Umpires being the last to know!

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

This week was Spring Break for all of the local schools meaning school offices were closed.

Mark, Jr., had VAR softball game scheduled for 05:00pm tonight. We (I was his chauffeur and valet tonight) and his partner both arrived at the game site at 04:00pm to find an empty parking lot and an empty softball diamond.

Please keep in mind that this was an Arbiter assignment and an OhioHSAA sanctioned game. Mark had sent a reminder email to the Home School AD last Thursday and received a confirmation email from his less than one hour after Mark sent his email to him.

Mark's partner called the AD's office at approximately 04:10pm. No answer. Received a recording that said the extension that he had dialed was not a valid extension.

Mark's partner then called the HC at approximately 04:15pm. The HC told him that the game had been canceled and he thought that the AD had notified the umpires.

The AD's for this particular assigner know that if a game is canceled after 03:00pm on the day of the game it is the responsibility of the AD to notify the umpires. Well we know that didn't happen. Instead the AD sent a text to the assinger at 04:25pm informing him that the game had been rained out. Keep in mind that it rained for about 30 minutes this morning at 09:00am.

It looks like Mark and his partner are going to get a full game fee for tonight. The good thing is that the game site was less than four miles from home.

MTD, Sr.