The Chicopee Comp baseball team refused to finish its playoff game with Westfield Friday afternoon after fans repeatedly made racial and derogatory comments to a Colts outfielder.
The game will resume Saturday without fans at 11:00 a.m. Westfield held a 4-0 lead in the fifth inning of the opening round game in the Western Massachusetts Division I Tournament.
According to Chicopee Comp coach Justin Franczek, the racial slurs and derogatory comments were coming from fans standing behind the outfield fence at Bullens Field in Westfield. After the fans were removed, they continued to shout out comments from their cars as they left the ballpark.
Franczek said that he was proud of his team for making the decision on their own to stop the game.
“I was not involved in the decision to continue the game,” Franczek said. “They wanted to make sure that they knew that this was a wrong situation and use their voices the way that they could to make sure the situation was somewhat rectified.”
The postponement of the game until Saturday fell under MIAA Handbook rule 99.8.2. The rule states that postponements can take place when taking into consideration the “health and welfare of the student-athletes.”
“Incidents like these are incredibly sad,” Westfield athletic director Ryan Dunphy said. “The actions of this fan or fans caused immense feelings of anger. I feel for the player affected, and (the fans) are not representative of the Westfield High School Athletics program. No one should ever have to be subjected to this. We are treating this matter seriously and immediately ejected anyone who was using poor sportsmanship that is not aligned with MIAA guidelines.
“I commend the actions of the Chicopee Comp staff and team for protecting and consoling their teammate, as well as the Westfield coaching staff who was there in support of the player and team.”
The Colts team captains and seniors put out a statement on Instagram at about 7:45 Friday addressing the situation.
“As you all know, today our team had a playoff game against Westfield High School,” the statement read. “An incident occurred that is not tolerated by the Comp family. The incident was unacceptable and we fully stand behind our teammate, and the actions taken.
“These moments and lessons in life are bigger then (sic) the game of baseball. We, as a team, hope that this incident will lead to a better understanding of these issues; and will lead to more measures being taken to prevent incidents like this from happening in the future.”
"direct" - Google News
June 19, 2021 at 07:49AM
https://ift.tt/2SefxS4
Chicopee Comp baseball postpones end of playoff game after fans direct racial slurs toward Colts player - masslive.com
"direct" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2zVRL3T
https://ift.tt/2VUOqKG
Direct
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Chicopee Comp baseball postpones end of playoff game after fans direct racial slurs toward Colts player - masslive.com"
Post a Comment