Kent Hendershot

Southern Fulton athletic director and head baseball coach Kent Hendershot said Monday that he checked with District 5 on the eligibility of senior Kaden Saunders prior to the Indians season and was assured Saunders was eligible to play for the team this season.

“I specifically talked to the District 5 board of directors in early March and asked him about his status,” Hendershot said. “I asked him to give me verification that he was eligible. He said ‘yes’ and that he was approved.”

When asked if the “he” Hendershot was referring to was District 5 chairman Paul Leonard, he replied, “that would be Paul Leonard, correct.”

District 5 denied a semester waiver request for Saunders at an emergency meeting on Sunday night and as a result, he was deemed ineligible. Southern Fulton — which had defeated Northern Bedford 4-1 in the District 5 Class 1A championship game on the field was given a forfeit in that game, putting Northern Bedford into the PIAA playoffs.

Northern Bedford lost to District 6 runner-up Homer-Center, 11-1, in Monday’s first round.

“Additional source information was found over the weekend. We have good people on the District 5 committee and a panel of five members participated in an online conference call Sunday evening,” District 5 chairman Paul Leonard texted the Mirror Monday. “Administrators from Southern Fulton along with the student and his parents participated in the same conference call. Efforts were made to find a solution to the recent unfortunate situation.”

PIAA executive director Mark Byers said he was first made aware of the situation Sunday morning and credited District 5 for being willing to hold a waiver request meeting late Sunday night.

“The District 5 committee convened at an emergency hearing to hear a semester waiver request from the school,” PIAA executive director Mark Byers said. “They met last evening and after testimony and deliberations voted to deny eligibility which brings about the forfeiture of contest for the use of an ineligible player. For that reason, Northern Bedford was advanced into the bracket to play Homer-Center.

“I applaud both the District 5 committee for convening an emergency hearing and the willingness of the school to provide information to make an educated decision.”

Hendershot said Southern Fulton attempted to appeal District 5’s ruling with the PIAA on Monday morning.

“We sent a formal appeal this morning immediately,” Hendershot said. “They said due to the time constraints there was no way to have a formal hearing prior to today’s game and they were going to go forward with the District 5 decision.”

Saunders was 7-0 with an 0.61 ERA on the mound for Southern Fulton and was the winning pitcher in the Indians win over Northern Bedford. He also had a walk-off double to beat Berlin Brothersvalley in the bottom of the eighth inning in the District 5 semifinals.

“He’s deemed ineligible for too many semesters,” Hendershot said. “Basically, he repeated a year.”

But Hendershot said that wasn’t what he was told in March, so that is why he did not apply for a waiver at that point.

“We were told he was eligible. Why do a waiver if they say he is good?” Hendershot said. “Had Leonard said no, we would have went through that process then.”

Following Hendershot’s discussion with Leonard in March, he said he heard nothing about Saunders the rest of the season.

“We didn’t hear anything about it until three hours after we had beaten Northern Bedford,” Hendershot said. “We received an anonymous email questioning one of our student’s eligibility.”

Saunders transferred to Southern Fulton last season as a junior but did not play baseball.

“We weren’t trying to hide anything and thought we were doing the right thing,” Hendershot said. “The kid would not have played if he was ineligible. We would not have played him. But we were never told that.”

Southern Fulton superintendent Meredith Hendershot spoke to the Mirror on behalf of Kent Hendershot’s character on Monday.

“Kent Hendershot is a meticulous person when it comes to being a rule-follower,” Meredith Hendershot said. “He would never ever in a million years break a rule intentionally. When he coached basketball, he had years where he had kids suspended from the team for cheating in his own class. They weren’t allowed to play in District 5 championship basketball games. He’s a stickler for the rules. If he had any inclination ever that this kid was not going to be eligible to play, he would have never played him.

“I think that’s why he kept reaching out to ask if we were good with this, because I do think he would have told the parents he couldn’t play or they would have applied for the hardship waiver. The parents said last night that they had no idea and that the whole team shouldn’t be punished.”

Meredith Hendershot also confirmed the school reached out about Saunders’ eligibility in March.

“We got blindsided, because we thought everything was OK even after Kent checked. We were told the student was eligible and we were good, and we took that word,” Meredith Hendershot said. “I don’t know how that got misconstrued or what happened with that, but that’s the frustrating part. Knowing Kent, he would have never jeopardized the season for these students, ever.”

Kent Hendershot said his team is having a difficult time processing that their season is over after thinking they had won their way into the PIAA playoffs with a chance to defend their 2025 PIAA Class 1A championship.

“It’s very numbing and very horrific for our kids,” Hendershot said. “They did nothing wrong. We based all our decisions off what we were told by the District 5 chairman. Had we known it was going to be an issue, we would have went through a waiver process much sooner than the 12th hour, which we were forced into last night.”

Kent Hendershot said he received about a four-hour notice to prepare for the waiver hearing.

“We really don’t feel like we got a fair shake in this,” Hendershot said. “It was very solemn and very upsetting when I met with the team. Everybody is very frustrated and very upset.”