Several girls from the West Middlesex 9-to-12-year-old girls all-star softball team were treated Sunday in Mercer for heat exhaustion during a tournament in 90-degree weather.

LaVerne Sharp, Greenville, a grandmother of one of the 12-year-old girls, said the girls played three games at Brandy Springs Park, Mercer, in scorching heat with no real break.

She said during the tournament the girls had only 20 minutes between each game to recuperate.

The girls began playing at 11 a.m. Sunday. They played and won three games, but it was during the fourth game that the girls began to complain of headaches and exhaustion, Ms. Sharp said.

"The girls were hot and sweaty," she said. "It was really hot."

She said the girls asked the coaches from the other team if they could wait awhile before they started playing the final fourth game.

"The coaches said 'no.' They claimed it was against game regulations," Ms. Sharp said.

The girls began to play the first inning, but never finished, she said, and one girl fainted. Finally the West Middlesex coach said the girls had had enough and forfeited the game.

"The girls that were left didn't want to quit, but they did," Ms. Sharp said.

She said her granddaughter, who had a headache, was treated along with seven others by an ambulance crew assigned to the tournament. One girl was vomiting, she said. The team's catcher was taken to the hospital by ambulance and had a temperature of 102 degrees, she said, adding that the girl had to be packed in ice, had cold cloths on her body and an IV in her arm. Two girls were also taken to the hospital by their parents.

"Nobody even came over from the other team to see how they were doing. They weren't even concerned. Everyone was so upset. I couldn't believe it," Ms. Sharp said. "These are little kids. Someone could have died."