n American Legion
North Carolina champion Cherryville was eliminated from the Southeast Regional in bizarre fashion on Sunday.
Both Cherryville and Douglasville, Ga. (29-7), were ruled out of the tournament via a double forfeit after the game disintegrated into a benches-clearing brawl in the third inning.
Cherryville (32-8) had just taken a 4-0 lead when words were exchanged after a play at the plate, and the Georgia cather Zach Graves reportedly flung the baseball off the back of Cherryville’s Blake Mosteller, who had just scored, then punched and tackled Cherryville’s Trey Drewery to touch off a melee that brought all but three Cherryville players out of the dugout area.
Tournament director Scott Ehret announced the controversial decision to the stunned crowd at Riley Park after umpires conferred and tournament officials made calls to the national office.