By Dennis Davidson

dennis.davidson@salisburypost.com

The Rowan Little League girls softball team, at the World Series in Portland, Ore., was drawn into a major controversy that went viral and received national TV coverage from many news and sports outlets.

An article published Tuesday morning by the Des Moines (Iowa) Register, referenced coaches from the Central region champion Iowa team filing a protest that another team had lost intentionally.

The team in question, the West regional champ from Washington state, lost its World Series game on Monday to Rowan, the Southeast champion, 8-0. That should have moved both Rowan and Washington into the nationally televised semifinals on Tuesday evening.

However, the Iowa team immediately filed a protest following Rowan’s win, alleging that Washington intentionally lost in order to keep Iowa from moving out of pool play — by benching four of its best players and by having several girls bunt instead of swing away.

Earlier in the tournament, Iowa defeated Rowan, 3-1, but had lost a last-inning, 4-3 decision to Washington. Based on all three teams having one loss, the tie-breaker was run-differential, which favored Rowan and Washington.

A win by Washington over Rowan on Monday would have put the West champs and Iowa in the semifinals, as Rowan would have had two losses.

Little League International reviewed the situation overnight and released the following statement on Tuesday:

“On Monday, August 17, the outcome of the Little League Softball World Series game between Southeast Region Champion, Rowan Little League from Salisbury, N.C., and West Region Champion, South Snohomish Little League from Snohomish, Wash., resulted in a three-way tie at the conclusion of pool play in Pool B.

“The ties were between these two teams and the Central Region Champion, Central Iowa Little League from Polk City, Iowa. According to Little League International’s tie-breaker rules, the Southeast Region Champion will advance to the Semifinal Rounds.

“The Little League International Tournament Committee recently received credible reports that some teams did not play with the effort and spirit appropriate for any Little League game. Given these circumstances and in order to best determine the second team to advance from Pool B, the Little League International Tournament Committee is requiring that a tie-breaker game be played between the two affected teams – South Snohomish Little League and Central Iowa Little League.”

Once Little League International confirmed the allegations Tuesday morning, the story went national on ESPN, CNN and others, including Dan Patrick’s live sports talk show, simulcast on radio and NBC Sports’ TV channel.

Chris Chadd, president of Central Iowa Little League, told the Des Moines Register that “it’s clear to everyone that they (Washington) basically threw the game (against Rowan).” Chadd added that the Washington team benched several starters, and players were bunting in an attempt to lose the game. Rowan pitchers ended up with a no-hitter.

Rowan head coach Steve Yang, reached by telephone Tuesday morning, said that Washington’s tactics were obvious early. His team, 11- and 12-year-old girls, had even figured it out.

“By the third inning, our girls were asking, ‘What’s going on with them (the other team)?’” said Yang. “We just told them to play our game, that we couldn’t worry about someone else.”

Yang said that he doesn’t feel that Washington’s efforts disrespected Rowan as a team but that it was “more of a strategy move on their part to better their chances of winning it all. Obviously, it didn’t work out as they had planned.”

The Rowan coach added that his team can play with any of the teams there in Portland. “We lost to Iowa, 3-1, because we made three huge mental mistakes,” said Yang. “We still haven’t played a complete game like we did in the regional championship against Georgia, to get here. When we do, we can beat any of these teams.”

Yang said Tuesday morning that he did not expect the controversy to affect his team.

“After the game, they saw the ESPN trucks and extra lighting trucks moving around, so they got very excited about that,” said Yang. “From our standpoint, it doesn’t matter how we got there, we’re there. We’re just going to go out there, enjoy the moment and play hard.”

Many will believe that justice prevailed, as Iowa defeated Washington Tuesday morning, 3-2, in the tie-breaker playoff. Iowa took the lead in the third inning and pitcher Mikayla Houge made it stand up with a dominating, 11-strikeout performance.

With the victory, Iowa became the No. 2 seed from Pool B and played in the 7 p.m. semifinal game against the East regional champ, Rhode Island.

Rowan, the No. 1 seed from Pool B, played the No. 2 seed from Pool A (Southwest/Texas) in the second semifinal game, televised on ESPN 2 (see sports on page 1B).