The emotional toll of a long travel softball season spilled over into an ugly fight among parents at a Mississippi tournament over the weekend.
Multiple eyewitnesses say a fight between dueling 15U parents from Texas and Louisiana boiled over into an all-out fistfight at a so-called World Series event in Laurel, MS. Children could be heard screaming. Some cried. One even took what is believed to be a cleat and threw it at a parent.
Both sides claim the other side started it. There are accusations that the tournament director went soft on Team Texas. There are other parents who say Team Louisiana parents are to blame. In other words, it’s just another in a long line of reports of travel ball parents gone wild as the race to a D3 scholarship continues to make moms and dads go insane.
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Did you witness travel ball parents gone wild this weekend? Give me your report (video if you have it!): joe.kinsey@outkick.com
Someone on Facebook going by the name SoftballInsider claims to have been at the game and says this is what happened. Again, take it with a grain of salt.
“(Louisiana) lost the game 9-4. They talked at and berated the TX pitcher and other TX players a majority of the game. After the LA fans continued making remarks, including calling the TX players and fans ‘white trash,’ the TX coaches tried to have the umpires handle the situation,” SoftballInsider alleges. “The umpires didn’t do anything. Texas won, and the LA parents/coaches/team were waiting near the parking lot where the Texas team were parked. One mom from LA (purple shirt lady who is still yelling and cursing at the end), started screaming at the Texas players (teenagers mind-you) as they walked past.
“As the players attempted to leave, the mom followed them towards the parking lot, where the player who was being screamed at had her mom approaching. The TX mom verbally confronted the other mom, and then one of the LA MALE coaches proceeded to push the TX mom.
“Let me repeat— LA STARTED THE AGGRESSION.”
From there, other parents jumped into the mix. “From what I understand, LA was berating the Tennessee Team also. They were just bad sportsmen from the get go,” a woman named Ginger responded.
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However, a Louisiana mom quickly fired back at both of these alleged eyewitnesses with her own version of how this all transpired.
“ABSOLUTELY NOT!! I was there too! The Texas players kicked our bats, yelled at our girls, stuck their tongues out, threw the ball in the air after every inning and on and on. THEN the players talked shit to one of our moms and she told her to keep walking,” Louisiana softball mom April countered. “Then her mom and dad came over and the dad decided to throw a punch. He got his ass handed to him! No one berated their pitcher! She was cocky and arrogant FOR NO REASON! Our girls have never ever ever ever had an issue with a team ever. Not to mention EVERY SINGLE TEAM THERE COMMENTED ON HOW AWFUL TEXAS WAS AND THEIR FANS!!
“Also we had no altercation at state at all! And none at the hotel either. But Texas definitely had conflict with every team! NO ONE BERATED Texas during their game with Alabama either. We have video evidence of everything Texas did! Please go watch their GameChanger it’s ALL there!”
As you can see, the parents are in so deep that there’s no common ground. They’re two years out from the D3 scholarship offers that will serve as a reminder that all this was worth it. The rugby scrums with other parents were worth it. The 5-day trips in oppressive heat were worth it. The Facebook fights with opposing parents were worth it.
It was just another weekend of travel sports.
