An Oklahoma youth baseball coach has received a lifetime suspension for allegedly telling his son to throw a ball into the opposing team’s dugout during a game, according to USA Today.
The United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA) also sanctioned his son with a five-year ban.
“Due to the sensitive nature of the sensitive manner of the issue, and involvement of minors, no further comments will be provide,’’ John Latella, CEO of USSSA, told USA Today.
The shocking scene that resulted in the lifetime ban for Michael Ryals, a 38-year-old from Welling, Okla., happened last Sunday during a tournament in Kansas City.
During a contest pitting 11-and-under players from Oklahoma — Oklahoma Eleven 11U — against those from Nebraska — Nebraska Prime Nationals 11U — Ryals’ son, the Oklahoma pitcher, fired the ball into the Nebraska team’s dugout on the third-base side of the field.
The umpire immediately stopped play as fans began yelling, and it appeared the first-base umpire threw someone out of the game, an eventual 8-6 Nebraska win.
The Nebraska coach said umpires ejected the pitcher but he remained in the dugout, while Ryals did not get ejected from the venue, per foxnews.com
“Are you kidding me,” one spectator yelled, as another loudly stated: “You son of a bitch.”
Other remarks included: “White trash,” “Are you f–king kidding me?” and “Get him out of here.”
The Nebraska coach accused Ryals of telling the pitcher to throw into the dugout.
“Today all of my boys learned a life lesson. While Easton was up to bat against Oklahoma Eleven, 11us coach- Mychal Ryals, told their pitcher to throw at Easton’s head. After Easton stepped out and told the umpire the coach said never mind throw it at their dugout instead. A 70mph fastball thrown into my dugout hitting one of my players,” Brandon Magni wrote on facebook, per Foxnews.com.
“DO BETTER USSSA BASEBALL!!!! At the end of the game we shook their hands and were the better men/boys. The boys learned you can’t control what others do to you but you can control what your response can be. Ours was to use this as fire & close out the game.”
An Instagram user who said that her son played for the Nebraska team added that no one was injured and the players had been cheering when the ball came way their way.
“Our team has heard that the coach is now banned from all the major baseball organizations and the player suspended,” Instagram user @kaelin.z posted. “This was two people on this team that made an incredibly bad choice, but the other kids on that team are not to blame. We did finish the game with a handshake. Youth sports have gone to a whole new level from when I was a kid but I just want my son to play a game he loves, with hopes to play on his high school team if that is his goal. Baseball is a tough sport and we don’t need to add any extra elements like this into it!”
