Daughter called her first games

[Dakota]

My 16 yo daughter called her first games last week. She did a league 12U doubleheader on Thursday and 3 10U tournament games on Saturday. She handled herself very well. I was on the bases for each of her games (working pro bono – these were all single umpire games).

Her strike zone was a little rough (vertically) for the first few games, but she got it reasonably well under control in the last 2 games. She had to endure a bit of chirping about her high strikes (and they were high). After a bit of coaching (by you-know-who), she called a pretty consistent top of her zone.

She made a couple of gutsy calls – one at home, one at third.

The one at home:
10U. R1 on 2B. 1 out. Offensive team is in the 3rd base dugout. Infield grounder. Defense throws BR out, while R1 has passed 3B and is trying to score the go-ahead run. Very close play at the plate. R1 slides by the plate on the 1st base side. Even from where I was, it was clear she did not touch the plate. While she is sliding, the throw comes in to the catcher. R1 scrambling to get to the plate as the tag comes down. OUT. Inning over. Coaches go somewhat ballistic. One comes running to me asking if that call can be appealed. I say, “Talk to the plate umpire. It was her call.” He goes and talks to her. I walk closer, just in case. She handles it very well – explains to the very excited coach that the runner slid by the base, and was tagged before she could get back. I told her later the only thing she should have done differently was to give a big POINT – “TAG” – SELL OUT call. It may have defused the coach (probably not completely, but it may have helped.)

After everything, she said she had a lot of fun and wanted to knew when her next game was! I’m gonna need to get my shirt repaired – no more buttons!