Report: New Hampshire youth baseball coaches planned to 'bean' league's lone girl to intimidate her into leaving

A truly disturbing report has emerged from New Hampshire, where a pair of youth baseball coaches reportedly planned to “bean” an 11-year-old girl — the league’s only female player — in an attempt to intimidate her and get her to leave the league.

The allegations reported in the Fosters Daily Democrat cite a claim from a parent in the Oyster River Youth Association in Durham, N.H. The initial report of the plan came from a man named Dan Klein, whose daughter was the alleged intended victim of the would-be in-game attack.

According to Klein, two coaches had a discussion about intentionally throwing at Klein’s daughter’s head during a league draft meeting on March 21 at a Durham bar and grill.

While Klein wasn’t at the meeting himself, he reportedly was told of the conversation by two other coaches, named by the Daily Democrat as Troy Brisard and Kirk O’Quinn. Those two coaches, who are part of the ORYA board, felt the conversation was inappropriate and wanted to warn Klein of the threat, regardless of how legitimate it may have been. O’Quinn also subsequently selected Klein’s daughter to be part of his team.

Klein’s daughter has competed as part of the ORYA baseball program since 2012, previously without incident with other female players also taking part.

While Klein said he wasn’t part of the board and, “it’s not my place to say what’s right for them,” the Chair of the ORYA board moved quickly to address the complaint.

“ORYA will immediately address the incident in our baseball program and move to ensure our program is 100% compliant with our policies,” ORYA Board Chair Ben Genes wrote in an email which was forwarded to the Daily Democrat. “I will contact Troy (Brisard) and Kirk (O’Quinn) to follow up on the details referenced. Please let me know if you have any questions.”

“We are now beginning a formal investigation into the incident as per our policies and procedures and will provide a summary followup to all our stakeholders,” Genes wrote in a separate email.

For now, Klein has no known plans to withdraw his daughter from the ORYA season, and she is apparently excited to continue playing baseball for O’Quinn’s team.