[greymule]

Two weeks ago, in the "handshake line" after a 35-and-over (!) slow pitch game in a neighboring township, the pitcher of one team deliberately shunned the handshake with the opposing shortstop. The shortstop asked the pitcher why he wouldn't shake hands, and the pitcher said, "I don't shake hands with s---."

A moment later, the shortstop attacked the pitcher from behind, grabbing his upper body and slamming his face into the ground. This practically started a riot.

(This did not come out of the blue. I understand that the shortstop has had some sort of martial arts training and has been in trouble for violent behavior in the past. The pitcher is well known for being an instigator.)

A night or two later, when one of the teams showed up for its next game, they found the field cordoned off with police tape, and several officers present informed them that there would be no game that night, since they were conducting an investigation. (This is puzzling to me; I can't seem to find someone who can make sense of this. What were they doing, fingerprinting the field?)

The next I heard, the township was outraged at the fact that taxpayer money was being thrown at such a negative enterprise as this league, and not happy about tying up its police force on softball fights.

But the upshot was merely a 3-game suspension for the shortstop and a 1-game suspension for the pitcher.