The Sharpsville softball team was celebrating a 9-3 win over Maplewood in the District 10 Class 2A playoffs on Monday when they got the call.
Their season is over.
According to PIAA rules, the Blue Devils used an illegal assistant coach during the win and had to forfeit. As a result, Maplewood moves on to the District 10 semifinals on Wednesday against Wilmington at Slippery Rock University at 3 p.m.
Recently, a Sharpsville assistant coach was given a supplemental ejection during a game against Wilmington. The supplemental ejection was put in place by the PIAA in 2020 as a more severe punishment for “Any ejection involving confronting, contacting or addressing a Coach, contestant or official using foul or vulgar language, ethnic or racially insensitive comments or physical contact results in a two-game sit out penalty.”
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In addition to sitting out two games, the coach or player must also take a 20-minute online course about sportsmanship. Once the player or coach takes care of both aspects of the ejection, they become eligible to return to the team.
The Sharpsville assistant coach sat out two games but didn't complete the paperwork for the online course. The Blue Devils are the defending District 10 champions but won't get a chance to defend their title after the forfeit.
A similar situation took place during the fall of 2020 with the Grove City boys soccer team. A coach and a player both received supplemental ejections but neither completed the online course. Grove City was forced to forfeit seven wins that the two participated in before completing the course.
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Contact Tom Reisenweber at treisenweber@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNreisenweber.
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