Technically what Shadow Hills did prior to Tuesday’s game was against the CIF playoff rules. Tehcnically the way Mary Star of the Sea fans and players took video with their cell phones wasn’t illegal. And technically the CIF dismissing the Knights from the playoffs for their rules violation was following protocol.
But technically, in my mind, it all still kind of stinks.
Certainly there is blame on Shadow Hills’ part. The rules do clearly state that you can’t take batting practice, or even play “soft toss” or work on your hitting in any way on the same day as your playoff game. That includes with a whiffle ball (that is literally in the rule). So someone in the Knights organization should have known the rule, even though it’s weird and Shadow Hills has never made it this far in the playoffs before.
But the bigger question is Why? Why can’t you take batting practice on an adjacent field to kill time because your bus got to the game earlier than you expected (which is what Shadow Hills did)? What is the purpose? What is the problem with taking batting practice on the day of a playoff game, whether it’s at your school before you leave for the game, maybe before school the day of your game, or any time or anywhere else in the course of the day. As one person in the sports department asked, what if they stopped at Burger King on the drive up and hit a few balls back and forth in the parking lot, is that illegal? The answer is yes — at the game field, an adjacent field, your home field, Burger King, McDonalds, Wendy’s, heck, even a really nice place like Arby’s, it’s all illegal.
I’d love to see the CIF yank this rule from the rulebook entirely. It seems almost logical to me that you might practice your hitting before an important game. What’s the harm? For the record, the Knights beat Mary Star of the Sea 1-0 in nine innings. See, both teams should have been practicing their hitting even more, apparently.
The Knights’ win won’t exist anymore in the record books. And when the players heard the news they were appropriately devastated. It’s one thing to lose on the field, it’s another to be deprived of that chance.
Some of the players expressed their bummed-out feelings on twitter:
Nayelli Sarabia-Ponce, who had the game-winning RBI on Tuesday said: my hit….my first winning hit for nothing,all our hard work for nothing.
Darbie Catalfamo tweeted: I just want to wake up tomorrow and all of this be a dream.
The players can take heart that the CIF decision may erase the game, but doesn’t erase their memories. Sarabia-Ponce can still always remember the night she had the game-winning hit to lead her team farther than it’s ever been before. And she has my permission to tell her grandkids about it without explaining the lame batting-practice violation. Catalfamo won’t get her wish, because there is no valid appeal opportunity, but she too can remember the way she felt after being part of the school’s first team to advance to the quarterfinals.
It’s safe to say this rule will be engrained in everyone’s head at Shadow Hills for the rest of eternity. Perhaps it happened to Mary Star of the Sea a long time ago and that’s why they were all over the violation.
Hopefully, though, the CIF just nixes the rule from the book. It is arbitrary and unnecessary.