Barrington Little League Fires Back At Unsportsmanlike Charge

BARRINGTON, RI — A dream journey to the Little League World Series took a detour into controversy Tuesday when the manager of the New Hampshire team that Barrington Little League beat in the New England Championships accused the Rhode Island players of stealing signs. Late Tuesday afternoon, Barrington Little League President Fletcher C. Thomson defended his team from the accusations in the New Hampshire Union Leader, calling his squad "a team made up of dedicated volunteer coaches and 13 exceptional young players."

Four days after losing to Barrington, 6-4, in the New England title game in Bristol, Connecticut, Goffstown Little League manager Pat Dutton accused Barrington players on base of "leaning in, looking in and they're doing hand gestures to their kid (at the plate) indicating what kind of pitch it is and where it's located." Dutton added: "You can do that in big league ball. In Little League, it's unsportsmanlike, it's dishonorable and it's disgusting."

While the team was on the practice field in Williamsport, Pennsylvania preparing for Thursday's Little League World Series opener, Thomson shot back in a statement to WJAR-TV defending his coaches and players, and calling the article "unfortunate, and its premise false."

"Barrington Little League prides itself on adhering to the rules and values in all aspects of our organization. We strive to foster the ideals of good sportsmanship, honesty, loyalty and respect of coaches, players and teammates.

"The article in the Union Leader is unfortunate, and its premise false. We hold our coaches, players and teams to the highest standards and do not coach or condone unsportsmanlike behavior of any kind. Likewise, we do not condone anyone making disparaging comments about opposing teams, particularly teams like the Barrington All-Star team."

Barrington Little League represented Rhode Island at New Englands as the state champion and now wears the "New England" uniform as the regional champion following the victory against New Hampshire.

Dutton told the Union Leader he alerted the home plate umpire of the sign stealing, and that the umpire issued warnings to Barrington. Dutton told the newspaper he decided not put the game under protest because it would not have changed the eventual outcome.

"It's just frustrating to see teams and kids having to go about it that way when clearly they were better than we were," he said. "They didn't have to do that."

Thomson said in his statement that not only did the Barrington players not steal signs, that he resented them being accused of doing so.

"That goes against our core values and is, in fact, a violation of the rules and sport of Little League itself," he said. "If an opposing team or manager has any concerns, they should take them up with Little League."