MIDDLETOWN — A 5-3 Willits softball win over Middletown will stand, according to Middletown head coach Bob Cummesky, who protested the North Central League I softball game on Tuesday in Willits.
The protest occurred in the top of the fourth inning with Middletown trailing 4-3. The Mustangs had a runner on base with one out and Maria Castaldo at the plate. Batting left-handed, Castaldo attempted to turn around and bat right-handed with a 1-2 count. When the umpire wouldn”t let her, Cummesky argued his case and played the game under protest.
While there is no Coastal Mountain Conference or North Coast Section rule forbidding a batter from turning around at the plate and batting the other way during an at-bat, Cummesky said the protest was denied by the CMC on Wednesday because there is currently no vehicle to protest a game.
“They told me whatever the umpire rules is what he have to live with,” Cummesky said. “If you don”t have any recourse to right a wrong, it challenges the integrity of the game.”
