A sour taste to end of NHBA season

Bryce Alderton

Two days after a forfeit, parents of a local youth baseball

all-star team were still fuming about a forfeit and a manager’s

desertion.

The Newport Harbor Baseball Association Bronco A All-Stars (11-

and 12-year-olds) had to forfeit their game Sunday against Anaheim in

the District 2 Bronco Section Tournament because they were one player

short of the minimum 12 eligible players required under Pony Baseball

rules.

Newport’s first batter was standing in the on-deck circle waiting

to bat in the first inning Sunday when a tournament director told the

team they had to forfeit.

“We were so stunned,” said parent Jeanne Massingill. “We felt

betrayed. The kids had worked so hard. It’s a very tough lesson for

them.”

Newport Harbor’s forfeit meant an end to their All-Star season and

caps off a tumultuous week that saw them win their first game against

Garden Grove, 3-1, lose Saturday to a powerful Los Alamitos team,

16-3, and have to forfeit Sunday’s game.

Manager Ron D’Cruz and his son R.J. were absent from Saturday’s

game and Sunday’s forfeit.

A call placed to D’Cruz’s cell phone and a page late Tuesday night

went unreturned.

Last week D’Cruz said that he would miss Saturday’s game and maybe

Sunday’s game because he would be in San Francisco on business. He

also said that he and his son might be leaving early this week to

play for a traveling team in Cooperstown, N.Y., but that R.J. had yet

to decide if he would play.

Pony Baseball rules stipulate that a player cannot play for two

tournament teams simultaneously, said Tim Bagdanov, Pony Baseball

tournament director for the Orange County region.

Earlier in the season a coach from Dana Point approached D’Cruz

and asked if R.J. would like to play on a traveling team that would

be playing in Cooperstown.

Dana Point fell victim to forfeit earlier in the district

tournament, having to forfeit its game because they had also dropped

below the 12 eligible players with some players also playing on the

same traveling team going to Cooperstown, Bagdanov said.

“Being a realistic person, I thought we could take a family

vacation because we’ve never seen New York City before,” D’Cruz had

said last week. “Now we win out of district and we’ve got games. Work

is work and people forget that we’re not paid to do this. I’ve put in

100 hours of work to the All-Star deal and it’s free.”

Last week D’Cruz said he had made plans two weeks ago to go to New

York.

One parent that requested anonymity said that D’Cruz should not

have committed to the All-Star team if he was going to back out.

“I’m disgusted by the whole thing,” said Newport Harbor Baseball

Association Commissioner Brian Gowdy.