Judge Reinstates Suspended Little Leaguer

Marco Rocco, a 12-year-old Little League player in Haddonfield, New Jersey, was suspended after he flipped his bat in the air to celebrate hitting a home run in a big game. He was also ejected from the July 16 game, which his team won 8-0. Luckily for Marco, his dad is a lawyer. Joe Rocco filed for an emergency temporary restraining order in county court, USA Today reports. It was granted just in time for Marco to play in his first state tournament game Monday night. Joe Rocco says the family was told Marco had broken a rule against "horseplay," but Little League promotes bat flips "all over social media," with videos showing players flipping their bats at the Little League World Series.

Joe Rocco says his son didn't understand why he was ejected from the game. "I told him sometimes life isn't fair, but I'll go to bat for you," he says. Judge Robert Malestein "said he wasn't going to prevent a kid from playing because he did something that they promote all over their own social media," the father told the New York Times after the hearing. In his ruling, Malestein said the league appeared to be "engaging in an application of their rules which would appear to be arbitrary and capricious," per the AP. Little League said it was "disappointed that a legal ruling contradicts the integrity of Little League International's value and rules."

Umpires say that while Marco may have broken a rule, they've never heard of anybody being suspended for bat-flipping before. "The kid got excited and got caught up in the moment," Dan Rossino, president of the Little League World Series Umpire Alumni Association, tells the Times. "It wasn't a fight, and it wasn't something nasty. We have to keep in mind the spirit of the game, and we all need to get on the same page." Marco played for Haddonfield against Elmora on Thursday night in the first game of a four-team tournament but he didn't have any home runs to celebrate—the AP reports that they lost 10-0 in a game shortened to four innings by the mercy rule. Marco started on the bench but came in after the starting pitcher allowed six runs in two-thirds of an inning.