[greymule]

tarheelcoach, you have experienced firsthand why umpiring youth ball is often far more difficult than umpiring at higher levels, where you can usually simply set up your zone and then call it the entire day.

I remember summers where my easiest assignments were in a league full of college pitchers. Nobody expected the umpire to make order out of chaos.

In college FP softball, I've had many a doubleheader in which there were only two or three walks total. Recently I had one with zero, and I even had trouble remembering whether we had seen a three-ball count. Games like those—where 75% of the pitches are strikes, even with the top of the zone lowered from the rule book definition—are cake, but everybody in the park thinks you did a great job. Further, the batters know that strikes are coming and are up there swinging, not looking for a walk. How many youth games have you seen in which half the lineup doesn't swing the bat at all, even on pitches right down the middle?

In some youth games, I've often had to remind myself, "Just don't call the kid out on a horrible pitch."

I will freely admit that (with kids) the batters themselves have often influenced my calls. Kid swings at strike 1 and strike 2, and then starts to go but holds up on a pitch two balls outside. I'd probably call that pitch a ball. But if the kid didn't lift the bat off his shoulder on the first two pitches, it's strike 3.

It's erroneous to think that the perfect umpire would simulate an electronic, laser-enforced strike zone where every pitch is an absolute ball or strike. Even in MLB, there's some subjectivity involved, whether anyone would publicly admit that or not.