News story

Riverside Paving Suspension Lifted, Placed on Probation

March 1, 2004 – Jack Sirard contributing writer

FT. MYERS, Florida ˆ The Senior Softball World Championships Appeals Board has overturned a ruling that suspended one team, but has upheld the suspension of the player involved.

The incident occurred after a disputed call during a 50 Major Division game in Mobile, Ala., in late October between Riverside Paving of Louisville, Ky., and Damon's Grill from Maryland. After the call was upheld by Tournament Officials, one of the Riverside players approached the backstop and argued with the officials and the umpire. The player, shortstop Butch Hays of Riverside Paving, was ejected. He then continued to shout several obscenities and some of his teammates joined in, running toward officials and hitting the backstop with their gloves.

Riverside Paving manager Joe Gramig was told to control his players and get them back on the field, which Tournament Officials said he failed to do. At that point the game was forfeited and Riverside Paving was ejected from the tournament.

In the initial ruling, both the team and Hays were suspended for this season.

After appeals by the team and Hays, Jerry Jackson of the SSWC Appeals Board said that the board "did not feel that the Riverside Paving team should be suspended from SSWC play for one year. Therefore the decision of the SSWC Appeal Board was that the Riverside Paving team is placed on one year's probation."

In his letter to team manager Gramig, Jackson warned that "any unsportsmanlike actions by your team in senior softball during this time will result in a one-year suspension from SSWC."

At the same time, Jackson told Hays that the appeals board "did feel that your suspension from SSWC play for one year was justified."

He noted that unsportsmanlike conduct will not be tolerated in Senior Softball and added that the Senior Softball Summit made an agreement that anyone suspended from any association may be suspended from all senior associations. "Therefore, this decision will be sent to all the senior associations for them to act upon," he wrote in his letters to Hays and Gramig.

In a five-page letter protesting the initial suspension ruling, manager Gramig had a decidedly different view of the play in question as well as the actions of his team and that of the tournament officials.

In his letter to Senior Softball-USA CEO Terry Hennessy, Gramig said that "there shouldn't ever be the kind of confrontation that occurred in Mobile and certainly it should have and could have been handled better, by all parties.

"National tournament officials should have control of the game(s) through fair handed application of the rules and a working knowledge on amenable resolution should the occasion present itself.

"To those people who may have been offended by what we, or others may or may not have said, I offer, on behalf of my team, an apology ˆ my players and I are better than that and are remorseful as a result."

In his letter to Hennessy, Hays pointed out that he is a certified umpire in Kentucky and disputed the call on the play in question. He also denied that he said anything to the umpire, but admitted that he had said something to a director. He said that the suspension was not deserving and noted that "there was no physical confrontation or threats of such, merely verbal disagreement as to the interpretation and application of the rules of the game on a field situation which was very confusing."

Senior Softball-USA CEO Hennessy said that he believed the Appeal Board's decision was "very fair. I think they were correct in ruling that the whole Riverside Paving team should not be suspended because of the actions of a few players.

"Even more important, the team probation sends a clear message to teams that we will not tolerate unsportsmanlike behavior at SSWC events," he said.