Game 8

Time to get caught up on my postings. I had four games in four days so I haven’t had much time to post about them. But, hey, at least I have been busy doing something that I love.

Game 8 was played on Wednesday, April 14th between Christ School and Mountain Heritage. This was a Junior Varsity game and I was scheduled to work the plate.

The game got ugly, quickly! Mountain Heritage jumped out to a 15-0 lead in the top of the first inning. I am sure that it would have been worse, but the Mountain Heritage coach started holding up his base runners. He only allowed them to really advance one base at a time. He even yelled at one of his players when he stole second base.

With JV games, they can either be a 7 inning game, or a 6 inning plus 1 game. This rule I had forgotten about before the game began. The Mountain Heritage coach asked me which type we were playing and I had informed him, at that time, that we were playing 7.

Well, it didn’t work out that way. After the first inning was completed, and Mountain Heritage was up 15-3, the coach began asking if there was a 15 run after four inning mercy rule. I informed him that it is only 10 runs after 5 innings.

After the top of the third inning was complete, and Mountain Heritage was up 25-3, the coach asked my partner about the mercy rule after four innings. My partner then asked me to check with the Christ School coach if he was willing to end the game after four innings if there was a 15 run difference. Luckily, the Christ School coach agreed to it.

Christ School scored a couple more runs in the bottom of the third, but Mountain Heritage added on another three in the top of the fourth. Christ School could not get any runners on, let alone generate any more runs in the bottom of the fourth. The game ended with Mountain Heritage winning 28-5.

This was the loooooooongest four inning game I have ever been a part of. It took over two hours to complete the game. After the top of the first I decided to expand my strike zone a bit, something that I really do not like doing. But really, when a game is a blowout like this, the plate umpire really does not have a choice.

Some of the players were getting upset because of the pitches I was calling strikes, but the coaches, for both teams, kept telling their players that I was doing it both ways so there was nothing they could do about it. As a matter of fact, the Mountain Heritage coach told one of his players to “look at the score, of course he’s going to expand his strike zone.”

There was one instance in the bottom of the third inning where I could have either restricted the Christ School assistant coach to the dug out, or I could have ejected him. One of the Christ School batters got hit on the foot, but he did not make an attempt to move out-of-the-way of the ball. The assistant coach called for time, asked the batter if the ball hit him, and when the batter confirmed it hit him he asked me why he wasn’t allowed first base? I informed him that the batter did not make an attempt to get out-of-the-way of the ball, so the pitch is a ball. After informing him of that I “put the ball in play” and resumed the game.

After the inning was completed, and here is where I could have restricted or ejected the assistant coach, he approached me to discuss the pitch that hit his player. He told me that the player does not have to move if the pitch is a breaking ball. I informed him that may be, but the pitch was not a breaking ball. He then said that it must have been an off speed pitch then which is to be considered a breaking ball. To which I told him that it didn’t matter, the batter still had to make the attempt to move out-of-the-way of the ball.

During the conversation this assistant coach informed me that he called college ball for 15 years. Being the nice guy that I am, I decided not to tell him that I was proud of him, but this is JV ball and not college.

The reason why I could have restricted or ejected the assistant coach, in case you are wondering, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) rules, only the head coach can approach the umpires to question a call, unless the head coach has already been ejected or is not available.

And, in care you are also wondering about the rule of the batter being hit, according to the NFHS rules, it does not matter the pitch, the batter has to make an attempt to get out-of-the-way of the pitch. If the batter does not, they are not awarded first base, unless it was ball four. The umpire is to either call the pitch a strike (if it was in the strike zone) or a ball.

As I said to begin this post, I am working on getting caught up with the games that I called over the past four days. So, tomorrow I will post about Game 9.

Game 7

Last monday I called my 7th game of the season. I considered this game my “threshold” game since it put me into the maximum promotion points (10) category for games worked. This was a middle school game between Bethel and Canton.

I had a feeling that the day wasn’t going to go so well. Since the field was about 45 minutes away I decided to leave about an hour before I was supposed to be there. Thank goodness I did. About 5 miles from the exit I needed to take off the highway I ran into a traffic jam. Once I got off the highway I was still doing good on time, and according to my GPS, I was still scheduled to get to the field on time.

Then, all hell breaks loose. I am CLOSE to the field and my GPS tells me where to turn, but I cannot find the field! I drive up and down the road, passing back and forth in front of the middle school. I see a ball field, but there is no one there. I am  lost and running out of time to get to the correct field on time.

About 15 minutes to game time my partner calls me. I tell him that I am lost. Unfortunately he didn’t know the area well enough to give me good directions from where I was. But, he did tell me that I needed to find the elementary school. As I’m turning around at a side street I stop another vehicle to ask where the school was. The lady gave me decent directions, but I was still lost. So, I go back to the middle school and ask one of the bus drivers for directions and she tells me to go to the next street up and go about a mile up the road and it will be there on the left hand side.

Finally, after being near the field at 4:00, I get to the field at 4:25 (just before game time)!

Anyways… I was scheduled to work the field for this game. Let me tell you, Canton has a good middle school team. They are very well coached. The only mistake that I recall any of the canton players making was when I had to call a balk on their pitcher. I seen him contact the pitchers plate then turn to first, but he did not throw over to first. The coach came out yelling that he never came in contact with the plate; which, he may not have but from where I was standing (behind the mound) it looked as if he did.

Canton jumped out to 9-0 lead before Bethel finally got on the board. Going into the 5th inning, they were up 11-2. All they had to do was score one more run, and keep Bethel from scoring, and the game would be over. Canton ended up scoring 3 runs in the top of the 5th to take a 14-2 lead. During the middle of the 5th the plate umpire, my partner for the game, informed both teams that unless Bethel scored 12 runs the game would be over due to the game reaching the 2 hour time limit. Bethel ended up scoring two runs in the bottom of the 5th inning. So, either way, the game was going to be called because of the mercy rule.

So, all-n-all, the day was exciting for me. Not really the game, but the adventure in getting to the game. Not looking forward to trying to find fields in the future when I don’t exactly know where I’m going. Of course, it will help if I actually listen to what the GPS is telling me. After getting to the field, I thought about it and realized that I had turned left instead of right at 4:00 when I was right down the road to beging with. Man, did I feel like an ass!

Games 5 & 6…yeah, it’s been a while.

Okay, so I am a little behind. Considering that game 5 was played on Friday, March 26h, I guess you could say that I am REALLY behind here.

Anyways…

GAME 5

This was my first Varsity game that I was assigned to call, and I was assigned behind the plate. Talk about throwing me to the wolves! It was surprising to me because I was under the impression that new officials would not be calling Varsity games until their third year. But, I wasn’t complaining.

The game was between two private schools: Asheville School and Rabun Gap, and was played at Asheville School. I though for sure that this was going to be a quick game. Rabun Gap got on the board quickly and scored at least one run in just about every inning.

In the bottom of the 5th, Asheville School was down 12-1 – which would have ended the game if they did not score more than one run – when they exploded for 7 runs. That inning for them was capped by a three run homer that hit the scoreboard in left-center field.

I must admit, I really wasn’t seeing the ball well this game. I don’t know what it was but my eyes seemed a little “fuzzy”. I know that I missed some calls, in regards to balls and strikes, but that is just how it goes. I heard a lot coming from the coaches and players from Asheville School, and not much from Rabun Gap. So, in my head, that means that I must have still been doing a pretty good job.

In the bottom of the 7th, Asheville School was down 13-8. There were two outs with no one on. The batter at the plate had two strikes on him and a pitch came in high and inside. It wasn’t too far inside, and it wasn’t too high (but it might have been a little higher than I had been calling strikes throughout the game). But, that pitch was close enough to the strike zone so I rung the batter up to end the game.

Aside from the little bit of talk I got coming from the Asheville School players and coaches, and the fact that I wasn’t seeing the ball well, I think my first Varsity game experience was a good one. I look forward to my next Varsity game, and hopefully I will see everything a little more clearly.

Game 6

The days leading up to my sixth game were quite interesting, to say the least. At first I was scheduled for a JV game in Hendersonville (about 1/2 hour from my house). But then that game got cancelled because the teams playing decided to move the game to what would have been the visitors teams site so they could have a JV/Varsity double-header. Then I was assigned a JV double-header, which got me excited because it was going to be my first double-header of the season. But then the second game got cancelled.

When the double-header was originally scheduled, the first game was scheduled to begin at 3pm (I get out of work at 2pm), and the second game was to begin around 5pm. But, the same day the games were assigned, the decided to cancel the second game. They kept the original start time of 3pm for the remaining game.

Like I said, I get out of work at 2pm, so this means that I have to rush to get to the field in time for the game to start. Luckily, the field wasn’t too far from work, so I get there with plenty of time to spare. But…the visiting team is LATE! I guess they got a little lost on the way to the field. So, we didn’t get the game started until around 3:30. Why the game wasn’t pushed back to a 4:00 or 4:30 start, I do not know.

Anyways, onto the game…

The game was between Temple Baptist and Cramerton Christian. I was scheduled to work the plate for this game. Kind of unusual since my assignments have alternated between plate and field. But, because this was originally a double-header, I was originally schedule to work the plate the first game and the field the second.

The way the teams started the game was completely new to me. Usually the “Star Spangled Banner” is played before a game. But, nope, not for this game…it started out with prayer. I’m not against it, but it was the first time that has happened to me, and the first time I had ever seen it.

I thought for sure that this game was going to be quick. Cramerton got out to an early lead, they were stealing 2nd and 3rd base whenever they had a runner on, and their starting pitcher had one heck of a curve that Temple could not hit.

Cramerton got out to a 4-0 lead going into the bottom of the 3rd inning when their starting pitchers arm started to hurt. When they changed pitchers, Temple was able to rally a little bit and close the gap to 4-3. The game stayed close after that, until the 6th inning when Cramerton pushed another four runs across to extend their lead to 8-3.

In the bottom of the 7th things got a little tricky. Temple began to rally big time. I knew that they were down by five when they came to bat. They got the bases loaded quickly and began to push runs across the plate. With two outs, and the bases loaded, I had forgotten how many runs they had already scored. I was telling myself that if another run scored I would call “Time” and verify with both teams as to what the score was. Unfortunately for Temple, the batter grounded out to end the game. Temple ended up pushing four runs across in the bottom of the 7th for an 8-7 final.

I was seeing the ball pretty good this game. I was even complimented by Cramerton’s catcher, he said that I was at least consistent with my calls. He said that most umpires are inconsistent but even when the calls are bad, if they are consistent then there is nothing to really complain about. Was he getting a “dig in” on me? Probably, but that’s not how I took it. I just took it as a compliment.

There were a couple controversial calls early in this game; one by my partner and one by me. When Cramerton was batting there was a ground ball hit in the infield. When the ball was thrown to first base the first baseman bobbled the ball a bit. My partner called the runner out saying the fielder had possession of the ball by time the runner touched first base. The coach for Cramerton asked me if I thought that the first baseman had the ball and all I could tell him was, “He (the field umpire) made the call, Coach.” And I left it at that. Although I felt that the runner was safe because of the ball being bobbled, because my partner did not ask for my assistance, I could not give it.

Later in the game, Cramerton was batting again, there was a play at the plate where the Cramerton runner was scoring but did not slide. The runner was safe and the Temple coach came out to argue that the runner did not slide and that he had to because there was a play at the plate. I conferred with my partner, just to make sure that I made the correct call according to the rules. Because it was not a “force play” at the plate, the runner did NOT have to slide. If it were a force play then, by rule, the runner would have had to slide and if he didn’t he would be called out. When there is not a force play, by rule, it is just suggested that the runner slides. After the conference with my partner, I once again ruled that the runner was safe at home and the run counts.

One final play. This happened in the top of the 7th with Cramerton, once again, at bat. There were two outs and the batter popped the ball up on the first base side of the infield. The first baseman was under the ball, just to the infield side of the fair/foul line, and just beyond the start of the 3ft running lane the batter-runner has to run in when going to first. The Cramerton batter-runner began heading into the running lane, but when he seen that the first baseman was going to make the catch he decided to run into the fielder. By rule, this would be malicious contact and an automatic ejection for the batter-runner. Instead of ejecting the Cramerton player, because the fielder caught the ball for the third out, I decided to inform the Cramerton coach of what had happened and also talk to the player about it. Had the Cramerton player caused the fielder to drop the ball, I would have instantly followed the rule and called the batter-runner out and ejected him from the game for the bottom of the 7th.

My next game is scheduled for tomorrow. It is another Middle School game and, this time, I am scheduled to work the field. I have no clue when I will work any more games after that, though. This week was supposed to be Spring Break  for the schools around here so not many games were scheduled. Next week the scheduled games will be back to normal. Hopefully I will get a few good assignments then.