The South Carolina High School League did not uphold a protest filed by Midland Valley softball coach Michelle Yeater following her team's season-ending loss.
Yeater was protesting a call that disallowed the Mustangs' sixth-inning run in a 1-0 loss to Darlington on Friday in the Class AAA Lower State championship.
"Basically, I didn't win the protest; the play stands," Yeater said Monday.
The SCHSL received the protest this past weekend, commissioner Jerome P. Singleton said, but ruled the umpires had acted correctly.
"It's over as far as we're concerned," Singleton said.
Yeater was protesting this sequence: Trailing 1-0 in the third and deciding game of the series, the Mustangs loaded the bases with one out. The next batter blistered a grounder to the shortstop, who cleanly fielded the ball. The shortstop attempted to tag Haley Sheehan, running from second to third base, but the ball squirted away.
Umpires ruled Sheehan interfered with the play. She was called out, and the runner who scored returned to third base. With the bases still loaded, the next batter flied out to center field, ending the inning.
The protest "was a long stretch ... I didn't tell the girls that, but it was probably a long stretch," Yeater said.
Midland Valley ended the best season in school history with a 25-5 record.
Reach Matt Middleton at (706) 823-3425 or matt.middleton@augustachronicle.com.
BACKGROUND: In Midland Valley's season-ending softball loss to Darlington on Friday night, a run was disallowed when umpires called senior Haley Sheehan for interference on the basepaths.
DEVELOPMENTS:
- Midland Valley protested the call. The game was delayed for nearly 10 minutes. According to the South Carolina High School League handbook, "when a protest is filed, the offended team must enter it at the time of play and before the next pitch."
- The SCHSL received the protest over the weekend and ruled against the Mustangs. If the protest was upheld, the game would have been replayed from the time of protest.
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