It’s asinine to be this inflexible.

Adults doing their abject best to punch a hole in youth sports is a never-ending story. The latest chapter of this lousy tale unfolded here in Maine this week. On Tuesday, approximately a half-hour before the Gorham Little League 12U all-star team was going to take the field at the state tournament in Machias, the team was told it was disqualified from the tournament. 

What did those scoundrels from Gorham do? Did they show up with a team full of 14-year-old sluggers, each a foot taller than the 12-year-olds they’re playing against? Did they swing corked bats? Hide razor blades and sandpaper in their gloves to scuff baseballs and throw illegal pitches?

No. Gorham Little League didn’t play enough games.

Yeah. That’s it. Gorham Little League didn’t play enough games.

You remember this spring. Remember how much it rained? Every weekend, for 12 consecutive weekends.

The genesis of the rule actually makes sense, even if Little League International’s enforcement of it is ham-handed and draconian. For years, Little League has competed with travel ball teams for a finite number of players. To prevent local Little Leagues from stocking up teams full of ringers for the all-star tournaments, each player is required to play in at least eight regular-season games, and each team must play 12 games.

If you’re remembering how the horrid weather disrupted your weekend barbecue plans all spring, know that it disrupted youth sports, too. Gorham got in as many games as it could, and league officials thought that when the league’s playoffs were finished, it meant all teams all got in their 12 games.

Nate Stone is the administrator for District 6, the district in which Gorham plays. Stone is right when he says Gorham officials should have done a better job staying on top of the schedule. They could have done more to reschedule if possible, or request a waiver earlier. But Stone gets the pressure of being a volunteer and realizes that sometimes that stuff falls through the cracks when you’re juggling so many things.

“I’m a big fan of Little League,” Stone said, “but there’s a lot of rules.”

To simply shrug and fall back on “rules are rules” is lazy and a disservice to common sense. Falling back on “rules are rules” is a cheap way for everyone involved to avoid actual critical thought. It’s a crutch when a step ladder is needed, to climb up and see the big picture. Punishing the players for a mistake made by adults is short-sighted, but certainly not uncommon.

Stone’s solution is so obvious, it makes too much sense. Part of knowing rules is knowing when enforcement makes no sense. This is one of those times. Considering the wet spring, the rainiest collection of weekends in more than 75 years, this would be the perfect time to acknowledge this is one of those moments when some leeway should be allowed. Give every team in Maine, if not the Northeast, a waiver. Acknowledge that a strict interpretation of the rule, no matter the circumstances, is not the way it was ever intended to be used.

“They should err on the side of the kids, if they can,” Stone said.

Stone has done some sleuthing, and he’s sure Gorham isn’t the only Little League program in the state that failed to reach the 12-game threshold. He said as much in a letter he sent to Little League International, in which he claims at least three of the six teams in the state tournament — Gorham, Old Town and Augusta — failed to meet the requirement. Stone didn’t call out the other leagues as a tit for tat, rather as a way to point out the absurdity of the selective enforcement.

At the end of his letter, Stone requested a prompt response from Little League International. Let’s hope he packed a lunch. The statement they released Wednesday reads as if it would be beneath them to spend another second on the issue.

“Upon the review of a protest filed against the Gorham (Maine) Little League program in the Little League Baseball division, the Little League International Tournament Committee, after reviewing with local league officials, determined that the league’s regular-season teams have not met the regular-season participation requirements necessary to participate in the International Tournament,” the statement reads. “Based on this information, the Little League International Tournament Committee has determined that Gorham Little League shall be removed from the Little League Baseball Maine State Tournament and the team’s last played game shall be declared a forfeit. The decision of the Tournament Committee is final and binding.”

In other words, don’t bother us with your hinterland squabbles. We have all these millions ESPN gives us to broadcast the games to count.

Patrick Wilson, Little League International’s president and CEO, makes more than $500,000, with other executives also pulling down six figures. For that kind of money, you’d expect they’d put a little thought into these decisions rather than fall back on “rules are rules” with a terse statement.

So, shame on everyone associated with Medomak Valley Little League, who made the petty complaint that sent Gorham home. Shame on everyone involved in Little League at the state level for entertaining it. Most of all, shame on Little League International, the bunch who created the rule in the first place and refuse to have the common sense to step in and make it right.

In one statement, Gorham player Liam Norton, 12, showed more sense than any of the adults in charge.

“We didn’t do anything wrong,” Norton said. “It was a mistake made by adults, and we ended up being the ones who got punished for it.”

Get used to it, kid. Myopic people in charge are going to let you down a lot. Learn from it, and try not to repeat it.