PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Brinley Stephens, 11, plays softball for the Astoria Future Fish. On Sunday, the team was playing a weekend tournament in Newberg, Oregon, when Brinley hit a hard line drive.
What happened next stunned parents and players.
The assistant coaches for the St. Helens team stormed the field, yelled at the umpire and accused Brinley of being too old and too big – and they demanded to see her birth certificate.
“She was in tears,” Brinley’s mom, Tracy Burchfield, told affiliate KOIN. “Like, ‘What did I do wrong?’ She didn’t do anything wrong.”
Brinley is nearly 5-feet-10. Her mom said Brinley is used to comments about her age and her height. But, Burchfield said, cursing and taking photos of her daughter crosses the line, no matter how old you are.
“It’s competitive,” Burchfield said. “However, you also have to be role models and good examples.”
Despite the chaos, the game continued, and no immediate ejections were made. Critics now say that was a major failure.
“I still think that they should not be coaching,” Burchfield said.
Astoria won the game. But she said the final insult came when the St. Helens assistant coach was caught on camera flipping off the Astoria parents during the handshake.
“It was very poor sportsmanship,” she said.
In response, the tournament organizer, North American Fastpitch Association, suspended two St. Helens assistant coaches – one man and one woman – and called their behavior “indefensible.”
“We’re trying to do the best we can so that the team can continue but address the bad and inappropriate behavior,” said NAFA’s Benjie Hedgecock.
The male coach was suspended for the rest of the year. The female coach was suspended for 10 days and is on probation for the rest of the year.
Currently, there is no evidence that the St. Helens head coach was involved, but NAFA will review the evidence and meet later this week on next steps, if any.
