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A New Jersey Little League player suspended from a state tournament game for a bat flip had his punishment rescinded on Thursday.
Marco Rocco, a 12-year-old player for Haddonfield Little League, launched a two-run home during a recent game against Harrison Township Little League and flipped his bat into the air.
The homer made it an 8-0 game in the sixth inning, which wound up being the final score. With the victory, Haddonfield clinched the Section 4 title and moved on to the state championship bracket.
However, as he crossed home plate, Rocco was ejected due to a “safety concern,” Rocco’s father, Joe, told NJ.com.
Joe Rocco was adamant that Little League has “openly promote[d] bat flipping all over their social media accounts, their websites and the broadcasts on TV for the Little League World Series.”
A temporary restraining order was filed Tuesday in the Gloucester County Chancery Division in hopes of letting Rocco play, and both sides argued their cases Thursday. A judge decided in Rocco’s favor.
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“If you’re gonna have rules and enforce them, they can’t be enforced arbitrarily and capriciously,” Gloucester County Chancery Judge Robert Malestein ruled Thursday afternoon, via the New York Post. “[I’m going to] allow him to play in tonight’s game.”
Haddonfield and Harrison Township also played each other on both July 13 and 15, splitting the first two contests and making the July 16 game a winner-take-all.
Haddonfield begins the state tournament Thursday against Elmora, which made it to the Little League World Series in 2019, in Deptford. The state championship bracket is a four-team, double-elimination format.
The Haddonfield-Elmora game begins at 8:30 p.m. ET.
The winner of the bracket will head to Bristol, Connecticut, for a chance to represent the Metro region at the Little League World Series.
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