A Colorado baseball team that became entangled in a series of hazing charges appears to have avoided the worst possible result, with officials deciding not to formally charge anyone in connection with the incident.
As reported by Vail Daily, the Eagle Valley High School (Gypsum, Colo.) baseball team will not receive any charges in connection with an alleged hazing event that occurred while the team was at a tournament March 15-16. The weekend event, which was played at Delta (Colo.) High School, gave an opportunity for players to engage in extracurricular activity that fell under the broader definitions or concepts of hazing, but apparently fell short of the rumored sexual assault offenses that would have justified charges.
Instead, Eagle County Schools officials said they plan to discipline players involved in the incident, all of whom are minors. There was no indication of what those penalties could be, but Eagle County Schools chief communications officer Dan Dougherty said that only some athletes on the team would be charged, which should ensure that the team gets to continue competing on its regular schedule without significant alterations.
For now, the program will breathe easy with the comfort that it’s athletes will not face any criminal charges.
