![\"Monarch](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/DCC-L-MonarchLL-7-7-02.jpg\")
Monarch 12U baseball’s Boomer Feger pitches against North Boulder at the Northern Lights Little League Complex on July 7, 2026. (Alissa Noe\/BoCoPreps.com)<\/p>\nOn a smoky Tuesday night during the District 2 tournament at Northern Lights Little League Complex in Thornton, the tension on Field 2 was building.<\/p>\n
Through the first four innings between Monarch\u2019s and North Boulder\u2019s 12U All-Stars teams, no one could break a pitcher\u2019s duel that had yet to see a run scored. The game determined who would stay alive to fight another day and play Coal Creek Red for the championship.<\/p>\n
In the top of the fifth inning \u2014 Little League only plays six \u2014 North Boulder\u2019s starting pitcher loaded up the bases, prompting a pitching change on its end. Carson Heun immediately made the team regret that decision.<\/p>\n
In the very next at-bat, Heun launched a shot into the outfield. He caused his own out, but the distance he created on the sacrifice fly allowed his teammate from third to charge toward home. The subsequent throwing error from the right fielder allowed another Coyote to score.<\/p>\n
By the time everything was set and done, the Coyotes won 4-0 to secure a spot in the District 2 title game(s), but their road to get there was anything but ordinary. They had to fight their way through the consolation bracket \u2014 something they contest shouldn\u2019t have happened in the first place.<\/p>\n
Monarch 12U baseball’s Boomer Feger pitches against North Boulder at the Northern Lights Little League Complex on July 7, 2026. (Alissa Noe\/BoCoPreps.com)<\/p>\n
Monarch\u2019s only loss in districts, on June 30, came at the hands of a team that was disqualified from the competition just two days later.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the district tournament started, it was strange to both us and North Boulder that we had a new team called Northern Colorado Little League, which hadn\u2019t participated in all the years that I\u2019ve been coaching Little League,\u201d Monarch head coach Ezra Paddock explained. \u201cThey\u2019d never participated in our district tournament. One of our board members said they used to have a league, but it had been defunct, so we were a little skeptical.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we got to the field, it was an all-star team of travel ball kids that played 13U majors. So our parents started to collect information during the game, like finding things on GameChanger, that these kids didn\u2019t complete a Little League season. Immediately after the game, we went to our local administrator and showed him the evidence that our parents had found.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an email from district administrator Cliff Deffke sent to tournament participants on July 3, he acknowledged that Monarch had brought about evidence showing that Northern Colorado had violated Little League rules. The team had played too many games in a day, and it had played three-inning games instead of the regulation six. Deffke wrote that he sent screenshots of the evidence gleaned from GameChanger to the West Region, which oversees the decision to disqualify a team through a Tournament Committee.<\/p>\n
That was on July 1. Later that night, Northern Colorado defeated North Boulder. North Boulder coach Jesse Jones followed with an email to West Region officials but did not protest the game, according to Deffke.<\/p>\n
Deffke continued: \u201cThursday morning (July 2), I received a call from West Region informing me that it appeared action would be taken against Northern Colorado and that the tournament was suspended at that time. I was told that they were going to call Thad Anderson from Northern Colorado to get a statement and that they would meet at noon Mountain time. Apparently, they were unable to reach Thad as at about 12:30 p.m., I was copied on an email Little League sent to him requesting a statement in response to the four three-inning games in question. Later, Thad copied me on an email he sent to Little League essentially admitting that the games were played. Shortly after, Little League called me and said that Northern Colorado had been disqualified.\u201d<\/p>\n
The email then went on to state that while North Boulder\u2019s loss to Northern Colorado would be vacated, Monarch\u2019s June 30 defeat would not be. The issue, Deffke said, was that, \u201c(Little League\u2019s) standard procedure when disqualifying a team in the middle of a tournament was to issue a forfeit going one game back and that Monarch\u2019s loss stood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deffke then referred to page 175 of the rule book that stated: \u201cIt should be clearly understood by Tournament Directors and League Presidents that operation of the annual tournaments in Little League come under a different authority and jurisdiction from that normally observed during the playing season. Once the tournament season starts, authority is vested solely in the Tournament Committee at Williamsport. Revocation of tournament privileges or forfeiture of a tournament game may be decided only by the Tournament Committee at Williamsport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Monarch, in turn, protested the decision to uphold its loss, but the Tournament Committee retorted that it had reached its final conclusion and that no further action could be taken.<\/p>\n
Neither Deffke nor West Region officials could be reached by the Daily Camera for comment.<\/p>\n
While the Coyotes have made the most of an unfortunate situation by continuing to win, the parents and coaches feel their kids have been cheated. Now, they\u2019re just one loss away from falling short of their state tournament ambitions. If they win Wednesday night, they have to beat Coal Creek Red on Thursday, as well, to win the tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a challenge because I think (the kids) believe they were treated unfairly, but they\u2019ve done an incredible job of rising above that and just controlling the things they can control and winning games on the field,\u201d said Carson Heun\u2019s dad, Aaron.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe beat Golden in the first round of the consolation bracket,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe beat Coal Creek Black in the second round, and then we beat Northern Lights (Monday) night. Now, we have beaten North Boulder to eliminate North Boulder, but we\u2019re having to play all of these games because we have a loss to an ineligible team that is staying on the books.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Coyotes hope two additional wins can render the decision null and void, but they\u2019re frustrated they were placed in that position in the first place.<\/p>\n