Softball players quit in protest over GM’s tweet to Trump, form new team

It’s been 10 days since a professional softball team quit after their general manager proudly tweeted to President Trump about the players standing for the flag during the national anthem.

When Texas-based Scrap Yard Dawgs general manager Connie May defended her action to the team after the game, the only Black athlete on the roster that day — Kiki Stokes — walked out. Her teammates followed.

“I felt so isolated and I felt so alone, but at the same time, my teammates went to bat for me,” Stokes said during an interview on the podcast Burn It All Down.

Those athletes — nearly a dozen Olympians among them — quickly formed a new team called This is Us Softball. They’ve already played three games and have a full summer schedule ahead.

Because of their abrupt change from one team to another, the players gave up their already limited salaries, and have turned to crowd-sourcing to cover basic costs like car rentals and housing as they play at the USSSA Space Coast Complex in Viera, Florida. It’s unclear whether that funding will be enough to float them for the season. The team is in talks with a potential sponsor, but those details are being finalized.

“They had to have a little bit of faith that people were willing to jump on board with them,” said their coach, Mike Steuerwald. Also forgoing his salary, Steuerwald, who is the assistant softball coach at Syracuse University, arrived to Viera to coach the Scrap Yard Dawgs for the fourth consecutive season. Now, he’s coaching the same athletes on the new This is Us Softball team.

Aside from playing a full summer exhibition season against USSSA Pride, the players are busy running the team. Without a general manager, the athletes call the shots. The team spends hours a day in meetings to go over logistics, with everyone assuming additional responsibilities to make the season work.

Riley Sartain-Vaughn of Fort Worth said it’s been a little overwhelming.

“For us to have to become our own accountant, our own PR person, our own manager or agent...it’s been interesting to say the least,” she said.

But it’s in those meetings where unity is built, brick by brick, as the team strengthens its unified voice.

“I’ve only been here for two weeks now, and I feel closer to this group of girls than I have felt with some teammates that I played with for two or three years,” Sartain-Vaughn said.

It’s refreshing, she said, to have open conversations about taboo topics like racism in softball.

“For me personally, I have learned that it’s OK to be wrong in some of the ways that I thought before,” she said. “I have incredible teammates who are extremely kind and patient and willing to listen to questions that I have and answer them honestly and openly and with grace.”

Steuerwald said he’s been impressed with the player — especially off the field.

“It’s been really neat from a coaching aspect to be able to hear how they’ve all been able to talk and have some tough conversations among themselves,” Steuerwald said. “Whether they come from one side of the political fence or the other.”

Their next game against USSSA Pride is 7 p.m. Thursday.

This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 12:27 PM with the headline "Softball players quit in protest over GM’s tweet to Trump, form new team."