Carleigh Myatt, Reinhardt University, Crying Due to Unfair Call

An exclusive from Carleigh Myatt, Reinhardt University

Carleigh Myatt and her teammates play softball for Reinhardt University (Waleska, GA), and what happened to them left them confused and angry. They did not have the opportunity to compete fairly in the NAIA softball championship game against Ottawa University (Ottawa, Kansas). In fact, they were not able to finish the game up to NAIA rules* before they were deemed the losing team. 

Myatt bluntly posted about the unfortunate situation on Twitter “For ten of us today, our softball careers have ended. Not because we lost, but because it was stripped from us as a result of a team that was too afraid to play us, an athletic director that was not concerned about the game because ‘his team was no longer playing,' and a field crew that was too ‘lazy' to get on the field to fix the field that our team got most of the water off in five minutes.”

Understanding the facts:

Fact: Reinhardt University played Ottawa University for the NAIA softball championship. 

Fact: Reinhardt's softball team was said to have lost the game, but they did not complete the game as far as the NAIA rules are concerned. The Eagles stopped playing the game at the top of the 3rd inning with two outs; they were tied 2-2. According to the NAIA rules, five innings must be completed.

Fact:  The game was postponed due to inclement weather. A sports trainer made the call because the NAIA official was nowhere to be found. 

Fact: The Reinhardt softball team cleaned up the field because a tarp was not put down to protect it from the rain; unfortunately, they had to do the job of the field crew, the players were exerting unnecessary energy when they should have been focusing on the game. Myatt recalled that the team had to use solo cups to scoop the water up off the field. Again, no one was there to oversee this problem. 

Fact: The umpire deemed the foul territory unplayable.

Fact: The final call of the game was resting on the shoulders of Tim Jager, the athletic director of the host school, Morningside College, who said: “It's not my team, so it's not my problem.” Mr. Jager gave the trophy to Ottawa, but he did not notify the Reinhardt team. Unfortunately, the opposing team found out about their loss through a picture that was posted on social media. 

Reinhardt earned the right to finish what they started, and that is a fair chance to win the championship.

Tweet #JusticeForReinhardt

* Originally published on May 25, 2017, by Keirsten Sires