I like it!!

[mjr_2013]

Took a bit of a road trip to Kalamazoo, Michigan yesterday to watch the State Little League Intermediate tournament... The Waterford team I umpire for a lot was in it, and I was free so I figured why not.

I watched two games, and I must say, it was very nice to see some real umpires doing some real little league games.

 

Both games had four man crews... The first crew was nearly FLAWLESS... The PU had an amazing zone, that stayed consistent throughout. They knew their responsibilities on fly balls, rotations, and even perfectly executed one... Only negatives I saw was that the U3 was making calls from fair territory, which caused him to get hit by an overthrow once... I also believe all four umpires had indicators, but I'm not going to go there ... After the game, I told the four, "I loved that rotation" as they were passing, and three of them looked up with grins, a bit shocked.

 

The second crew wasn't as great, but still good... The U2 seemed a bit overzealous, and for some reason was taking ALL fly balls when he was outside... Even down the left and right field lines... He was also outside with a runner on 2nd, which was weird.... There was a pop up to the catcher in foul territory with a R1 where he made a diving attempt but dropped it. The PU was right there with the foul ball signal, but for some reason the U2 was standing on the third base line giving a safe "no catch" signal... No one else noticed it was bad I'm sure, but all I could think of is what if there had been a tag up by that R1! PU's zone took a couple innings to stick and stay, but he was solid once he had it... You knew he knew what he was doing when he called a BALL on the pitcher for going to his mouth on the mound! 

 

All in all, it was great to see REAL umpires working REAL games as volunteers! You don't see it much in my area!