DALTON, Ga. — A youth softball game ended in an arrest after a postgame altercation escalated into violence, according to a report.
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Dalton officers responded to a fight in progress at a softball complex on Cross Plains Trail on April 4.
ABC-affiliate News Channel 9 reports that it was during an 8U game involving the Wreckers and GA Fury Platinum Harris teams.
When police arrived, the tournament director told officers that two parties had been involved in a confrontation following a game.
According to the report, Meredith Grant told officers tension had been building throughout her daughter’s game, claiming members of the opposing team made unsportsmanlike comments about her daughter.
She said the situation escalated during a postgame handshake line when a coach ‘got in her face,’ causing her to push him. Grant said then other people from the opposing team started attacking her, causing her to fall to the ground.
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However, officers say video footage told a different story.
Police reviewed video of the incident and reported that both teams were lined up for postgame handshakes when Grant shoved an opposing coach. As another coach tried to step in and de-escalate, officers say Grant pushed that Coach as well.
According to police, Grant then walked around a group of players and coached, grabbed a woman by the hair, pulled her to the ground and punched her in the face.
Officials say they observed visible marks on the woman’s face consistent with being hit.
Officers determined Grant was the primary aggressor. She was arrested and booked into the Whitfield County Jail. She is charged with battery.
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The state director of the United States Fastpitch Association, Jeff Britt, told ABC-affiliate News Channel 9 that Grant can no longer coach in any of their future tournaments.