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Phoenix Catholic school forfeits baseball championship game because opponent has female player

PHOENIX — Instead of playing in a championship baseball game, Paige Sultzbach and her team won’t even make it to the dugout.

A Phoenix school that was scheduled to play the 15-year-old Mesa girl and her male teammates forfeited the game rather than face a female player.

Our Lady of Sorrows bowed out of Thursday night’s game against Mesa Preparatory Academy in the Arizona Charter Athletic Association championship. The game had been scheduled at Phoenix College.

Paige, who plays second base at Mesa Prep, had to sit out two previous games against Our Lady of Sorrows out of respect for its beliefs. But having her miss the championship was not an option for Mesa Prep.

Paige’s mother, Pamela Sultzbach, told The Arizona Republic, which first reported the story, the team found out about the forfeit Wednesday.

“This is not a contact sport, it shouldn’t be an issue,” Pamela Sultzbach said. “It wasn’t that they were afraid they were going to hurt or injure her, it’s that (they believe) a girl’s place is not on a field.”

Officials at Our Lady of Sorrows declined comment. In a written statement Thursday, the school said the decision to forfeit was consistent with a policy prohibiting co-ed sports.

The statement also said the school teaches boys respect by not placing girls in athletic competition, where “proper boundaries can only be respected with difficulty.”

Our Lady of Sorrows is run by the U.S. branch of the Society of Saint Pius X. The group represents conservative, traditional priests who broke from the Catholic Church in the 1980s.

In junior high, Paige played softball and volleyball. Because Mesa Prep does not have a girls softball team, she tried out for the boys baseball team and received support from her coach and her fellow teammates.

Lisa Maatz, director of public policy at the American Association of University Women, said the situation is a clear example of why Title IX law, which enforces gender equality in education programs including sports, is needed.

“The very idea that such stereotypes are so strong, they’d actually forfeit a game simply because a girl was on the field. That’s ridiculous,” Maatz said. “Does she have cooties?”

Nancy Hogshead-Makar, senior director of advocacy for the Women’s Sports Foundation, said the school’s decision to forfeit doesn’t aid its own students.

“In real life, these boys are going to be competing against the girls for jobs, for positions in graduate programs or in trade schools,” Hogshead-Makar said. “In every other area of their life, they are going to be competing side by side.”

Both schools play in the seven-team 1A division of the ACAA. Our Lady of Sorrows won the Western Division and Mesa Prep won the Eastern Division with an undefeated season.

“This is not a contact sport, it shouldn’t be an issue,” Pamela Sultzbach said. “It wasn’t that they were afraid they were going to hurt or injure her, it’s that (they believe) a girl’s place is not on a field.”

The policy of the Catholic school is anti-co-ed sports.

You're welcome to disagree with it, but that doesn't mean it warrants insult.

fuck the Catholic Church. They're evil. They're exactly what's wrong with this world. Any actual Christians in the world that follow or believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ should surely distance themselves from this antiquated regime of self-loathing.

Then they shouldn't be playing teams that allow it.

It's insulting to women who DO play co-ed sports.

Yes it does. Just as any segregation in modern society deserves to be derided for backwards thinking.

From what the article says, it sounds like a female being on the team was an irregularity for that school. She wasn't "allowed" so much as she was given special permission. You can't blame the Catholic school for the other school's inconsistency.

No, it's not.

You're just reactionary--probably because you're desperate to find something that gives you an opportunity to whine about Catholics.

HAHA!

So you feel that the capacity for physical exertion and endurance should be blind to the sex of the athletes...Not surprised you'd be so stupid.

I look forward to when you establish the National Intersex Boxing Association.

Yes I can. It's the Catholic School that's being intolerant in this case.

Yes. It is. I can excuse you not realizing that since you probably spend no time around any.

And you're simply scrambling to make excuses for your nazi-sympathizing holy vatican.

So, you feel a woman's place is in the kitchen?

Away from battlefields?

I'd say there's a couple thousand women around the world...in and out of the armed forces...that would take issue with your 1950's mentality. Physically.

Intolerance is it?

Young bald leftist pothead.

Until you have to put up with female drill sergeants, you are not one to be lecturing me on such matters.

Females are the more likely party to complain if every policy embraced co-ed sports expressly.

And they'd be in the right for doing so since the weight-classes would be so skewed.

Uh-huh. And your lord god FDR shook hands with Stalin even after he knew he was a dick. Nice attempt at a Pope Pius reference though.

The Catholic church hardly has a monopoly on the idea of sexual segregation in sports.

I wouldn't mind women passing the green line to offer support, but females in the infantry is simply unwise. Support makes sense, but not close combat.

And I'd say that females would probably be the most pissed off by a co-ed standard

and that you're rather ignorant towards that reality...and reality in general.

The Catholic's intolerance

No thanks! I have a wife. Worse.

I've never heard any female complain about equality to men in any arena.

That has nothing to do with the point of the article. It's a non-contact sport. Weight has no bearing.

....my....lord god....FDR?

Which is beside the point of what we're talking about.

Worried a woman might show the big, strong man up? What year were you born in, again? G-Man? Is that you?

And that seems to be based on some fantasy you've convinced yourself of.

Pariah, I'm not going to continue back-and-forthing with you.

All you keep doing is simply saying "Uh-uh!! I'm right and you're wrong!"

No surprise. If you did, you'd be forced to acknowledge that females have in fact complained about competing against males in sports and that weight classes effect the outcome of the game regardless of whether or not its contact-based.

FACTS:

1) The Catholic School...who was already "honored and respected" by the other school when they made the females sit previous games out. When the Championship rolled around and the female athletes deserved to play (because women have just as many rights as men, contrary to your misogynistic beliefs) the Church acted like a pussy, took their ball and went home. They refused to play the game because they're either terrified of a women showing superiority, or they're simply sexist apes from the 1920's. Either way, they're wrong. At fault. Plain and simple.

2) I'm older than you. So, just due to the laws of averages, I've had more experience with all types of women than you have. Come back when you're almost 40 and married and then speak as if you have a leg to stand on.

It's this type of thinking of yours that baffles me. I've never encountered people like you so insistent on being the expert in topics they have no real experience in dealing with. You just speak as if you have some type of imaginary moral or intellectual expertise on the subject, even though all facts presented say otherwise. Is this why Republican Extremist demand to control a woman's right to choose? Why they insist on making laws dealing with the female body and birth control? The sexist apes and religious zealots still trying to bang their sticks against the cave walls. Throwing a childlike tantrum when they can't control others.

The Catholic School fucked up. You're only blindly trying to find some defense because you've been programmed to do so. Speaking of pathetic...

I am taking the ball and going home!

HA! HA! HA!

Yeah. You keep telling yourself that, ape. Your 1960's mentality is going to catch-up with you, and one of those "weak wimmen" (as you perceive them) is going to hurt you. Good luck!

I love old-fashioned Neocon primates. Always scrambling to excuse their ignorance, their insecurity, and their hate. "Women hate being treated equal!" AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!