The Little League Softball World Series has erupted in controversy after a team from Snohomish, Washington threw its game against a North Carolina squad, allegedly to knock out a tough Central Iowa All-Stars team from the tournament.


According to reports, the Snohomish team didn’t play its starters and ordered each batter to swing at pitches in the dirt and bunt with two strikes. The result? An 8-0 no-hitter win for North Carolina, which advanced past Central Iowa on a tiebreaker. Snohomish had won its previous two games by a combined score of 21-0, but only squeaked past Central Iowa 4-3—a result the Iowans say left the Washington team trying to avoid a finals rematch. From WHO-TV:

While watching the game unfold, the Central Iowa girls also quickly realized what was happening. “It took about a half inning for the girls to catch on,” Husak said. “We were trying to keep it from them, but you could see when they caught on that the tears started to pile up. It was pretty emotional.”

Little League officials determined the West did not play fair and did not try to win, and in fact tried to lose by a certain number of runs. Instead of disqualifying the West team, the officials determined there will be a one-game playoff.


One Deadspin reader reports the lobby of the tournament hotel was full of “pissed off Iowans” today.

[Des Moines Register]

h/t to John