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Member
We just came back from the 12U Pickerington Invitational Tournament last weekend, 7/7 - 7/8. ?The final championship game, between GFOD THUNDER and Pickerington Thunder was anything but normal. ?At the beginning of the game, the Umpire called out the coaches for the coin toss, GFOD came out on the field, and Pickerington did not for quite some time. ?The Umpire warned them 3 different times to come out on the field and finally gave them a time limit or he would call the game and GFOD would win by forfeit. ?Pickerington finally came out, the game began and throughout the game, fans from the Pickerington team were evidentally making derogatory comments directly to the head umpire behind home plate, regarding what they thought were "bad calls". ?Finally, at the top of the 6th inning, GFOD was 1 run away from a "run rule", had no outs and a runner on 3rd, the Umpire made another call the Pickerington fans didn't approve of. ?The Umpire then stopped the game and told the Pickerington Coach that all of the Pickerington fans & spectators were to leave the park. ?The Pickerington Coach refused and then announced that he was the tournament director and over-ruled the umpires decision! ?HOW ABOUT THAT??? ?The Umpire then stated that if the coach wouldn't stand by his decision, he was leaving. ?The Pickerington coaches yelled "BYE" and the Umpire left the park. ?In the meantime, the GFOD and Pickerington teams waited about 45 minutes or so, while the tournament director / Pickerington Coach, found a new umpire. ?Finally, a new umpire arrived, GFOD scored 2 more runs, then had 3 up / 3 down and won the game by a run rule, 11-2. ?It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. ?It was very unprofessional and unfortunately left a bad taste in our mouths about Pickerington. ?Its unfortunate because the facility was nice, but there's a lack of good sportsmanship.