My First Ever Official Protest

[MD Longhorn]

I'm really not trying to dogpile here, and I'm a little worried it's going to come off that way.

Sounds like part of the job being too big is that you're lumping baseball and softball together. Probably a bad deal right there. I have to say I'm VERY surprised that with a program this huge there are NO umpires who would step up into this role. Not saying it's for everyone, and it's surely a thankless job... but not ONE?

Given your situation, I would see two solutions. One - Contact the District UIC for whatever rule-set you're using (after separating baseball and softball, of course) - he/she may very well know someone in the area who would LIKE this job. Two - even if it was distasteful to me, I think I'd step in before the solution that seems to have found you would ever have taken place. I would not want to work for someone who I could not go to for rule issues. I would not want potential protests of my games to go upward to someone who understood the rules less than me or my fellow blues.

Another solution might be to contact whoever schedules for nearby leagues - maybe they'd be willing to do it - and you'd get the side benefit of a larger umpire pool and more locations to work.

I just can't see moving forward in the situation you describe.