We are parents, coaches, and volunteers from across the great Southeast who strongly support Little League and its core values of fairness, sportsmanship, and giving every child a real opportunity to compete.

For many years, Tennessee state tournaments used a traditional double-elimination format with a winners bracket and losers bracket. Teams played until they lost two games. This system rewarded resilience and gave teams a second chance after a tough loss — something that has long been a hallmark of Little League.

In 2026, all Tennessee State tournaments were changed to a pool play + single-elimination format. This included Coach Pitch, 8-10, 9-11, and 10-12 (the Little League International Tournament qualifier). The change was implemented as an overlay with no opportunity for local Little Leagues to provide input or express concerns. It was presented as resulting from a decision by the Tennessee District Administrators

This format and related practices create serious fairness and integrity issues:

Lack of transparency in pool assignments:
Teams are placed into pools through anonymous draws with little to no transparency. This creates a serious risk that the four strongest teams can end up in the same pool, meaning the second-best team can be eliminated early without ever getting an opportunity to battle through a losers bracket.

Unfair tiebreakers:
A team can lose one game while giving up only a few runs and still be eliminated, while teams that gave up many more runs advance. This runs-allowed tiebreaker feels more like travel ball than traditional Little League.

No second chances at the state level:
Unlike District, Regional and Little League World Series tournaments (which use modified double-elimination), one bad game or one bad draw can end a team’s season with no opportunity to recover.

Lack of umpire neutrality and oversight:
Little League rules require non-league volunteer umpires from outside the host league to ensure impartiality. Some state tournament host sites are instead using their own paid umpires to officiate games involving their local teams. When the home team knows the umpires by first name and high-fives players on their team, it may be genuine excitement, but to teams traveling in from out of town it creates the clear appearance of a conflict of interest. District administrators are often not sufficiently involved, and when concerns are raised, tournament directors frequently respond with dismissive comments such as “they didn’t see it,” “I didn’t catch that,” or “they should have protested.” Protests regarding rules violations are frequently not properly investigated or resolved, with games simply directed to continue and no meaningful follow-up.

Historical Tennessee state brackets from 2022–2025 clearly show winners and losers brackets. The current format, combined with the lack of local input and these umpire neutrality and protest handling problems, represents a significant departure from long-standing Little League standards of fairness and integrity.

We respectfully ask Little League leadership in Tennessee, the Southeast Region, and Little League International to:

-Restore double-elimination (or offer it as a clear option) at the state tournament level for Coach Pitch, 8-10, 9-11, and 10-12 divisions.
-Review and improve pool assignment procedures and tiebreaker rules to ensure greater fairness and transparency.
-Enforce proper umpire assignment policies requiring truly independent, non-league volunteer umpires at all state and district tournament games.
-Improve oversight by district administrators and establish clear, accountable procedures for handling protests and rules violations at the district and state levels.
-Ensure that future changes to tournament formats include meaningful input from local leagues before implementation.
-Little League should be about player development, resilience, fairness, and creating positive memories — not ending seasons on a tiebreaker, a stacked pool, biased officiating, unresolved rules violations, or decisions made without local input.

Please sign this petition if you believe state tournaments should remain fair, transparent, and consistent with the values that have made Little League successful for generations.

For Those Who Want to Contact Leadership Directly
Tennessee District Administrators

• Chris Cockrell – District 1 Administrator lltndis1@gmail.com / (901) 254-1892
• Ann Eidson – District 2 Administrator beidson752@aol.com / (615) 417-7603
• Tim Bowman – District 4 Administrator tbowman_titan@yahoo.com / (423) 552-0310
• Selina Pendleton – District 5 Administrator tnlittleleagued5da@gmail.com / (423) 426-2408
• Jeff Wallace – District 6 Administrator admin@tnstatelittleleague.com / (865) 207-5778
• Anthony Douglas – District 7 Administrator anthony.douglas@ingramcontent.com / (615) 213-5492
• Kenneth Sullivan – District 8 Administrator sully93@gmail.com / (615) 727-2156
• James Perras – District 9 Administrator jamespraz@yahoo.com / (931) 206-6567

Southeast Region Leadership

• Matt Weber – Southeast Region Director mweber@littleleague.org / (478) 987-7227
  Scott Rogers – Assistant Southeast Region Director srogers@littleleague.org / (478) 987-7227

Little League International

• Daniel Velte – Vice President of Operations dvelte@littleleague.org / (570) 326-1921