to determine who advances to the next round. I hope Washington ruins them.

Michael Rosen is a reporter for Fusion based out of Oakland.

 
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