I called a 10U state tournament on Sunday. It was my first 10U tournament in quite a number of years. (As an aside, I discovered that the 10U girls have gotten smaller than the last time I did this -- I base this on the reaction of my knees / legs after 5 10U plates...
)
But, to the point of this post. Somebody much wiser than I (
) decided to schedule all classes (A,B, and C - yes, in MN we have C) of state tournaments for 10U through 14U all on the same weekend and all at sites in the MSP metro area. Umpiring resources were severely taxed, to the point that (by stories I heard) some clearly unqualified umpires were used, and in the 10U tournament I was at, an umpire who normally calls mainly college ball showed up. (I do wonder how they convinced him... as far as me, I volunteered to take the 10U Sunday games... among other things, the drive was much shorter for me that either the 12U or 14U, and the kids can be a lot of fun...)
As we were sitting around, he started a rules conversation. It was clear that he considered an NCAA rule or official interpretation to be "superior" (as in "more right") than an ASA rule or interpretation. I hope he had fun calling 10U with NCAA rules!
