Youth baseball - intentional walks fair?

[polyck]

Hey it was great to hear everyone's thoughts on this particular issue.

The player is not my son, he is an 11 year old kid who just loves to play the game. He works hard at it without being a show off, his parents have done a great job in keeping him grounded.

Yet over the years I have seen a lot of kids play baseball and I personally had not witnessed this situation at his age group. There were two outs, a man on 2nd and 3rd and he came up to bat. He could have easily brought both guys home.

This was a rare situation and from what I understand hadn't happened in years. I suppose it could be viewed as the opposing coach not having enough confidence and respect for his pitcher or knowing if he let the kid bat he was going to lose the game.

But it's just a game - no one gets paid. Has the level of competition gotten so out of control that coaches looking at the big picture?

What happened to kids playing a game of ball, teaching them to play fair and working as a team?