Day 4: Plate

Saturday was such an emotional day. Let me tell you about it.

I didn't work the 9:00 am game so I got to walk around with Ernie and go see different people. We ran into Stephen Duncan. I like Steven - he's a good guy with a great attitude. Ernie, on the other hand, credits Stephen with being here. He's Ernie's mentor so it was great to sit down with Stephen and watch a couple innings.

All day though I am mentally prepping for my plate at 5:00 pm. It was great to watch Daryl behind the plate. He's only been umping for 5 years but he has developed some great mechanics and is so smooth out there. He had a great plate.

Look at the glisten on that arm!

There is nothing longer than the break between the 9 am game and starting to get dressed for the 5 pm game at 3:30. I do walk out a few times to see if I know anyone coming in. No one is there yet because it's stinking hot!

So we have our pre-game meeting before getting dressed. I have Lawrence at 3rd (from Santa Monica), Jeff at second (from San Diego) and Ernie at first (from Corona) so it is an all Southern California crew. It was a pretty smooth pre-game. These guys are experienced and have great attitudes.

We walk out. I don't see anyone in the stands yet because it's an hour to game time and it's hot! I didn't look high enough because my mom and Ali were sitting near the top of the stadium, hiding in the shade.

Pay no attention to the red eyes.

We get downstairs, I talk to the announcer and score keeper, I tell them what walk up music I want, and then head back to the crew. A few minutes later, I stick my head out of the well and see mom and Ali. Ali runs down the stairs and I come all the way up and hug her for a long time. Emotions all over the place. I walk her down in the well and introduce her to the staff and my crew. All very gracious and kind to my daughter.

Look at all that beauty...
And me.

Doug asked if I would like Ali and my mom to sit down in the well during the game. Yes. It's 10 degrees cooler down there. My mom was eternally grateful.

So we are ready to start the game. Girl introductions commence. We walk out ready to get going. One of the things we said was make sure you shake the special guest's hand. Ok. Got it.

Hand over the heart. Ready, Begin.

The Imperial March begins (Darth Vader's theme (I do a whole Darth Vader motif I use on Twitter (Evil Umpire (Yes, it's supposed to be funny (shut up))))) and they let 30 seconds of the song go by before they say my name. The girls are curled, blocking a straight shot to the special guest so I have to go way up near the plate to make it to the middle. Take a jog, jump over the line, curl around, make sure I'm in the right place in the middle. Ernie is called out after me and he shakes the guest speaker's hand. Oh shoot! I forgot to shake the hand. I move back and shake his hand. I hope I pay more attention during the game.

Pre-game warmup. Looks like a strike.

Plate meeting and I look over the lineups. There is a change for Northern California so I need to make sure the scorekeeper has the change before lineups are official. I do the plate meeting really quick and shake hands. Alan, our uncle, says in a soft voice, "Lineups. Give the managers the lineups." DOH! I'm 0-2 on remembering to do things. This game is going to be horrible because I'm going to forget to call a strike sometime at this rate.

The game starts. First couple pitches are balls and the third one comes in for a strike. I bring my hands up as to call strike 3 with a punch out but catch it very quickly before I pull the trigger. Strike 1. SLOW DOWN! SLOW DOWN!

She got a picture of me with my
strike 3 punch out. She was more
excited than the girls hitting a home run.

Then, it happened. Strike calls went smooth. Timing turned great. Rotations went well. I got in position for a pulled foot. By the time the 5th inning rolls around, I am thinking that unless I mess up bad, this is going to be a great game behind the plate. My mom is in the well. Ali is taking pictures down in the well. Joey and Jennifer Broxmeyer had gotten my attention to say hi at one point. I was in the zone. 4 man mechanics on instinct because I studied it so much.

Safe at third. The ball's on the ground.

Third out in the top of the 6th and we're done. Utah 6, Northern California 3. I'm on cloud 9. I came to regions, I worked hard. I worked a ton of games to prepare. I worked with my mentors, mentored others, watched video, read books, had Q&As, for this one moment at Western Region and I've never felt better after a game. Even the Hawaii/Arizona game at the 2013 Intermediate Regional. I came to San Bernardino, a dream of mine since I started umpiring, and did my name, my mentors, my leagues, my districts, my partners, and myself proud. I wanted to jump up and down on the field in celebration but you don't do that as an umpire. Someone just lost so can't dance on someone else's grave.

You should have swung at that pitch.

I only almost cried once and that was while introducing Ali to the crew pre-game. I fist pumped numerous times in the umpire room. I was on an adrenaline high that kept me awake until 1 am. So excited. There are 9 of us out here doing this tournament. There are 17 games, meaning that one of us will only get 1 plate. If this was my one plate, I will be happy because I can say that I performed up to the task. I proved to myself that I belong with this great group of umpires - isn't low self-esteem great?

Ready to call the pitch.
Feeling great.

After the game, my mom, Ali and I went to Denny's. I smiled the whole time, except when I almost cried when my daughter asked me what was on my bucket list. I said, "Walking the 3 of you girls down the aisle and holding a grandchild. Then dropping a grandchild."
She asks, "What about a World Series?"
"If it happens, I'll be happy. If it doesn't I'd rather walk you down the aisle. In 30 years."

This was one of the best days of my life.