The San Mateo American Legion baseball team was kicked out of the state tournament on Saturday following a protest from Merced as tempers flared and chaos reigned in the annual event.
San Mateo defeated Merced on the field 11-7 on Saturday to apparently qualify for the state title game against Chico today. But the Shockers were ruled out of the tourney for the second time in the last week. The most recent wild turn of events came about due to an upheld Merced, according to the Merced Sun-Star newspaper.
Merced protested the outcome of Saturday’s game, stating San Mateo wasn’t eligible to play in the tournament because it hadn’t paid their insurance on time, reported the Sun-Star.
Tournament directors ruled in Merced’s favor and the Central Valley team will now face Chico for the state title at 9 a.m. today at Yountville’s Cleve Borman Field.
“It’s not how I wanted to get there, but it’s the card I played,” Merced coach Rollo Adams told the Sun-Star. “It’s one of the reasons I stuck with the arms we used today. I knew before the game there was a good chance we would move on if we won or lost. I wanted to see how my team would perform before I protested.”
San Mateo was predictably miffed with the decision.
“We beat their ass on the field,” San Mateo assistant coach Rick Lavezzo said told the Sun-Star.
Players and fans from the teams had to be separated numerous times as the players from both teams trudged to the barracks at the Veterans Memorial complex where the game was held, reported the Sun-Star. Security had to be summoned.
San Mateo coaches told the players’ parents they plan to appeal the ruling, the newspaper reported.
Reached early Sunday morning by Prep2Prep, Lavezzo said he had "no comment" on the fiasco, though he did confirm San Mateo would be appealing the latest decision.
Said San Mateo third baseman Angelo Bortolin by phone to Prep2Prep: “Crazy stuff. We won the game but Merced protested that we didn’t have our insurance in on time and the head of (American) Legion disqualified us. We’re appealing, so we’ll see how it goes.”
The fact that as of 9 a.m. Merced was playing Chico in the title game would seem not to bode well for San Mateo.
“You never know,” Bortolin said.
Regarding post-game hostility Saturday between players and fans of San Mateo and Merced, Bortolin said: “It got pretty heated, but there was nothing serious. We know we won (the game).”
San Mateo had originally been ruled out of the tourney last week for late paperwork. But the Shockers appealed and found their way back into the event, insisting they were not at fault, Lavezzo told Prep2Prep last week.
Adams did not agree with the ruling.
“They’re ineligible because they didn’t get their paperwork on time,” Adams told the Sun-Star on Saturday. “Their insurance was 25 days late. American Legion is a stickler on paperwork. I was very surprised they were allowed in the tournament. One day they were out, and the next day they were in.”
There is a history of acrimony between the San Mateo and Merced programs, the Sun-Star reported. In 2011 Merced defeated San Mateo in the semifinals to apparently reach the title game. But San Mateo protested that the Volunteers used illegal bats and won the protest. Adams appealed to the national level and won the appeal, preceding a Merced loss to Chico in the title game.
Current Merced player Josh May called the turn of events “payback” and “karma,” noting his brother Chad was on the 2011 Volunteers that went through similar drama that involved San Mateo.
