Little League International Explains Tulsa National Softball's Removal in Exclusive Interview

The disqualification of the Tulsa National Little League softball team from the Southwest Region Tournament in Waco, Texas, sent shockwaves through the entire youth sports community on Tuesday.

After three protests were filed across three days from three different teams, Vice President of Operations and Little League International Tournament Director Dan Velte had enough evidence to remove the team from World Series contention.

“Just because somebody submits a protest, originally, we don't always act on that,” Velte told Softball On SI in an exclusive phone interview on Wednesday. ”We will review it, but until such time that someone can clearly show that there is a violation, and we can look into it and analyze the situation, then we take the appropriate action at that point.”

However, the disqualification doesn’t mean Tulsa National will lose its charter, nor does it mean that District Administrator Mindy Abbott or league president Steve Skocik will face any consequences for their actions of falsifying a tournament affidavit. It doesn’t even mean punishment will be handed down from Little League International because, according to Velte, Little League International handles disqualifications on a “case-by-case basis.”

“Each individual case is reviewed on a case-by-case basis,” Velte added. “So, they'll go through the same review process that every single team within the Little League International tournament goes through.”

It’s important to note that the Southwest Region will host its baseball tournament in Waco starting Aug. 6. Tulsa National will be the Oklahoma representative and will play the winner of Texas East and Texas West on Aug. 7.

The baseball tournament affidavit requires the same signatories to verify eligibility as the softball tournament, and with the baseball tournament right around the corner, there won’t be any action taken against Tulsa National before then, per Velte.

“There is no set timeline,” Velte said when it comes to revoking a league’s charter for blatantly breaking Little League rules. “There's no set process. But at the end of the day, if there's an opportunity to support a league and to give every child in that community a chance to play, that's our biggest priority. And so, we don't go at it saying that kids that weren't involved in a situation should be punished next. We ask them to confirm through the process that they're gonna follow the league rules and regulations. We want to give every kid an opportunity to play.”

Despite denying the first two protests at the 2026 Southwest Region Tournament and all five protests in 2025, Little League International, along with the tournament committee, felt like it had enough evidence from the final protest filed by Eastbank Little League (Louisiana) to take action.

Unlike the two protests filed by Industrial Little League (Texas East) and Greater Helotes Little League (Texas West), which questioned player eligibility based on living outside the Tulsa National boundary, Eastbank challenged the official affidavit submitted by Tulsa National and claimed several documents were falsified.

Louisiana identified two specific players in its protest, who knowingly don’t live in Tulsa based on social media posts from their respective schools. The protest then questioned whether or not any of the information submitted in the affidavit was valid because the “Oklahoma District Administrator, Mindy Abbott, and Tulsa National Little League President, Steve Skocik, knowingly signed a tournament affidavit containing false information.”

Now that Little League International has disqualified the Tulsa National Little League softball team after eight protests spanning parts of two seasons, what happens to the league, its volunteers, parents and players will be determined by Little League International.

Because of the case-by-case process that Velte described, many questions are unanswered for now.

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