No criminal charges based on the complaints from former softball player Alyssa McBride that she was targeted with pitches in batting practice before two separate games will be filed, according to a statement from the Isabella County Prosecutor’s Office.
“The Isabella County Prosecuting Attorney has determined that there is not sufficient evidence to sustain that burden of proof necessary to support criminal charges,” the statement read.
McBride alleged that assistant coach Jessica Bograkos targeted her with pitches during batting practice after word got back to the coaching staff that she told a reporter in a situation she believed to be off the record that she wished she had played somewhere else due to the amount of losing she had endured in her time as a Spartan, according to a story from The Detroit News.
The Detroit News came out with another story alleging that MSU softball student manager Ben Hayden heard a conversation on the team bus between head coach Jacquie Joseph and Bograkos “while sitting in the third row of the bus on the way to the game, he overheard Joseph say, twice, to Bograkos, ‘You can hit her.’”
The team went 66-140 in McBride’s time at MSU and she played in 203 of those 206 games — starting in 197.
Investigations from both the Michigan State Police and the Michigan State University Police included more than 30 interviews from players, coaches and coaching staff, search warrants and other statistical and medical information, according to the statement.
Isabella County prosecutor Risa Hunt-Scully could not be reached for comment at this time.
Upon reaching out to McBride she said that she was disappointed in the decision, but on the advice of her counsel she had no further comment.
Despite the lack of criminal charges, there is still an ongoing internal investigation into the alleged incident, MSU spokesperson Jason Cody said.
“Our internal investigation has nothing to do with whether a crime was committed or not,” Cody said. “Our internal investigation is taking a look at whether there was any violation of any MSU policies, whether that be employment policies or whatever policies that it could be.”
Cody said the results of the criminal investigation could play a factor into any decision from MSU, but ultimately they are two separate investigations.
MSU hired the law firm Miller Canfield to do the internal investigation and Cody said the results of the investigation could come in the next couple of weeks.
“As you could imagine, as the firm conducts their investigation students are done for the semester and a lot of them aren’t local,” Cody said. “So it’s going to take some time for the investigator to track down (the students) and conduct the interviews.”
