Forfeits cost Braves softball tourney slot

The Husson College women’s softball team won’t participate in the Sunrise Conference tournament because they used an ineligible player causing forfeiture of all seven of its conference wins.

Lyndon State College (Vt.) will take Husson’s place as the fourth seed in the tournament along with Thomas College of Waterville, the University of Maine-Farmington and UM-Presque Isle.

Husson officials would not disclose the name of the player, but said she dropped a three-credit course April 4 and that left her carrying 10 credit hours. Every Husson win in which she played from April 4 on was forfeited.

NAIA and NCAA guidelines require that a student-athlete carry at least 12 credit hours per semester.

Husson had been 7-9 in the conference and Lyndon State was 5-12. Husson wound up 2-24 overall.

The tournament will start Friday at Thomas College in Waterville with the top-seeded Terriers (15-3 in the conference, 16-17 overall) hosting Lyndon State (8-9, 10-13) at 9:30 a.m. and No. 2 UMF (14-3, 15-10) taking on No. 3 UMPI (6-6, 6-12) at noon. The losers will meet at 2:30 p.m. and the winners will play at 5 p.m.

Saturday’s schedule begins at 10 a.m. when the teams with one loss square off. The championship round begins at 12:30 with the if-necessary game to follow.

Julie Green, director of public affairs at Husson, said the decision not to release the player’s name is based on the fact the fault “belongs on the shoulders of the administration at the college. It was a mistake.”

“All of our coaches take great pains to explain the eligibility requirements to our student-athletes,” added Green. “But we’re going to have to take steps to ensure this never happens again.”

Husson softball coach Randy Dodge, who would have made his first trip to the postseason in his five years at the helm, said, “She did what a lot of kids do. She knew she wasn’t going to pass the class so she decided to drop it and take it again later.”

Unfortunately, she never informed Dodge of her decision.

“We didn’t discover it until Tuesday when we were doing recertification for the tournament,” said Dodge. “We reported the violation and were told we had to forfeit all of those games.”

He said his players were “disappointed” and wondered why they had to pay for someone else’s mistake.

“But after I told them what happened, they had a better understanding of the situation and of the importance of communicating with their coaches,” added Dodge.

He said his team had been playing some of its best softball of late.

“The team was coming together,” said Dodge.

Baseball tournament field set

The conference’s baseball tournament field has also been set with host Husson (14-4, 20-14 entering a Wednesday game against Bowdoin) being the top seed and playing No. 4 Lyndon State (10-10, 12-14) at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Winkin Baseball Complex.

The 3 p.m. game pits No. 2 Thomas (14-6, 15-17) against No. 3 UM-Farmington (10-10, 11-14).

The losers of Friday’s games play at 9 a.m. Saturday; Friday’s winners will play 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first game and the teams with one loss will play 45 minutes after the winners bracket game.

The championship round will begin Sunday at noon with the if-necessary game to follow.