Fansided

LLWS coach who threw game claims he didn’t

By Matt Verderame

Aug 24, 2014; South Williamsport, PA, USA; Great Lakes Region pitcher Brandon Green (14) throws a pitch in the first inning against the Asia-Pacific Region at Howard J. Lamade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 24, 2014; South Williamsport, PA, USA; Great Lakes Region pitcher Brandon Green (14) throws a pitch in the first inning against the Asia-Pacific Region at Howard J. Lamade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports /
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On Tuesday, the South Snohomish, Wa. softball team as preparing to advance in the Little League Softball World Series. It had only to play against a North Carolina team, and once the game was over, regardless of outcome, it would be in the LLWS semifinals.

However, that wasn’t enough for it’s clown-show of a coach, Fred Miller. Miller was busy scheming how to screw over a bunch of kids from Central Iowa, who were also in the round-robin tournament. See, if South Snohomish either won outright or scored at least three runs in a loss, Central Iowa would advance via tiebreaker along with it. Otherwise, North Carolina would advance along with South Snohomish.

The Central Iowa team was considered very strong. In light of this, Miller pulled the ultimate scumbag move and tanked against North Carolina, playing reserves and forcing them to bunt with two strikes. The result was an 8-0 loss in which South Snohomish did not record a hit.

Luckily, Iowa appealed to Little League in the wake of this massive injustice and the commission forced Iowa and South Snohomish to play a one-game playoff. Justice was served to Miller, with Iowa winning to advance.

On Thursday, with Miller getting pounded from all angles after this indefensible decision, he actually had the gall to release a statement defending himself, per USA Today.

"“Little League promotes playing all your kids and because I played my reserves my team got screwed. I played my 4 reserves the whole game and little league tells me that because I did that my team would not get the 2 seed. What is that telling the kids and the community? That I must play my starters every game and if I don’t, I will be penalized! That is wrong!"

Hey, Miller, did you forget the part where you were having kids bunt with two strikes and swing at pitches in the dirt? This tool cheated these kids out of the experience of a lifetime because he was scared to play Iowa again, a team South Snohomish had already beaten. It was a gross piece of sportsmanship, and Miller ended up getting the brunt end of it the following day.

Also, notice the penultimate sentence in the statement put forth by Miller… “I will be penalized!”

Not the kids who went home crying. Not the parents who need to explain to their little girls why they aren’t advancing. Nope, Miller is the one being penalized.

Here’s to hoping he is banned from coaching, and subsequently forced to watch Parker Lewis Can’t Lose on repeat with Yanni playing in the background for the rest of his natural-born life.

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