Umpire Didn’t Interpret Rule Correctly

An umpire who ordered players on a Little League team to stop speaking Spanish during a state tournament game was sent to the showers Friday.

A Little League International tournament official said Massachusetts administrators have been instructed not to assign the umpire to any games for the remainder of the tournament.

Joseph W. Losch, the tournament vice president of operations, said in an e-mail sent by National Little League spokesman Lance Van Auken that the unidentified umpire has been sidelined.

“We do not release the names of volunteers without their permission,” Van Auken said.

The umpire told the players not to speak Spanish, a decision their coach said demoralized the team and cost it the game.

“This never should have happened,” Methuen Coach Chris Mosher told the Eagle-Tribune newspaper. “These are 14-year-old kids who should not have to deal with any of this.”

Van Auken said there was no rule against players speaking Spanish or any other language on the field. But he said it was too late to reverse the decision or the outcome. Methuen lost that game, and was eliminated from the tournament with another loss Friday.