18U State (LONG....Much longer than I thought)

[Gulf Coast Blue]

First........since the board is so slow...........I am about to give you a Novella............grin

Well..........after all the anticipation........the freshly pressed pants and shirts..........3 pairs of shined shoes......10 extra T-shirts........multiple socks, shoelaces, all my extra gear (i.e. - plate brushes, indicators, line-up holders, flipping coins.......etc.)......it was a bit of an anti-climax.......

We only had 13 teams show (first tournament I ever did where there were more umpires than teams.......grin)..........it was a bit of a nightmare for the TD........she redrew the bracket a couple of times and the UIC had to shuffle umpire assignments at least 3 times.

I guess most of the 18U teams are either playing "A" or Gold........my daughters 14U tournament had 67 teams.........whew.........(they tied for 5th today BTW........very proud Dad here.........not bad for going with only two pitchers.........)

I called 3 games and my 4th was the IF game which did not make........(kinda glad actually......it would have started at about 11:15 p.m. last night).......the UIC rightly gave the most games games to out of area Umpires (some traveled more than 300 miles).

I for the most part had a good tournament and got a good evaluation from the UIC.............did have a one BIG boo-boo though........

The boo-boo came in an early losers bracket game.........I am BU with no-one on and a routine grounder to F1.......she throws to F3 for a sure out (not really close). I see the ball to the center of the mitt.......the BR slows while crossing the bag........F3 does not make any crazy moves......I make a routine out.......

What I did not see until I take one step back towards the "A" position was the ball on the ground about 4' on the opposite side of F3...........Bells start ringing and lights start flashing in my head.........I am thinking AW CRAP..... and yell "SAFE......ball is on the ground"

The BR is already headed back to her dugout past first towards home plate.........F3.......realizes what is going on and retrieves the ball and tags F3 at which point I call "time"..........I went to the PU and asked him what he saw.........he told me that the throw to F3 was in the mitt.....but spun out.......ran down her arm......and bounced off her hip towards the fence in foul territory......that F3 never controlled the ball.....

I told him that I was going to put the BR on first base because my erroneous call of OUT put her in jeopardy and because of the no catch she was safe..........He agreed wholeheartedly..........I put the BR on first and explained my reasoning to the defensive coach...........he also agreed and the game went on.........

I really beat myself up on this one yesterday.......I shook it off.......but was not as sharp the rest of the game but made it through without anything out of the ordinary......except for two funnel clouds that popped up.........had to stop play for about 10 minutes...........gotta love the weather in TX........95 degrees with 1,000,000% humidity.........it was HOT!

I guess my problem was the routiness of this play........I always delay my calls a tad longer in 12U and below because I want for them to prove control......I got a bit lax in this 18U and it cost me............grin

(however......I never saw the ball on the ground until I took my step back toward A and neither the base coach, runner, or F3 gave me any indication that anything out of the ordinary had happened).


Other games........had a safe at 1st (me in C with a runner on 2nd) where the F3 dropped the ball and the coach claimed that the BR did not touch the orange portion of the base but ran through the white.......said that it interfered with his 1st baseman.......I told the coach that it was a clean throw and attempted catch.....his F3 should have had an easy out.....her failure to squeeze it had nothing to do with the BR.......besides.....I could not see where the BR touched as she ran through 1st from C........he still argued that the BR not running throught the orange portion should have resulted in an out even though his F3 did not field the throw.

Undefeated game......3 Ump system......I am PU......R1 on 2nd (2 outs) with fly ball hit to left (F7 playing deep and the ball bounces in front and she fields it cleanly on one hop)......U3 goes out......U2 has BR and I have lead..............R1 makes a beautiful turn at 3rd and gets nailed at the plate from a good throw by F7 by about 5 feet......F5 was standing on the foul side of 3rd and after the play the 3rd base coach wants an "interference" call on the 3rd baseman (he first goes to U3 (who has his back to the play) who sends him to U2 who sends him to me......IOW.....he has no idea who is supposed to be watching that......grin).........really acts it up in front of his fans and says that his runner was delayed by the positioning by F5.........I told him...."Coach.....I was all over that and your baserunner NEVER broke stride........she caught the inside corner of that base perfectly........"

He hemmed and hawed for a bit and said that he coached his girls to touch the outside corner of the base and that his runner was "interfered" with by F5..........

I told him to try and sell that line to someone else........his runner NEVER broke stride.......she's out. UIC was watching that play and gave me a thumbs up after the game......he said "No Way" was there obstruction.......he said that he thought the coach was trying to save face in front of his fans for sending a runner for the 3rd out at home when they were behind.......He said......(and I agree) that it was dumb coaching that got that runner out at home........

A few final thoughts and I will quit doing my brain dump of the weekend..........the losing teams fans in the undefeated game did not like a single called strike that I made......

I think I may have blown a high pitch early for a strike (I think I kicked maybe two pitches in this game)..........but there were a # of parents that whined at every strike call.......EVERY ONE.....

Belt high down the middle........"Awwwwwww Blue.....get some consistancy......." Thigh high.......on the inside outside corner........."awwwwwwww......that was to loowwwwww" Just below the boobs........"awwwwwwww.......that was at her chin"

The fans that were sitting by where I had my towel stuck in the fence were real nice.........even complemented my game even though they lost.....

July in TX is HOT.......some of the blues went without chest protectors......about an hour into my plate game......I almost saw there reasoning........BUT.......my plate game I took a HARD rebound right between my legs.......I heard a satisfying clunk as the ball rebounded to the fence.........the pitchers dad who had positioned himself right behind the fence gave me a resounding........."Ohhhhhhhhhhh.....that had to hurt....."

I just turned and smiled and said......."Not when your prepared for it".....

I hope everyone had a good weekend......

I did post some pictures from the openeing ceremonies of the 18U tournament in my Album section of my website......

I forgot my camera on Saturday.......so no additional pictures.

Joel

http://www.eteamz.com/sites/GCBUmpire







[Edited by Gulf Coast Blue on Jul 8th, 2001 at 05:17 PM]