Little League controversy: Shore softball team ruled loser of state final day after game

Heartbreaking losses are part of the nature of sports. There are Hail Mary passes that land perfectly in the end zone as time expires. There are walk-off home runs and also strikeouts with the bases loaded for the final out. There are buzzer beaters on the final shot, and there are buzzer beaters invalidated by bad calls .

But the manner in which the Toms River Little League 12U softball team lost the state final is a truly unique type of heartbreak: the girls woke up on Thursday morning to the news that they had lost to Hanover - despite walking off the field the previous night with the belief that the storm-impacted game would be continued.

"It's horrific. It's unimaginable. I couldn't believe when I read the message," said Toms River coach Brad Bossow. "I talked to my wife and I was like, 'Can you just read this back to me? because I can't believe what they're saying.' And the look of panic and shock on her face."

More: Toms River Little League 16U senior softball team wins states; on to World Series regionals

On Wednesday night in Clifton, Toms River had exited the field of the state final game against Hanover feeling pretty good. They had scored in both the fourth and fifth innings to cut the deficit to 6-4 heading into the top of the sixth. The team had momentum after two shut out innings and was going to have a final chance.

With no rain and no lightning in sight, the game was called because a lightning sensor (that was not used the day before but was being relied on again) detected lightning within 10 miles. Around half an hour later, a torrential downpour and lightning storm inundated the field in Clifton.

Toms River was content to wait it out until 1 a.m. per Little League rules, but tournament officials presented a better solution.

"They brought me into their boardroom," said Bossow. "They said, 'We'd like to have you come back and finish the game tomorrow.' I said no, we want to finish it tonight. We'll wait it out and see how the weather plays out because we don't really want to come back from Toms River. And they told me it was not up for debate."

The teams left under the notion that they'd drive back to Clifton to finish the game the next day. Then on Thursday morning, Bossow received a message notifying him that Little League officials in Williamsport had declared that the 6-4 result was final.

Just like that, Toms River's season was over and the team's hopes of a three-peat as state champions were dashed.

State final marked third Toms River game disrupted by weather

The turbulent weather had disrupted several days of a tournament that had been scheduled later than other states in the Mid-Atlantic Region. New Jersey Little League also peculiarly decided to add an off day on Monday, and the "if necessary" state final was scheduled just three days before the winner was due to report to Connecticut for the regional tournament.

Those scheduling decisions left little room for contingency planning around weather, which caused a disruption in each of the three games between Toms River and Hanover, the latter being a member of the host district. That first game was pushed from the morning to 4 p.m. and resulted in a 3-0 loss for Toms River. Toms River won the subsequent rematch 7-0, a game that also had a lightning delay, to force a winner-take-all final on Wednesday at 7 p.m. By the morning of the final, multiple weather reports showed high likelihoods of rain beginning at 8.

Undoubtedly, Toms River was not at its best in the early portion of that game. After finishing the first inning tied 2-2, Hanover walked in a run and had an RBI double in the top of the second and a Toms River error led to another in third to give Hanover the 6-2 lead. But Toms River clawed back thanks to RBI groundouts from Eva Vaselakis in the fourth and Ella O'Neill in the fifth that made it 6-4.

It set up a final chance that would never come, as the players were called off the field right as the top of the sixth was about to begin shortly after 8:30 p.m.

"We thought we had all the momentum. We had just scored the previous inning," said Bossow. "We had the heart of our lineup coming up, which had really been the standouts against (Hanover). We really crushed the ball and we felt we were in really good spot to at least get it tied in the sixth inning."

What do the Little League rules say?

For clarity, it can be helpful to compare how Little League rules might dictate the situation be handled compared to how the Toms River-Hanover situation played out.

Rule 13 of Little League's Tournament Playing Rules, which defines a regulation game, is most informative in this regard. It defines a regulation game as being four or more innings in which one team has scored more than the other, leaving little doubt that in the most literal terms the ruling of the state final is correct.

An important caveat is that Rule 13 also states, "Regulation games (when a winner can be determined) terminated because of weather, darkness, or curfew must be resumed if the visiting team ties the game or takes the lead in its half of the inning and the home team does not complete its at bat or take the lead in an incomplete inning. This does not apply to games suspended or delayed by weather that may still be resumed before darkness or curfew (as defined in Tournament Rules and Guidelines - Curfew) on the same day."

The key piece is the curfew, which doesn't appear to be clearly defined despite that reference in the rule book. Bossow was under the impression that curfew in this case was 1 a.m. and his team would've been more than willing to wait until then if the alternative was to lose the game. When tournament organizers presented the alternative option of resuming the game the following day, he assumed that was within the rules and they had the authority to make that arrangement.

"So lesson learned, I shared with our Little League (that) we need to know every single rule and if there's even a doubt or you just want to get the official word, you have to call Williamsport," said Bossow. "Unless Williamsport says so, it doesn't mean a damn thing. And that's crazy, you would think tournament directors have the ability to make a decision and stick with that."

Undoubtedly the hardest part for Bossow was breaking the news to the team. In athletics, most teams know the results from the scoreboard, but the Toms River All-Stars had to find out they lost at a meeting 75 miles away from the playing field.

"It was very somber, the girls just huddling together. We built such a great little group of girls who really love each other and play hard for each other. Families bonded together and it was just a time of consolement," said Bossow. "It's probably one of the toughest moments I've ever had in sports as a player and a coach. Because there's nothing worse than when something's taken from you when you didn't really have an opportunity to finish it."

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Little League controversy: Shore softball team ruled loser of state final day after game