Catholic School Boycotts Title Game Over Girl Player

An Arizona Catholic high school has ditched a shot at a state baseball title to shun a rival team with a female second-baseman. Our Lady of Sorrows, a fundamentalist Catholic school in Phoenix, refused to participate in the Arizona Charter Athletic Association state championship game against Mesa Prep because Paige Sultzbach, 15, plays second base, reports the Arizona Republic. Paige sat out two season games against the Catholic school out of deference to officials' opposition to any coed sports— but she refused to skip the championship game.

It's frustrating for Paige, who was angry when she sat out the games as "any passionate athletic person would be," and is upset her team has won the championship on a forfeit. "I respect their views, but it's a bit out of the 18th century," said Mesa Prep athletic director Amy Arnold. Our Lady of Sorrows explained to the local Fox station: "Our school aims to instill in our boys a profound respect for women and girls. Teaching our boys to treat ladies with deference, we choose not to place them in an athletic competition where proper boundaries can only be respected with difficulty." (More Catholic Church stories.)