[Rachel]

The whole female umpire thing was more difficult in my first years of officiating. I think that now that I am the same age as they are they know I've been around.

Officiating drunks is not worth my time. I did a slowpitch tournament about 8 years ago and by early Saturday evening it did not matter what I called they thought it was wrong. That was it. I knew I was calling a good game and that was the last time I worked tournament slowpitch.

After 15 years of calling fastpitch if someone is upset about a call I usually know why. Sometimes I am more angry at myself than they are. The mens' fastpitch that I do is not all that bad. They can't play that game drunk. The mens' teams around here know me as I have some of their kids in my classes. It will be a challenge for me to prove myself to unknowns as I will do higher levels this August.

I still love the intensity of good competition though and that's what keeps me going.