There’s a fine line between being competitive and being dirty. One high school softball catcher wasn’t even close to that line, and not in a good way.
Needham and Huffman Hargrave were locked in a tight one in the Texas 4A state championship game, so the stakes were high. But that was no excuse for the Needham catcher, who flattened a Huffman Hargrave baserunner with a vicious elbow as she scored easily.
The worst part? The Needham catcher did it again.
Not only are these some pretty bad cheap shots, but impeding a runner’s progress to any base, including home plate, is illegal at the high school level. Besides, there wasn’t anything close to a play at the plate in either case.
Amazingly, the catcher wasn’t ejected or even warned, as the umpire apparently missed both plays.
Those cheap shots ultimately backfired for Needham, though, as Huffman Hargrave used them as motivation in a 6-4 win.
“I think it fired them up to score some more runs, win the game and come out as champions,” Huffman athletic director Mike McEachern said after the game, via Click2Houston.com.
