By Diane Lee
Staff Writer
According to Mira Costa baseball coach Cassidy Olson, he benched several players for the last five games of the season after they confessed during an April 28 practice to smoking marijuana.
Olson did not permanently remove any of the members who confessed from the team. The students did not receive any discipline from the school because the incident did not occur on school grounds.
“There was no evidence that what went on was related to school in any way,” Dale said. “This incident didn’t affect the campus climate or classes, and I felt that what Coach Olson did was enough.”
Olson said baseball coaches began to look into the matter after hearing rumors of students engaging in illegal activities. During practice on April 28, the coaches asked players to come forward if they wanted to confess to any activities that breached the contract they signed at the beginning of the school year.
“We take drugs and alcohol very seriously, and we’re always vigilant about those issues,” Olson said. “Since we have four on-campus coaches, we can easily hear what is going on among the players.”
Following a Manhattan Beach Unified School District board policy that says any disciplinary actions against students will not be released to colleges, Mira Costa did not inform any colleges about the incident.
According to School Resource Officer John Loy, there will be no legal action taken against the students because they are not punishable by law.
“We can’t arrest people for confessing to doing drugs,” Loy said. “We can only help them. The only time we can arrest people is when we catch them under the influence or in possession of illegal substances.”
According to an article in the Beach Reporter, many parents of the baseball players have complained about the way in which the coaches handled the incident. However, Olson and Dale said that many of parents’ claims were false and unfounded.
“Everything in the Beach Reporter’s article was false,” Dale said. “It portrayed Coach Olson as being heavy-handed with the players, but he wasn’t. He did not force the students to confess. He asked the students to confess if they wanted to.”
Olson denied parents’ claims that he began looking into the matter because a parent of a player informed him about the illicit activities, that he forced the players to run until they confessed or that certain seniors have lost their college scholarships.
“Both the school administrators and the coaches feel strongly that we handled the situation in the best interest of the kids,” Olson said.
After losing multiple important players, the Mustangs baseball team finished their season with a 17-14 overall record and 4-6 Bay League record, falling just short of an at-large berth in the CIF playoffs.
With their season and a chance at playoffs in jeopardy, the Mustangs traveled to Palos Verdes to earn a CIF spot. After seven innings, Mira Costa lost 3-1 and did not make the playoffs, ending their season.
“The season ended on a bittersweet note,” Mira Costa senior Sean Isaac said. “We came together for a few games at the end and played well, but it wasn’t enough to get us in the playoffs. Our boys had a nothing-to-lose attitude throughout the year. We were in the hole in league, and we forced ourselves to grind it out.”
Prior to the game at PV, the Mustangs took on the Sea Kings at home, pulling out a 2-1 win. In a very close game, runs were rare for either side, but the Mustangs scored two early runs in the third capped by a squeeze bunt by sophomore Keyon Allen.
“The season was full of ups and downs,” Isaac said. “We had a lot of talent this year. But in the end, we were our own worst enemy though, usually beating ourselves rather than getting beat by the other team.”
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