Harsher penalties sought after brawl in youth baseball

In the wake of last week's bench-clearing American Legion brawl between Green Valley and Las Vegas, Nevada Youth Baseball Association (NYBA) President Art Besser is calling for stricter penalties for athletes who get involved in on-field fights.

Besser, who has requested a special rules committee meeting this Thursday, said he will recommend automatic three-game suspensions for players who throw punches, along with disciplinary action for players who leave the dugout during a brawl.

"We've got to do something," Besser said. "Players are going to get into things like this, but we have to put language into the rule to prevent as much as we can."

Last Tuesday, a five-minute brawl between Green Valley and Las Vegas broke out at the Arroyo Grande Sports Complex in Henderson when Las Vegas' Aaron Hydock charged the mound after getting hit by a Ryan Myers' pitch.

Players from both teams spilled out of the dugouts, and several parents came into the field to try to break things up. The Henderson Police Department even arrived on the scene to keep things from escalating.

According to Besser, the umpires were prepared to eject nine players -- six from Las Vegas and three from Green Valley -- but instead decided to call the game after six innings with the Gators ahead, 9-0.

Until recently, local American Legion rules doled out automatic one-game suspensions for any player ejected from a game for any reason. Prior to this season, however, the NYBA voted to leave potential suspensions in the hands of individual coaches.

"We decided it should be up to the individual teams," Besser said, reasoning that a player thrown out of a game for a non-fight related offense doesn't always deserve to miss his club's next league contest.

Green Valley opted not to keep any players out of the lineup in their next contest, a 10-6 win over Besser's Silverado squad.

"We don't coach (violence), and we don't condone it," Green Valley assistant coach Menlo Greer said. "Unless another team is threatening serious harm to one of our ballplayers, we tell them to keep them butts in the dugout."

Las Vegas coach Izzy DiMaria opted to bench five of the six players on his roster who would have been ejected from Tuesday's game. The Sundevils won their next contest, 8-6, over Palo Verde.

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