A judge in Texas has upheld Little League Baseball's decision to remove Tulsa, Okla., from the Southwest Region and keep the team from playing in Tuesday's championship game for a possible World Series berth.
The decision stems from a lawsuit filed by parents connected with the Tulsa team after Little League Baseball determined that a Tulsa player was ineligible, deeming Tulsa's previous game a forfeit.
The parents were granted a temporary restraining order, pending the judge's decision. Little League baseball then asked the judge to vacate the order, which resulted in Tulsa being ruled ineligible.
Judge Ryan Luna wrote that the "court considered the motion, the arguments of counsel, and all other matters properly before it."
"We appreciate the Court's timely and considered decision to vacate the Temporary Restraining Order," Little League Baseball said in a statement, "allowing enforcement of the Tournament Committee's decision to remove Tulsa National Little League from the Southwest Region Tournament and declare its previous game a forfeit."
ESPN reported that West Texas, represented by a team from Boerne Little League, has now secured the region's berth in next week's international tournament in South Williamsport, Pa., with Monday's 4-1 victory over Louisiana. Tulsa had defeated Louisiana earlier in the tournament.
Natalie Woody, a parent of one of the Tulsa players, told ESPN by phone that the Tulsa team is "devastated" by the decision.
"The decision upholds our commitment to a fair and equitable experience for all children based on our Official Rules, Regulations, and Operating Policies," the organization's statement added. "We empathize with the children of Tulsa National Little League and the likely disappointment this decision has caused. We recognize how memorable the Little League experience is for all children and the critical role that parents and adult volunteers are entrusted with to ensure that every child is cared for, treated fairly, and afforded a safe and positive experience."
The player in question (referred to as O.G) was deemed ineligible based on a wrong birth year being entered on behalf of his sibling, through whom the player maintained his eligibility for the Southwest Region tournament.
Little League normally requires a player to live within a team's geographic boundary. O.G. didn't — he lived outside Tulsa National's boundary. So he needed a different route onto the team.
That route is a sibling exception: if a player's brother or sister is enrolled in the Challenger Division (Little League's adaptive program for kids with physical or intellectual disabilities), the sibling's participation lets the other child play for that same league, boundary rules aside.
O.G.'s sibling, K.G., was registered for Tulsa National's Challenger Division. That registration was O.G.'s legal basis for being on the team — not his own address.
In the court filing, Mindy Abbott, Little League's district administrator in Oklahoma, wrote on behalf of the O.G.'s teammates to Little League's tournament committee members.
"Those 13 players did not enter the incorrect information," she wrote. "They did not make an eligibility determination. ... They simply showed up, played baseball, and trusted the adults responsible for administering the program to make appropriate decisions."
Two problems surfaced with K.G.'s registration:
- Age. The Challenger Division has an "under-8 open enrollment" provision — meaning kids under 8 can join freely. K.G. was registered as 7, but the father told a Little League official K.G. was actually 10. Because that misstated age was what made K.G.'s enrollment valid under the open-enrollment rule, an accurate age would have disqualified K.G. from that provision in the first place.
- Participation. Separately, the father reportedly said K.G. "never actively participated" in any Tulsa National program — and actual participation is a requirement for the sibling exception to apply, not just being registered on paper.
If K.G.'s own eligibility for the Challenger Division was invalid (wrong age) and K.G. never actually played, then the sibling relationship couldn't legally support O.G.'s spot on the team. Take away that support, and O.G. reverts to being out-of-boundary with no valid exception — making him ineligible.
The Tulsa parents argued that O.G. didn't play in the Southwest Region tournament — his family pulled him once the issue surfaced, after the state tournament. But under Little League's rules, having an ineligible player on the roster during part of the season/tournament run can taint the whole team's eligibility, which is why his 13 teammates ended up fighting this in court even though they had nothing to do with the paperwork error.
"We did not fight because our boys believed they were entitled to a championship. We fought because they earned the opportunity to compete for one," the parents added. "We could not be prouder of Team Oklahoma and the way these 13 boys represented their families, their communities, and the state of Oklahoma."
