By Rey Sifuentes Jr. (March 17, 2013)
(Please pick up this weekend’s The News Gram for Head Coach Oscar Ruiz’s comments)
A judge in Travis County (Austin) on Friday expelled an injunction from Eagle Pass Independent School District against the University Interscholastic League, according to Lady Eagles head softball coach Oscar Ruiz. The school district filed the injunction a few days ago following a chief umpire’s mistake which shortened the Lady Eagles Region IV quarterfinal playoff series against San Benito held in Laredo late last week.
Eagle Pass and San Benito met for game one (on Friday, May 10) for what was to be a best of three games Region IV quarterfinal series in Laredo.
Heavy rain halted the opening game in the sixth inning, while San Benito was winning 2-0, when the chief umpire decided to end the game.
EPHS head coach Oscar Ruiz and San Benito’s skipper argued with the chief umpire to have the game continue, but he declined.
With game one supposedly in the books, the chief umpire ordered both teams to come back the next day for game two.
Both teams returned the next day only to find out that their playoff series had instead been reduced to one game. EPHS and San Benito were told to finish out the remaining one and a third inning from the day before, and the Lady Grey Hounds held on for a 2-0 win.
The chief umpire apologized to those in attendance on Saturday, while EPHS brass got in contact with the University Interscholastic League.
Superintendent Gilberto Gonzalez submitted a protest on Tuesday, met with the school board later that night, and then had the district’s attorneys draft an injunction against U.I.L.
With that injunction made null and void today (Friday), San Benito was allowed to continue its postseason by facing San Antonio O’Connor in a one-game semifinal that was to be held today in Corpus Christi.
(Rey Sifuentes Jr. is the sports editor of the Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune which is located in East Texas. He is also a 1992 graduate of Eagle Pass High School. Sifuentes can be reached on Facebook and at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
. You can also follow him through Twitter at @eaglesmavericks.)