I have been with the Standard Democrat sports department since 2007. I took over as sports editor in May of 2011 and have been slightly crazy about sports since I can remember. I attended Southeast Missouri State University and Scott County Central High School. I co-created our sports web show "The Last Word" and my two children, Elijah and CJ. I was married to my wife, Angie, in May of 2014. I love to golf, I am an avid NBA2K gamer and root for the Fighting Irish on Saturdays.

Portageville's semifinal loss is tragic, but it's not a witch-hunt

Posted Sunday, October 26, 2014, at 10:48 PM

I don't do well with "in the moment" situations. As a matter of fact, I pretty much stink at thinking on my feet or anything reactionary. I am one of those people who need to take a second to gather as many facts as I can and make the most informed decision possible.

I remember one time while sitting in my favorite chair at home and my dog was barking uncontrollably in the back yard. I storm to the door ready to put him in his place with a quick holler only to find he's sitting calmly on the steps just waiting to come back in.

If I would have simply taken a moment to listen and hear if that was my dog or not, then I wouldn't have gotten myself worked up over nothing.

I tried to take the same approach last night after hearing about Portageville's fiasco semifinal against Pleasant Hope in Springfield.

For the most part I did well. There were a few one-liners on twitter and claims about how there was no way that call could have been made. Not too bad, right?

In case you didn't hear, and I find it hard to believe that you didn't, Portageville had a potential game-winning 2-run home run erased when the lead runner was called out for not touching home plate during the celebration.

This is the account from Standard Democrat reporter Brent Shipman, which you can read in full here.

"Both the lead runner and Lovins were mobbed at the plate and headed to the dugout when Pleasant Hope's pitcher came to the plate with some fellow infielders. After drawing the attention of the umpires they petitioned that the lead runner missed the plate. A meeting between the crew ensued before the first base umpire ruled that the lead runner missed the bag and, as a result, was out on the play. This represented the Lady Bulldogs' third out and as a rule, Lovins' run didn't count and she was left with a game-ending triple. Despite protest to a quickly exiting umpire crew, Portageville was left in shock and with a 1-0 loss."

After witnessing this unfold via text and twitter posts, I couldn't believe it.

How can an umpire rip away something like this? How can a state semifinal game be decided like this? How could an opposing coach even bring himself to appeal a situation like this?

I took a night to sleep on it. You know, because I'm not good at in the moment. There's video of the play here, which would help put things in perspective for me.

After watching I told myself there is no way, not one chance that an umpire, opposing coach or players or even her teammates could see who did or did not touch home plate. The home plate umpire, who signaled with a point at the plate, acknowledged that the first runner did in fact touch home plate. You can see that on the video. After the appeal was made it was, reportedly, the first base umpire who ended up making the decision.

But then I watched the video again. There were still the same feet surrounding the plate, the same umpire pointing, but there wasn't the same reaction from me.

I spoke with a few umpires during the Portageville-Hayti football game that same night and asked them what they would do in that situation. All of them said they would not have made that call, unless they were absolutely, 100 percent certain that home plate was not touched and they were asked to weigh in.

We trust them to make foul calls, we trust them with balls and strikes and we, most of all, trust them to enforce the rules.

Whether you think one is more significant than the other isn't the question here. You can't compare an umpire's duties and put more weight in one area. I don't know for sure if the plate was touched. Neither do you. We can all look at a video and assume there's no way anyone could have been definitive one way or the other as many times as we want to convince ourselves otherwise. One umpire made the call. A call he thought was correct. There's no way you, myself or anyone else can know for sure. Whether we like the way it happened or the stage that it's on, we allow officials to enforce the rules.

You can't blame an opposing coach for an appeal either. As slimy as it may make us feel, his main job is to win a high school softball game. Whether it was him or his team, they obviously saw something that triggered an umpire discussion. He did what any coach in any sport would have done if they saw something questionable. He simply asked. The umpire's call was the ultimate decision.

There was an unrelated situation involving the DeSoto football team Friday night against Cape Central. DeSoto's head coach asked Cape Central head coach Nathan Norman to start the mercy-rule clock at any point Cape Central went up by 35 points. This was BEFORE the game even began. There was a good chance that DeSoto would get hammered and they did. But the message that was sent was basically telling his team they had no shot at all and let's get out of here as quick as we can with our tails tucked between our legs.

We hate to see a coach not fight for his team. In Pleasant Hope's case, we hate to see that coach fight for his team. Where's the line?

If there is one party to blame it would be the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA). After the game, coach Billy Cook was quoted saying, "I think they (the umpires) blew it and that MSHSAA didn't stand up and make them come out and explain to us or even allow us a protest."

An official protest, something that all teams are allowed to request if a situation like this arises, was not given. Explanations were not given. Something that MSHSAA harps on over and over again with forced PSAs during playoff events about integrity, honesty and sportsmanship was not given.

There's too many moments that MSHSAA decides to just sit on it's hands. In that moment, with state officials all around, someone should have stepped in. Even it was just to defuse the situation and give explanations and offer help enforcing the rules. It wasn't given.

So no matter what side you're on, take a moment to think about the situation. Don't lash out. Don't call out officials. Don't degrade coaches who are paid to make decisions for the better of his team.

We can all feel bad for the Portageville Lady Bulldogs softball team. I definitely do. We can wish a game wasn't ripped away from high school girls. We can wish it didn't come down to an officials call. We can feel angry it happened because it's not supposed to happen that way. If you take the time to look at the situation you'll realize there's nothing that can be done now. You learn and move on. Sports teaches life lessons, right?

Lovins, Taylor Tiffany and the rest of the Portageville softball team moved on and they had to do it quicker than most of us would have liked. They returned to the field three hours later and won third place after an 11 inning battle with North Platte.

Lovins was the hero twice in one day. Her 2-run double was the winning hit. That's one of the most beautiful redemption stories I've ever heard. Tiffany became the state's all-time leader in strikeouts for a season with 391. Another bright spot in a dreary, sad day.

So take the time to analyze and step back for a moment. Put yourself in an umpire, coaches or a player's shoes. We don't know for sure what happened, so let's not pretend we do by storming towards a dog that isn't barking.