Breaking News: Duarte wins batting-practice protest, will play South El Monte on Tuesday

What you just wrote sounds like harrassment, you Duarte people, want to talk about rules, start with the constitution. I can can boo or cheer whoever I want, this is a free country. ever been to a basketball game and listed how fans get on the visiting teams, you can't call the cops. As long as they don't make personal insults, use foul language or make any form of slur remarks, you can boo all you want.

Since some of you are planning to attend the Durate/El Monte game to boo, hiss, name call, etc., let me remind you all that this is a form of bullying. The coaches, parents, school officials will have every right to consider calling the police for "bullying and harrassment". Is this the type of behavior you all want to show your daughters so they become like you. I hope not. The CIF rule for illegal batting practice is clear. For those of you who have not read it, it states: "Teams entered in the softball playoffs WILL NOT be permitted to take batting practice on the day of the scheduled contest. Batting practice will be construed as any type of pitching motion with ANY type of ball from in front of the batter (including pitching machines, underhand tossing, overhand throwing or pepper). THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE BATTING WARMUP WILL BE SIDE SOFT TOSS. The player who tosses the ball should be on a knee and to the side of the batter. The ball should be lifted, not pitched, to the batter. THE PENALTY FOR BATTING PRACTICE WITH WIFFLE BALL, SOFTBALL, BASEBALL, ETC. MAY BE FORFEITURE OF GAME." Side toss is what it means, to the side of the batter and not in front. The rules are the rules. Other teams have been called on this rule and have lost the chance to advance. This is not the only case. So I warn some of you, be prepared to be called out on if you harrass any of the players or coaches, they will be ready.

"should be on a knee" - you DIDN'T and you SHOULD have.
"MAYbe forfeited"' - and it WAS.

What isn't clear about that?

You SHOULD travel under the speed limit. If you get caught, you MAY get a ticket.comprende??

First and foremost CONGRATULATION to the Lady Moors for getting this far! A WIN is earned on the field, NOT GIVEN. Our girls and coaches have nothing to be ashamed about, they did nothing wrong. The five minutes of legal side soft toss batting warm up did not give you the advantage to win, your playing ability DID!

Every team INCLUDING Duarte holds “batting practice” before a game. The so called rule in which Duarte claims we violated is unclear and contradicting. It states “The only acceptable batting warm up will be side soft toss” The player who tosses the ball should be on one knee and to the side of the batter” that’s not the same as MUST be on one knee. It goes on to say “The penalty for batting practice with wiffle balls…MAY be forfeiture of game”. So CIF, how do you rule to Duarte’s favor when your rule is contradicting?

Mr. Viteri, if you want to move on to the next round in playoffs, I suggest you start COACHING and stop depending on video people take for you to win your games. Also, you’re a blatant liar if you’re claiming you didn’t hold “batting practice” before Thursday’s game, take a closer look at the video you submitted. You should show your team to lose with pride and dignity and not to depend on technicalities.

Duarte is a school with an AD that has NEVER coached and therefore knows nothing about sports.That's why all these problems persist. The AD then has people go on the internet and defend the things that go wrong.

the ONLY person that deserves ANT blame is Alhambra coach John Zabala who admitted the Moors threw pitches with a wiffle ball before the start.

It is the responsibility of the COACH to know the rules. They shouldn't need an AD to hold their hand. Take a trip through the World Wide Web look on the Internets and go to the link that says SOFTBALL BULLETINS!

The real person to blame is AD Lou Torres. Every AD should meet with their respective coaches to go over all playoff rules.

Just A Thought,
Let me get this right, you want to organize a bunch of people and Boo a high school Girls softball team as they take the field?
You’re Special! My guess is; you don’t have the Guts!

I think someone should organize a bunch of people and go to the Duarte game. And When Duarte takes the field I think they should get CHEER loudly!!!

HOORAY RULES!

I think someone should organize a bunch of people and go to the Duarte game. And When Duarte takes the field I think they should get Booed loudly!!!

Hey Fred, everyone knows that when you play in a tournament there will be tournament rules....not league rules......Be rec ball, travel ball, high school ball and college ball. My point is if your team is in a tournament and you are the coach get inform on the tournament rules! And the Alhambra coach was aware of the rule. He made the comment to your fellow correspondent, so you cant claim that he did not know the rule. This was what, five days ago, and how soon you forget these little deatils. I feel you try to defend the teams who are penalized for violating the rule just becasue you dont agree with it.x

Poor me, only a small minority of leagues, like the Montview, have the CIF playoff batting practice rule in their league bylaws. Most teams that violate the rule do so by following the same routine all year.

I am so tired of the poor me routine starting from the illegal batting practice with La Puenta and ending with this. All Coaches know the rules! It is in the league by laws, it is in the pre-season bulletin that gets sent out, it is in the playoff bulletin that gets sent out. Why is it ok to choose what rules are followed. I have been a Head HS baseball coach for 10 years now and I have heard parents and coaches alike banging on certain schools both private and public for recruiting. That is breaking the rules and so is this. I understand that the two might be different but the good book says a sin is a sin. Breaking the rules is breaking the rules. Go back to the Villa Park vs Arcadia debacle. Arcadia gets kicked out of the playoffs because their head coach who had been ejected from the final game of the season was across the street at the park watching the game. Low and behold Villa Park gets kicked out for taking illegal batting practice before they left the school. Both were in the wrong according to the rules. Do I like the rules, NO. Do I think it is nit picky, YES. However, little known fact, they are not CIF rules. These rules come from the coaches advisory committee. These are coaches that have told CIF that these rules should be in place. No more poor me act. Know the rules, follow the rules. If you do not agree with the rules seek to change them or get out of the game.

Hey Nice message,
Duarte's AD did go over to tell the Alhambra coaches that what they were doing was wrong!The coaches discussed the rule but kept taking batting practice. They tried to tell Alhambra. At that point Duarte went back to their bench and grabbed a video phone...get the story straight.
As for the video person who was taking footage, Maybe it was South El Monte scouting...some of you are so quick to judge!

boy there is an awful lot of "experts" here, The bottom line is the coaches broke a rule and the kids are going to suffer for it, and thats too bad. I think "you know nothing" said everything that needs to be said on this. Its easy to sit and judge after the fact, and unless you were there which judging by most of your comments you werent-you are commenting on what you heard and from what i read you heard wrong.
1. the KID taping the game is a student in the video productions class who arrived after the first inning started
2. the dhs coaches asked the umpire crew to intervene and were told "it was out of their hands, the ahs coaches should know the rules"
3. the dhs coaches DID put it to a vote to the players on whether to pursue a protest and they chose to pursue.
This is all on the coaches AND A.D. from AHS. Its their JOB to know the rules and clearly they didnt.

Justice 101, if I were in Duarte's shoes, I would not have filed the protest, have felt that way every time it comes up, which is too often. I would have walked over, explained what they're doing is illegal and if they stopped, that would be the end of it, because more likely than not, the coach probably wasn't aware of the rule. With Alhambra being the visiting team, it could have been stopped right away, too. But I don't fault Duarte, it's a personal choice and I respect their decision to file the protest and by rule, CIF did the right thing ruling in their favor. At the end of the day, it's Alhambra's fault, it's irresponsible not to know the rule, or for ADs not to make sure coaches know the rule. A penalty that punishes kids this harsh for something they have no control over should be drilled into coaches heads, especially by now, it happens every year. But please do not say this is something all coaches would file, I have spoken with several coaches over the years who have witnessed the same thing, and chose to do nothing. In fact, I bet more go unreported than reported, feelings are more split than you think.

Not surprising. CIF officials made another right decision by sticking to the rules and following through with the stated consequences of a violation. Put yourselves in Duartes shoes and honestly tell me that you wouldnt do the same. You would be lying if u said you wouldnt. Yeah, get angry at the Duarte AD and Coaches for pfight for what is right and sticking up for thier athletes. From an inside source, i was told that Duartes head coach left the decision up to the girls. By majority rule, they voted to protest, most said that they felt at a disadvantage and felt they owed their seniors a second chance.

@ I KNOW WHAT I SAW- You obviously need glasses because the "man" you saw with a tripod was actually a student. Who didnt get out of school until it ended around 3 p.m. , that clearly means he must be FLASH or some type of super fast super hero to get the camera and set up to record the team take batting practice with the 15 minute window before the game started. And how is the umpire asking him to get out of the field of play relevant? Pure Ignorance! The truth is the video evidence presented to CIF representatives was taken from Duarte fans and staff via CELL PHONE. And as for the pepper issue, this was also brought up during todays meeting, Duarte did not take any form of batting AT ALL. The only thing the Duarte team did with a bat was set up in lines of three and two leaders and take synchronized swings without any balls involved... This issue was brought up because in one of the videos provided, it had glimpses and sounds of the head coach hitting two ground balls to an infielder (on the foul part of the infield by the 3rd base coaches box) and one fly ball to an outfielder. This has been the routine, and theres is no rule that deems this illegal. So go ahead blame the coach, the AD, and the girls for this "immoral" decision to follow a rule and seek a second chance. Blame your own damn coach and AD for not knowing or following THE RULE!

@ AHS parent- going back on one of your earlier comments, last time i checked a 3-2 loss, isn't a beating..

Nice message: Yes, IMO, the coach can say that, but he also knows that the offending team has already gained an advantage that can't be put back in the bottle, so to speak. Now, I guess a coach could say that, for sake of argument, jersey Nos. 17 and 5 were taking batting practice, and must not be allowed to play, and then the game can be played. And yes, what reads on the scoreboard should be the final answer, but only if the game was played within the rules and no pre-game advantage was provided, which is not the case here. And to me, the big difference in this situation is that, according to the Alhambra coach's quotes, he had authorized the battling practice, unlike the situation at South Hills last year, where it appeared players were doing it on their own accord.

Hey Fred, Why not have the girls lead off,its only a rule.LOL

I saw a man with a tripod and camera, that no one from the Alhambra fan base recognized, set up in front of the Moors players warming up. Later, this same person set up inside the fence on Duarte's side filming the game, to which the umpire had to actually stop play to ask this person to get off the field.

Justify this seemingly sly tactic all you want, but it just seems wrong. To "you know nothing" let's follow your own scenario, put yourself in a follower/parent of Alhambra. Your daughter or whomever you know on the team just won a close game against a highly seeded team and later you come to find out that the coach, most likely unbeknownst to the players and parents and fans, had the players warm up in a manner that may have not followed a rule that would not have come to light without a person representing the other team setting up shop and filming the opponent.

Maybe I'm just old school and believe that a scoreboard should be indicative of the winning team.

To you so called AHS PARENT, I think NOT! You should be ashamed of yourself. Why do you hide behind a computer and say things that are not true and clearly only YOU and YOUR daughter feel. The AHS parents are 100% behind our girls and the coaching staff. For you to say that the girls were told to lie and cheat is B.S.!!

Joe, I wonder what percentage of coaches, probably 75 percent walk on, read all the bulletins you speak of, they're probably only online, the ADS should print and hand it to them before each game. This is why this happens every year. The coaches coach the kids for a stipend that pays them far below minimum wage. I blame the ADs, they're the ones that should remind coaches before each playoff game what the ground rules are. It doesn't sit well anyway, why couldn't duarte just say stop doing it, walk over and say something do they have to start videoing is it really win at any cost, even if that means taking a way a win on the field that girls earned? It's a moral decision too, yeah they were wrong, but is this how you teach them a lesson? I wonder if the duarte girls like winning this way, there will always be an asterik next them anyway, who wants that?

E.G. the message to the kids is if , by the coaches fault , you cheat you loose. About the Canada brothers , it was about time S.H. paid for all the recruiting they have done over the years . Like that kid that played football at L.A. then went to S.H. for baseball.

what a way to lose and anyone else blaming Duarte,

In the CIF Playoff Bulletin is states, as the SECOND rule... in larger font.. in RED CAPS:

BATTING PRACTICE– Includes bunting or slap hitting.
Teams entered in the softball playoffs WILL NOT be permitted to take batting practice on the day of the scheduled contest. Batting practice will be construed as any type of pitching motion with ANY type of ball from in front of the batter (including pitching machines, underhand tossing, overhand throwing or pepper). THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE BATTING WARMUP WILL BE SIDE SOFT TOSS. The player who tosses the ball should be on a knee and to the side of the batter. The ball should be lifted, not pitched, to the batter. THE PENALTY FOR BATTING PRACTICE WITH WIFFLE BALL, SOFTBALL, BASEBALL, ETC. MAY BE FORFEITURE OF GAME.
http://bit.ly/mhliGF

That is about as obvious and clear as it needs to be.
- ANY type of ball
- ONLY ACCEPTABLE BATTING WARMUP WILL BE SIDE SOFT TOSS
- should be on a knee and to the side of the batter
- lifted, not pitched
- MAY BE FORFEITURE OF GAME

and it seems to come up in baseball or softball EVERY year.

What more does a coach need to know? any coach violating this is the one who should be embarrased.

If any of you were in the same shoes of Duarte and you knew there was a CIF rule that wasn't followed you wouldn't stand up for your team or your daughter's team? You would just sit there and let a very close game just finish and you could walk away without standing up for what is right?
Duarte had the disadvantage by not taking illegal batting practice. The moors took an illegal batting practice and therefore had an advantage. CIF made a rule and the Moors didn't follow it, what is the problem?
There wasn't a video camera set up E.G. it is 2011 we all carry video cell phones. Someone just clicked record and recorded it.
Yes, she is the same AD who challenged the Canada brothers when they left Duarte for South Hills on athletically motivated reason...wow! an AD who follows CIF rules and defends her school. Wow! Is that such a horrible thing?
Some of you should sit in a high school athletic department and or CIF and see how it runs for a second before you are so quick to judge.

It is sad when your coach doesn't know the rules. Don't blame duartes coaches blame your own coaches.

What kind of team constantly sets up a video camera on a tripod on their opponent's side and films their warm-ups just incase they lose? Great message to teach young kids, set up a camera and worry more about how the other team warms up vs how you play it out on the field, because in the end it doesn't really matter.

And from what I have heard, this video also shows Duarte in the background committing their own CIF rules infraction by illegally peppering during warm-ups.

The rules are the same for everyone and every coach should know what is a cifss violation and the rules about batting practice. This happens often and when the playoffs begin the cifss should send out a memo to every team stating what can or cannot be done prior to the start of the game.

We shouldn't be surprised, this is Duarte, kids are not their biggest concern. Wasn't it Duarte who stuck it to the Canada's and any other kids that wanted to leave their football program. I'm disgusted by the school.

Doesn't matter anyway, That's not really how you want to get to the next round, And the next round will be their last, They didn't have it to beat Alhambra and they won't have to beat South El Monte.

Alhambra loses forefit to Duarte. What a way to win. I hope Duartes coach is able to hold his head up when he walks on to the field for his next game. If you get beat on the field you should just accept it for what it is.
I'm glad my daughter doesn't play for that coach.

CIF has posted on their website that Duarte has been credited with a 7-0 forfeit victory over Alhambra.