Forfeit Ends Legion Team’s Season

Reseda-Cleveland’s surprising run through the District 20 American Legion playoffs crashed to the ground Saturday with a pair of unusual defeats at Birmingham High.

The day started at 9 a.m. with the conclusion of a third-round game with Van Nuys-Notre Dame that had been postponed Friday because of darkness. Reseda-Cleveland, which recorded upsets in the first two rounds of the double-elimination tournament, trailed, 6-5, when the game was stopped Friday in the eighth inning and went on to lose, 9-5, forcing the team to play a second game Saturday.

That defeat--a 10-9 loss to Glendale--was even more bitter, with the game ending in the bottom of ninth when the umpires forfeited the game to Glendale.

Saturday’s fireworks began in the bottom of the ninth after Ron Conway looked at a called third strike for the second out of the inning. Pinch-hitter Eric Buss also was called out looking in the inning.

Conway argued with the home plate umpire, who ejected him from the game and then followed him to the dugout and threw out two more Reseda-Cleveland players, according to Manager Marty Siegel, who also was ejected from the game.

While Siegel protested his ejection, a second umpire forfeited the game, claiming the Reseda-Cleveland players threw ice at the umpires.

“That was terrible for the game to end like that,” Siegel said afterward. “I can understand the ump throwing a guy out for arguing the third strike. But you don’t walk over to the dugout like you’re threatening everybody. All he had to do was stay at home plate and nothing would have happened.”