CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – This week, the Tee-Ball All-Stars tournament for 5- and 6-year-old boys and girls was cancelled over a vulgar on-field argument among adults, leaving parents and family members of Little League players upset and disappointed about the mass punishment.

The 2024 Districtwide Tee-Ball All-Stars tournament kicked off on Saturday, June 8, hosted by the St. Bethlehem Little League at Civitan Park. What was supposed to be a double-bracket tournament spread out over several days ended abruptly the next day when the tournament was cancelled mid-game. That has left many wondering if this a permanent decision, and the short answer is no.

Illegal bat ruling, player and coach ejected

The District Nine Little League is composed of Burns, Clarksville National, Dickson County, Montgomery Central, Pleasant View, South Cheatham, St. Bethlehem, Stewart County and Woodlawn. Tyler Butler is vice president of baseball on the St. Bethlehem Board, and he was the acting director for the districtwide tournament.

Butler told Clarksville Now that during one of the girls games between St. Bethlehem and Burns, the coach from St. Bethlehem noticed an issue with one of the bats from Burns, and he brought it to the attention of the umpire. The umpire called an immediate time out.

After inspecting the bat, the umpire determined that it had been altered with a choke-up knob, making it illegal. Initially, the umpire made a ruling to remove it from the game, but the coach from St. Bethlehem insisted that he wasn’t enforcing the rules by Little League standards. According to the tournament rulebook from the Southeast Region Little League, the penalty of an illegal bat in all tournament levels and divisions includes that the head coach and the batter are ejected from the game.

At this point, Butler, as the tournament director, came down to the field. He called his district administrator and ran the scenario by him. The final call was made by the rulebook at the decision of the district administrator, and Butler brought the coaches together with the umpire to explain: the batter and coach were out of the game. The head coach from Burns was understanding, and Butler offered to let him and the player stay and sit in the stands to watch the remainder of the game.

Parent ‘lost his mind’

But then the parents got involved.

“By the time I got back to the scorebox, the parent of the little girl who was ejected lost his mind and started spewing some very vulgar comments and actions that 5- and 6-year-old little girls shouldn’t see or hear,” Butler told Clarksville Now.

Butler said he ejected the Burns parent from the ballpark due to his hostility. He had the umpires clear the field and put the girls in the dugouts. When Butler made it back out to the field to ensure that the angry parent had left, yet another Burns parent approached him trying to start a physical fight with him and the officials.

The coaches from Burns took the other parent off the field, and Clarksville Police were called to ensure everyone left safely. There were no arrests.

Canceling the tournament

Butler said parents and family members of the Little League players were advised not to make phone calls to Little League or the repercussions would affect more than just St. Bethlehem and Burns, as they tried to deal with this at the lowest level.

“When our district administrator got on the site, he had already received a call from Little League,” Butler said. “Phone calls had been made. We’d told everybody, ‘Hey, if you make these phone calls, this is what’s going to happen.’ Ultimately, he had to end the Tee-Ball tournament.”

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Suzanne Sherley, grandmother of a Tee-Ball player on one the Clarksville National Little League teams, said the decision was disappointing since this was her grandson’s first year playing competitive Tee-Ball.

“He was excited to play,” Sherley told Clarksville Now. “His team at CNLL was undefeated, and the top two teams got to go to All-Stars tournament.”

As a result of the tournament’s cancellation, Sherley’s grandson did not get a chance to play in the tournament.

“They got new uniforms and practiced nearly every night,” Sherley said. “They’re 5 years old and it’s summertime. He loves it (Tee-Ball) but we can’t play outside for too long, or go and get in the swimming pool, and things like that that he’s given up to be in the tournament and it’s cancelled.”

“I felt like everyone is being punished, and not everyone should be,” she said.

A new series out of the failed tournament

Although the current Little League Tee-Ball Tournament has been cancelled for this year, it will return in 2025.

Several games were affected by the tournament’s sudden cancellation, but Butler is working with Little League to create a new opportunity for the players.

“We are working on putting on some special games for the Tee-Ball teams so they can still get to play,” Butler said. “It just isn’t going to be an All-Star Tournament recognized by the district.”

Butler has already submitted a request to the Little League for the special games as a formality. If everything works out, they hope to make the special games an annual event.

“We had an umpire pass away from cancer,” he said. “We’re probably going to name the Tee-Ball special games the first annual Lenda McClain Tee-Ball Series. We’re going to try and honor her, because she was such a huge part of our organization and she loved the kids.”

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