Why did Little League International remove a Fort Worth team with no notice?

Fossil Creek Black’s 12-U All-Star youth baseball team was excited for the District 7 playoffs following a dominant 11-0 regular season. However, the team was disqualified and according to the team and parents were unceremoniously removed from postseason play on the orders of Little League International .

Fossil Creek’s Black 12-U All-Star team was made up of Harper Texas Baseball Club which went 11-0 during the regular season, outscoring opponents by a dominating 158-4 margin.

Fossil Creek’s supporters say that dominance led to the team being hit with accusations regarding their team’s formation and eligibility. However, they received a letter from Little League on June 12 that cleared them of all wrongdoing after they presented proof that they had followed the rules and guidelines.

After winning their first game in the District 7 tournament, Fossil Creek was set to play a game against University Little League on Saturday, June 15 but the game was postponed until the following Tuesday (June 18) with no reason given.

On June 18, the team showed up at the game site only to learn the game had once again been postponed.

Assistant coach Cyle Brossman said the team wasn’t aware of what rule they were being accused of breaking before the postponements.

“There was a firestorm of new calls from the other teams in the district, to Williamsport, basically just trying to elevate this even further and ask them to reopen it and apparently they said that there were new allegations and they had some sort of substance to them. Those allegations were never presented to Fossil Creek Little League or to President Derick Rush, any of the players or anything,” said Brossman.

Brossman then alleged a Little League official pressured the local league president Derek Rush and gave him only 15 minutes to decide if Black Creek would be removed from the playoffs or if stronger sanctions would be levied.

“Williamsport called Derek Rush the president and said either you remove this team voluntarily or we will remove all of your teams from district play,” said Brossman, “ With 15 minutes to respond and the threat of losing his charter potentially or, and, and at the very least losing all of his teams in play. Derek made the decision to go ahead and voluntarily withdraw us in order to kind of save some part of the situation.”

Fossil Creek Black looked into hiring legal representation, but said because of Rush’s withdrawal of Fossil Creek Black’s team ,there wasn’t any legal remedy against Little League International .

Rush did not respond to a request for comment.

On Facebook, Rush put out a post after Fossil Creek’s removal apologizing for capitulating to outside pressure.

In a statement, Little League International told the Star-Telegram that it considered the matter closed, pointing out that Fossil Creek voluntarily withdrew.

“A protest was filed with the Little League International Tournament Committee by another league participating in the Texas District 7 Tournament. As the role of the Tournament Committee is to review situations that arise at all levels of the tournament and ensure Little League rules, regulations, and policies have been implemented, the Tournament Committee reviewed the information provided in the protest, and subsequently discussed it directly with the League President, after which the Fossil Creek Little League team in question voluntarily withdrew from the Tournament.”

“This withdrawal was accepted by the Tournament Committee and the Texas District 7 Little League Baseball tournament proceeded on June 19, 2024, without the withdrawn team. As such, Little League International considers this matter closed. We appreciate Fossil Creek Little League for choosing to continue to move forward with its other Little League Baseball tournament teams this summer, and we wish all players the best of luck in their baseball journeys.”

Fossil Creek head coach Greg Harper said the team was more than willing to address additional claims of malfeasance but was never presented with the opportunity and said Little League International has now shifted the blame to Rush.

“Essentially [Little League International] washed their hands clean of it. They made a phone call, made a threat, got us removed and then, hey, guys, we didn’t do anything. Don’t talk to us,” said Harper.

Harper said despite how unlikely it seems, there is a way for Little League to make the situation up to Fossil Creek.

“The last time I saw these kids together was Tuesday (June 18) before a game. They’re all standing around and I’m gonna tell them, guys the games have been canceled,” said Harper, “Put us in the tournament this weekend... Figure out a way to let them play baseball. That’s all we wanna do is let them to go, if they get beat on the field, they get beat on the field.”

Coaches and parents from Fossil Creek have said short of being reinstated and being allowed to chase their Little League World Series dreams they would like an explanation from the Little League HQ about what rules or bylaws were broken and why the situation was pursued so quickly and aggressively.