Last 4 days of umpiring - First, Well, Plate, First, Left Field Line, Third

I know this is going to be a plethora of details here but I want to get this down before I start forgetting details. I have at least 2 more blogs planned, so my tournament isn't over yet.

Day 7, Game 2: I was at first base for the 5:00 pm game. This was our last day of 3 games a day.

He smelled real bad and he said his name was Bernie. And Slick.
(Ernie is not here. Just wanted to point that out.)

Pre-game, Bernie and Slick from the 66ers came down to throw out the first pitch. All the girls knew these mascots because we went out to see a 66ers game the previous Thursday. Bernie always makes a good impression.

I felt my rotations this game were much better than my previous first base experience. This time thought I think I defaulted too often to going to the outside of the bag way too quickly. Working on my read step is definitely something I want to focus on next year.

There was a play at one point where there was a runner on first and the batter hit a blooper just past the first base bag. The first baseman ran to get the ball and the runner on first bumped into her (not on purpose.) I called the batter out for interference as I felt the fielder would have caught the ball had the interference not occurred.  Wrong on two points.

She's out. Oops.

1. Had the runner on first interfered with the catch, the one who interfered would be out, not the batter unless the runner was already out (on a double play most of the time.) Then teammate interference can be called.

2. The runner has the right to the base on a pop fly. The fielder has to get around the runner if the ball is in the air and the runner makes a reasonable effort to avoid the fielder. The fielder in this case was on the bag at the time of the contact, meaning that I should have called nothing and sent the batter back to bat with a strike on the foul ball.

Something to work on for next year again: Interference, Obstruction, and That's Nothing.

Oregon beat Hawaii in the game. Don't remember the score (I could look it up.) Oh look. The score. Oregon 6, Hawaii 2.

Day 7, Game 3: In the Well

This is no time for a snow cone! Wait,
maybe it is. Where's mine? It's hot!

Back to the well to watch this game. Darryl was behind the plate and it really is a pleasure to watch him work. This game was Arizona and Utah. Well played, Utah won, sending them to play Oregon on Thursday for the first semi-final.

Day 8, Game 2: Plate

The early game for this day (5:00 pm) was the California Championship game. I wasn't on that game at all, getting ready for the 7:30 pm plate. Daniel was on that plate and he did a great job from everything I saw. Final score was something like 14-3 Northern California over Southern California. Kinda surprising but that's why we play the games.

 So not only did I have the plate for the Washington/Alaska game, but the big boss was out, Mark Bernstein. I do like Mark a lot. He is a straight shooter, a great encourager, and a pretty good umpire to boot. I didn't hear what he thought of the game but I'm glad he was there to watch it

This was the all Southern California crew. I, CA 71/21/28, was on the plate. Lawerence, CA 16, was at first. Ernie, CA 72, was at second. Scott, CA 51, was at third, and Jeff, CA 31, was in the well.

Shake hands and let's come out
fighting! Oh wait, wrong sport.

So like I said, the game was Washington vs. Alaska. Both of these managers were really good people. I enjoyed their company whenever I got to talk with them and they were pleasant on the field, even when they had a question. It seems I get the games with the good sports in them at my regionals. At least I'm 2 for 2.

Still should have swung at that.

The game really didn't have a lot in it. Alaska fought hard but were just outmanned as Washington won 11-1. I felt my zone was solid this game, my rotations were correct, and my game was good. The good thing about the Alaska team is that they had permission to stream the game back home on Facebook. So now I can go back and watch the game to critique myself, not something I get to do very often. What did I learn from my critique?

I run like an old man, shuffling from base to base. My basic 6 is sloppy. My head height is pretty good but I readjust my hat and mask every pitch, which looks like a nervous twitch. I've got some more things to work on this off-season.

I did feel really good after the game and one of my partners complimented that this showed I should have been on one of the semi's or the finals. I don't know. After my self-critique, I am seeing what the supervisors are seeing and know what I need to work on to be a better umpire for the kids. The biggest thing I must do is lose weight. I shuffle because I weigh so much. Right now, I'm in umpire shape. If I spend the next 6-8 months sitting back, I'll be out of shape until June again. Now that I have the momentum, I am looking to continue it and get better every year.

Day 9, Game 1: First base

On the rubber. Set.

So for semi-final #1, I had the privilege of being at first base again. This was my third time at first base this tournament, twice out of the rotation. Pretty standard game. The biggest thing about this game is that we had 6 guys on the field. This means that if a ball was past me in the air down the first base line, I no longer have fair/foul obligations. That would be the right field line umpire. I don't believe I had one fair/foul call all game. I had plenty of safe/out calls at first, but the back line guy had some line drive flies and the plate guy had some that died before the base. Not a lot of rotations (actually, none) and calm game. Utah beat Oregon 5-0.



Day 9, Game 2: Left Field Line

I had to do a presto-chango and change from pink to light blue for the late semi-final. Dave from Oregon had the plate for this one. Dave had a plate earlier in the tournament and he felt he didn't have the best plate out there. I was excited for him though when it was revealed he had one of the semi-final games on the dish. He had a great attitude that was contagious. And he was doing this in memory of a friend who had passed away this year. I think he put a lot of pressure on himself in the first game and nerves took over. For this game, he was great. Greg would have been proud of the performance he put out there for the world to see.

It's lonely way out in left field.

For this game, we were still in 6 man. Nothing much happening in 6 man. Washington scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 1st and no one scored the rest of the day. In fact, the Washington pitcher threw a 1 hitter for the 6-0 win. There were exactly 2 pop flys to the outfield all game. The first was an easy catch to the center fielder. The second was a little farther from the center fielder in the top of the 6th where she was coming towards me to left field and make a great diving catch, which was my only call of the game. Out call.

So the finals were set for Friday. Utah and Washington. The #1 and the #2 seeded teams of the tournament only because of a coin flip. This coin flip, Washington won and decided to be the visiting team for the championship. They had been high scorers all tournament so they figured they would make Utah play catch up.

Day 10: Championship Friday

All the girls got together with us as a thank you for the work we did this week. That was great.

Pre-game at 4:00 pm, we got the chance to go out for closing ceremonies. Pretty much everyone just walked out onto the field and they announced the winner of the manager sportsman award. The winner was Nicole from Alaska. I told you that the Alaska and Washington teams had great sportsmanship.

One of the things I prepared for was getting to talk with and get the signature of Marge Villa. Marge Villa played for the Kenosha Comets of the All-American Girls Baseball League from 1946 - 1950, having made the all-star team in 1949. So I bought a souvenir ball and had it ready to sign for my girls. My girls love history so having this ball in their room would be a cool marker of women making it big in American history. I love giving them things like that because they can do great things if the put their mind to it, their faith in God, and their hope in His plan. Well, she was scheduled to sign autographs during the game. Shoot.

Her nickname was Poncho. I didn't
mention my great-grandpa rode with
Poncho Villa. She had great stories
of her own.

Well, Doug, our head of umpiring, was able to secure a time before the game for me to go get a signature. Here I am talking with her pre-game. I told her I was one of the umpires and she feigned surprise, saying, "I never thought I'd be talking with one of the umpires!" She was funny, engaging, personable, and extremely encouraging to the girls and to everyone else who had the chance to talk with her. I didn't want it to end but game time was coming and I had to finish getting dressed and she had to go in the well to cool off from standing around in the sun. I could have done without the signature, like I do the rest of the time I meet famous people, but this was for my girls so I stooped to that level :)

A hug from an umpire? Who would have thought it!

Here he is, Mr. Plate.

For the championship game, Jeff was behind the plate, Scott was at first, Darryl was at second, I was at third. The line guys all rotated in after a couple of innings. In left field was Lawrence then Charles. In right field was Daniel, Dave, and then Ernie. I loved watching Jeff work throughout the tournament. He was the senior statesman of our group but that did not slow him up. Instead of slow, he was deliberate and smooth. He was always in the right place. That is years of experience, training, and practice. It was a pleasure and an honor to work with him.

This was a game for the ages. I had one call at third, a foul call, but it was big early on in the game. The ball is bounding up the line, the third baseman reaches for the ball in foul territory but I have her missing, then the ball continues foul. Loud, forceful foul call to sell it. We did get together on this one to see if Jeff had the fielder touching the ball prior to it going foul. He did not and we couldn't really unring the foul call without ESPN, who wasn't there.

Ready for the ball. Put me in coach!

So at the end of 6, these two offensive juggernauts during the rest of the tournament are tied, 0-0. End of 7, 0-0. Top of the 8th, 0-0. Bottom of the 8th, Utah gets a runner to first. She takes second on a passed ball. The #3 batter, the pitcher for Utah, his a grounder to second base, letting the runner get to third with 2 outs. The #4 batter comes up to the plate and...

The ball is about a foot fair as it shoots by the first baseman. Runner from third touches home plate. Batter/runner makes it to first base and pandemonium breaks out as the state of Utah repeats as the Western Region Little League Major Softball champions and are heading to Alpenrose next week. 1-0. 8 innings. The softball gods saw how great a tournament this was and couldn't let it end after just 6. I am so humbled that I got to work this game at all, much less one of the base positions. It is the best softball game of which I have ever been a part. 

The hardest part was not being able to celebrate out there with them. Had Washington won, I would have cheered for them. When Utah won, I wanted to cheer for them. Not the umpire's place though. As the girls celebrated and got their banner in the glow of the 1-0 scoreboard, we walked off the field to little accolades. The focus was on the girls, which is where it should be. We did our job. We gave both teams a chance to win this game, and one of them did. Washington didn't have anything to shame their heads about. They played in the best softball game ever played at Al Houghton Stadium.

The girls celebrate!

Out we go!

Waiting by the barracks was my wife and 3 kids (as kid 4 was still in Panama), my mom, and my umpire friends Dave Burt, Steve Bailey, and Eddie Gutierrez. They came out to see me work the pineapple and for that support, I am eternally grateful. 

I will get to reflections in a future post. I wanted to get some game descriptions in before they began to fade.

Day 5: Nothing. Day 6: Well and 3rd Base

Day 5: We had an off day so we went to Art's house. Art is the baseball tournament uncle and has a great place to chill, eat smoked meat, and hang out with the guys. I had a good time relaxing.

Day 6:

In the Well:
The well is the place where the alternate sits while the game is going on to have a spare guy just in case one of the field umpires goes down. A few years ago one of the umpires had to drop out of the game because they suffered from heat exhaustion. In order for the game to continue on with 4 umpires, a fifth is in the well with his gear bag, plate shoes, base shoes, plate pants, base pants, and anything else he needs to take anyone else's place on the field.

Today's game at 9:00 am was the coolest game we've had all week with temperatures reaching a balmy 81 degrees with a great cloud covering. Nope, I'm not taking anyone's place - thank goodness.

So on the plate is Ernie. Ernie is from District 72, a neighboring district to 28 (my new district). I got to work with him at the state tournament as well as get to know him a little bit from the D28 umpire clinic and the invitational we did up at Regionals in May. He is a great guy and I look forward to working with him in the future because he really has become a friend.

Ernie had a problem pre-game. His pants were split and the dry cleaner who was supposed to redo the hems and sew up the crotch didn't sew up the crotch. So he pulls out his pants and you can see right through them. Not cool. Look for a sewing machine on campus and no sewing machine exist. He has another pair of pants, combo pants, to work on the plate.

A couple of things seem to conspire against him. I have a feeling that he was starting to feel like me at the beginning of my game. His pre-game jitters turned into a great game behind the plate. I was so glad my friend did his thing, even when he was wearing the wrong pants.

Lunch:
About 11;50 am, I receive a text from my wife. She just had to leave her mom at the hospital because her mom was having a heart attack. See, she had a normal physical scheduled. In the process of the physical, the doctor told my mother-in-law to go to the ER right now because she was in the middle of a heart attack.

I called my wife. Twice. She answered the phone crying. I asked her if she needed me to go home. I don't think she wanted me to come home fully because she knew how much being at this tournament means. She means more to me so I told her that my next game was at 7:30 so if she needed me, I could be there and back before my next game. She needed me.

I don't think anyone likes hearing their spouse hurting. I had to go talk to Doug who was eating in the cafeteria about having to go home. I'm in tears, choked up, barely able to talk.

Dianne, my mother-in-law, is a steady pillar in our family. She was first my best friend's mom. She was our voice of calm when we were rambunctious kids trying to run a puppet ministry. She was my trainer when I first started teaching pre-school. Now she is my mother-in-law, something which I am sure isn't easy but we get along.

Hearing that she was admitted to the hospital would usually be enough to get me concerned. Learning that she was having a heart attack is devastating. This not only is my wife's mother, but my kids grandmother whom they live with and love very much.

So I try talking to Doug and the words aren't coming out. I can't get through the tears. Finally I get enough words out to get the point across. The Western Region is very good about putting family first in these kind of situations. There was no, well, we need you so don't go or else you can't come back. There was only support. In fact, Gary, one of our evaluators, didn't let me drive home but took me in his car all the way down to Menifee and then waited around to find out what was going to happen. Thank you Gary. Your support means the world to me.

While on the way down, I contact my dad who graciously comes over to hang out with my children while Trina was able to go be with her mom.

I got home, my girls immediately run up to me and hug me like they haven't seen me all week or something. Trina is taking care of her grandma at this point so I'm waiting for her. She comes out of the room and immediately we hug. Nothing else. Hug. Cry. Hug. Cry some more. I wasn't sure what she had told the kids yet so Zoe brought up mom mentioned it was a heart attack. I knew my home base there now.

My dad shows up. Other help is starting to talk about coming out. My wife gave me her blessing to head back up to San Bernardino to continue this tournament. While I'm excited to continue to work games, if Dianne was worse off in the hospital, I would leave knowing I had one great plate and now I have a fraternity of brothers who care what is happening.

Dianne is still in the hospital. She is taking care of tests tonight and they should know more tomorrow. If you are in the area that could help Trina, we could use the help.

7:30 pm - 3rd base

I have now made it around the rotation. 3rd base was my final spot on the rotation around the bases and my last prescheduled game as now all 9 umpires have made the rotation also. Game 9, last game of pool play. 9 games, 9 umpires, 9 teams. It's like fate smiled down on us and said, hey, 9. I like that.

Today, all 3 crews wore pink. It was pink Monday. I liked it. Pre-game, we're doing equipment inspections and after doing the home team, we're trying to walk back to the umpire area but there's an apparent party going on down in the well by the announcers - like 10 people down there milling around, including the boss, Dave Bonham, Brian Pickering, April Meehleder, and a little girl who everyone is gushing over. In the first game of the day, 9;00 am, someone comes down and asks if we had a softball for a little girl up in the stands who is ill. Sure, at that point we've done 6 games so Doug gives the gentleman the ball. Now I see this little girl in the well and put 2 and 2 together. They invited her back to throw out the first pitch. I just happened to be carrying a few of my pins in my pocket so out one comes. A bunch of people had given her pins at this point but she looked and excitedly said, "It's a Doctor Who pin! I have to show my dad! Dad, look! Doctor Who!" I also gave one to the other young lady down there, a former softball player and student at Loma Linda earning her medical degree.

So opening ceremonies for the game come up and I'm already emotional from the early part of the day. The girls are announced and each one gives this girl a hug. They call out the umpires and I'm last, being at 3rd base. I shake the Washington's coach's hand, then kneel down and look this girl in the eyes. "Can I hug you?" "Yes." "Thank you so much for being here." See below.

Such a sweet, excited girl. I gave her one of my pins and she was so excited because it was Doctor Who. That made my day.

I don't know if there was anything better in the world at that very moment than that hug. Illness doesn't define who we are. I'm sitting here crying now. God has a way of bringing comfort to the most dire of situations in the oddest of ways. I needed Caitlin Simpson in my life at that very moment. I didn't cry on the field.

Go to shake the hand of the other young lady and she says, 'You can hug me too.' so I did. Shake the other coach's hand and then out to our lineup. Caitlin threw out her first pitch, then threw it again.

During the Little League pledge, I stood there next to my brothers in... pink... and looked at this beautiful stadium. My wife and my mother-in-law floated through my mind and I fought back tears. I had to get it under control or this was going to be a really, really hard game.

Got it under control with the tear ducts at least. The event of this all kept going through my head throughout the game. I would go out to our mid-inning point and stare out at the stadium. The sunset had just happened, there was an amazing design of clouds hanging out over Mt. Baldy, the stadium was full of hopes and dreams and an amazing amount of people for this tournament (we don't get baseball crowds... yet. Give it 5 years.) I stood there and took it all in as if this could be my last game here. I have such an appreciation for this tournament, for the people who are here. Every year I can't wait to get up here and be a part of the tournament, whether it is announcing softball games, picking up trash at 6 am, or having the incredible opportunity to umpire. I get so much more back from this game than I give to it.

To top it off, my buddy Steve Bailey showed up at the 9 am game and is back helping on the grounds crew. Then in the stands is Dave Burt and his wife Kelly. Then about the 2nd inning Randy Robbins shows up to make his presence known after a 16 hour work day just to come by and see me work a few pitches and support me while I'm out there. I have the most incredible group of friends I have made through umpiring who would come out on a 85 degree, 70% humidity Monday night and watch me on the pineapple (third base. I'll tell you later.)

We've got a deal on third base bags.
You may say they are a steal.

Now that I've got the waterworks going, the game. Washington beat Montana 10-0. I had 2 extremely close plays at second and nailed them. First was a steal where the fielder got the ball and put the glove on top of the base instead of in front, meaning the sliding runner was able to touch the base before being tagged. The second was a bounding grounder to the third baseman who turned around to get the force at 3rd. The sliding runner actually dislodged the bag on her slide and then the fielder touched the base. Huge safe call. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion for these calls. There's just moments where you see everything. I love when it happens at first base because bang-bang calls aren't as close as the first base coach in the coaching box signalling safe thinks they are. I was in that umpire zone last night and it was great.

Did I work a perfect game last night? No,but the game was perfect. Softball therapy.

If last night was the last night I was here, I worked every base. I worked hard. I hustled. I was part of an amazing crew that I will never forget. I made some new lifelong friends who I know if I ever get to their neck of the woods, I'll have a place on the field to work with them once again.

Tomorrow's assignments:

Game #10, 9:00 am, Montana vs. Alaska - In the stands watching
Game #11, 5:00 pm, Oregon vs. Hawaii - 1st Base
Game #12, 7:30 pm, Utah vs. Arizona - In the well

I love you, Trina Escarzaga.