USA/ASA 12U in Montgomery AL
 

I apologize for being late to comment, but I think I have a good excuse. I drove home Sunday and reported to the Pensacola Naval Hospital for hip replacement surgery at 0615 Monday.

Parks & Rec and Umpire Coordinators were great. We were paid $25/assignment. 70 teams, 45 umpires. A good mix of first-timers and experienced officials. At 12U, all At-Large bids come from the region, but AL ASA went out of their way to share host-exchanges. We had umpires from Anchorage, WA, NE, OH, not to mention 12 umps from Michigan, including the Forum's own Scooby.

To Wade's relief, the 19 CA teams dominated. The last four standing were from Cali. Corona Angels beat Grapettes 3-2 in 8 innings for the title.

Best moment #1: With R1 on 3rd and R2 on 1st, the Grapettes coach sent R2 back to first after she stole on a foul tip. I was U3. She said, "Foul ball Blue?" I answered, "Foul TIP, coach." Then the light came on. :cool:

Best moment #2: 58-minute, 6 1/2 inning plate game, (Yes, I'm bragging.) Pitchers throwing strikes, batters hitting the ball, fielders making plays. That's fun! :)

Best moment #3: Calling a pool game with Scooby. Good man and a good umpire.

Irishmafia's deputy UIC got the plate on the final at the Gold. Diane did a great job. Mike, you must be proud.

We were treated very well in OKC. Not one coach was tossed and for the most part they were very well behaved. The games were great.

WOW! :eek: You gonna live?

Who was the Ump from WA?

She didn't have a choice, we weren't gonna let her back in the state if she did lousy. There are some advantages to being from a small state like being able to close the gate :D

Always proud of the umpires from DE, but Lil Bit started off in NH, so I have to share.

I have to say that my first National was a bit unnerving (18U-A Southern National) . I worked with some good guys and the guys in Ridgeland treated us VERY WELL. If you ever have a chance to do one in Ridgeland, MS take them up on it as they treat you right.

There was a thread somewhere about which is "better" an ASA National or NFHS State and I can't say which is better but I can say that I was more nervous this year at the National than I was at the NFHS State.

Pretty sure :p . It needed to be done. I've been dragging the right leg around the field all season. It was scheduled for later this month, but the surgeon had an opening on 8/4. He was able to do a rather complex surgery called Birmingham hip resurfacing rather than a total hip replacement. Pulled the joint apart, chipped and sanded away all the bone spurs and arthritic junk, put a metal cap on the head of my femur and a metal cup into my pelvic socket -- then put all the pieces back together. The recovery is a bit longer, but the long-term benefits make it worthwhile.

Barb Gillespie from Tri-Cities. She had some heat related problems on Monday, but did great the rest of the week. :cool:

Oh yes, I know her. She came and worked with us at the 18-G Western Territorial two weeks prior. How'd she do in the tourney? Who was your UIC?

Was Jack E. the ump from AK?

After she adapted to our heat and humidity, she had a good tournament. I never got to call with her -- we were on opposite park rotations until everyone came together Saturday. She was doing a plate game Saturday while I was doing the water-delivery rotation. Looked good and was in complete command.

Dick Gayler was UIC with Bill Gaulden as his assistant until Thursday. Dick had a family medical emergency, so Bill took over, with Bryan Smith (Michigan) taking over the Asst UIC role.

Joe F. from Anchorage.

I was going to let you take all the credit, Mike, but since you mentioned it... I will share with the rest that Bit and I are oriiginally from the same local group, trained by the same veteran umpires. And to add again, John T is from Vermont and I have had the luxury of working many a tournament and learning a great deal from him; he is truly one of the best, IMO. So two of the three gold finals crew have local New Englande roots and I can't tell you how proud we are of them.

An NCAA D-III national, gold finals, and now she is off to the NPF playoffs in WI next week. I'd have to say that 2008 is Bit's year...

What part of WI? That there's my ol' stompin' grounds...

Ok you got me....where can you find out who worked the final game? Also can you find back a few games too? I know one of the umpires that worked out there, would like to look back and see what their final game was, without having to ask.....in case it was like Thursday :eek:

ASA isn't very good about including umpires in the box scores, or at least there weren't last week.

There is a board member who can probably answer any question you have and she posted earlier in this thread.

Kimberly, WI is in the second year of a three year contract with NPF to host the post-seson tournament. They are quite busy this year as they also have the ISC mens world fastpitch tournament going on this week.

I had the good fortune of working there last year and had a great time. The fans were great, very knowledgeable, courtious, and into the game. There were at least 4,000 fans per session and they were great; really made for an exciting atmosphere.

Dave:

Diane Carden (DE) had the plate
John Stoodley (VT) had 1st
Sue Sawyer (CA) had 3rd

All great umpires and well deserving of the honor.

Tim Ellis (TX) was the plate guy for the loser bracket final and also was going to be the plate guy on the "IF" He is also a terrific umpire. Cindy Brunot (FL) and Mike Connelly (FL) were also on the "IF". Well deserved assignments.

I was honored to be on that staff. Jim Craig and Julie Johnson were co-UIC's so you know it was well run and a lot of fun.

Good god, that's in the middle of nowhere! Oh well, looks like I won't be able to offer my advice on great watering holes.