A first for me

[kylehutson]

Background: I live in a small town. And by small, I mean about 750 people. Pretty much everybody knows everybody. Those that you don't know, you probably at least know the names of and have some idea of what they do, etc. Our small town is in a league with 3 other small towns, one being much bigger than the others. We have 3 age divisions: 8U (machine pitch), 11U, and 14U, baseball and softball, all of which play on a single baseball field. Most years we only field one team from each of those, occasionally two - the biggest town might field 4-6 per division.

Last night, I was scheduled to have two softball games, 8U followed by 14U. The mom of one of the 8U players was a former college player and is their coach, as well as assisting with the 14U team when she's not with her own daughter.

We play the 8U game, no problems, and in fact it finishes in about 45 minutes, well short of the 1:15 it was scheduled for. We move the pitching rubber for the 14U game, get things ready to go, and look around. There is the home team, but no visiting team - no coaches, no players, nothing. We (and by me, I mean one of the coaches) calls the opposing coach, no answer. We call the rec. commision president, who verifies that the home team is right, and says to declare a forfeit after the scheduled starting time passes. The 14U team has been rained out 3 times, and was going to get their first game in. Girls were disappointed they weren't going to get to play. So 8U coach (from above) says "OK, new plan. Since we've got the field, we're going to have a player/parent scrimmage." A few parents were in, but some wouldn't or couldn't. Coach (who I've known since before she had kids) says to me and the other umpire "we're short on the parents team, would you play with us?"

And that's the story of how I played fastpitch softball for the first time in my life. Parents won 10-4, no thanks to me - I struck out my only at-bat. And I had a blast doing it.

[GPblue]

Did you become a slap hit master? and the next question is what cheers did you learn?

[ArchAngel72]

Did you get struck out by a girl?   heh just kidding  Some of those "girls" throw a hell of a lot faster then I ever pitched

 

[kylehutson]

11 minutes ago, GPblue said:

Did you become a slap hit master? and the next question is what cheers did you learn?

1) No, I thought about trying a drag bunt, but I chickened out after I whiffed for strike 1

2) I've been umpiring here for over 10 years. Trust me, I know *ALL* the cheers.

[kylehutson]

2 minutes ago, ArchAngel72 said:

Did you get struck out by a girl?   heh just kidding  Some of those "girls" throw a hell of a lot faster then I ever pitched

Not only did I strike out, I gained a whole new appreciation for hitters in that league.

#NoShame

[yawetag]

Nice!

My first few years, I worked a local rec league. One day, the visiting team failed to show, so the home team spent the time practicing. Because I had nowhere to be, I stayed and helped out the players in learning some rules, particularly in balks as the next year would be the first with penalties for balks.

Also helped some hitters in learning how to bunt as that was my specialty when I played through high school. As we were finishing up, one of the pitchers commented how he could strike me out. I took the challenge, and on the second pitch hit my first career home run.

[Aging_Arbiter]

....................on a 60' diamond?

[yawetag]

15 minutes ago, Aging_Arbiter said:

....................on a 60' diamond?

Shhhhhhhhhhh.....

[Aging_Arbiter]

I heard that during a HS game this year...........Long fly ball, sent OF back a little ways...........can o' corn catch.

IMMEDIATELY, I hear from his own dugout.........."That would have been out of ANY ........ Little League field".

 

[Thatsnotyou]

2 hours ago, Aging_Arbiter said:

I heard that during a HS game this year...........Long fly ball, sent OF back a little ways...........can o' corn catch.

IMMEDIATELY, I hear from his own dugout.........."That would have been out of ANY ........ Little League field".

 

See why can't more kids do stuff like this to their own team, instead of trying to toe the line on insulting the other team with "fresh meat", "worm burger", "noodles for dinner" etc.

[Aging_Arbiter]

1 hour ago, Thatsnotyou said:

See why can't more kids do stuff like this to their own team, instead of trying to toe the line on insulting the other team with "fresh meat", "worm burger", "noodles for dinner" etc.

Had another where catcher took a foul ball off if his HSM.  Plate Ump  gave him the "slow walk to the mound to exchange ball" treatment. All of a sudden, the F6 pipes up with "COME ON!!!  IT'S NOT LIKE YOUR GPA CAN GET WORSE!!""

[HokieUmp]

8 hours ago, yawetag said:

Also helped some hitters in learning how to bunt as that was my specialty when I played through high school. As we were finishing up, one of the pitchers commented how he could strike me out. I took the challenge, and on the second pitch hit my first career home run.

Please, please, PLEASE tell me you bat-flipped him, and took 2-3 minutes to round the bases.......

[yawetag]

15 hours ago, HokieUmp said:

Please, please, PLEASE tell me you bat-flipped him, and took 2-3 minutes to round the bases.......

Wasn't cool to do bat flips back then.... we are talking 2008 or 2009.

And, it did take me 2 minutes to round the bases. But that's a comment on my athleticism, not me showing off.