quality umpires

softballmomrlz22

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Feel the same way.........seems like strike zones this summer are as bad or inconsistent as in High School ball.
Usually better but this year it is way off in alot of the tournaments, based on the umpires we have seen.
 

Westler33

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I think that it is that way with a lot of the younger girls because I have seen a few of the older girls play and it seemed to be better then what we have been getting.
 

Chad Strahler

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I have said the same thing on multiple occasions but the umpires we had at Berliner were overall decent. A couple not so much but the majority were good.
 

basecrusher

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Cinderella Classic this weekend. No way the majority of these guys were ASA umps.
Not one familiar face, no ASA hats or shirts for that matter, blatant bad calls all weekend.
9 years never a complaint until now. It was horrible! Just had to Rant.
By the way does anybody know who really put on that tournament? It was supposed to be ASA sanctioned but the info was found on a PGF website...
 

TnTs_Dad

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Saw a lot of inconsistent strike zones but usually called both ways. Here's my real question....

I've seen a lot of negative comments about about umpires for this or that association being terrible.... I always got the impression that most umpires get sanctioned for multiple associations? For example if I'm umpiring in Ohio I probably am OHSAA, ASA, PGF, NSA and USSSA "certified". True or no?
 

BretMan2

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Saw a lot of inconsistent strike zones but usually called both ways. Here's my real question....

I've seen a lot of negative comments about about umpires for this or that association being terrible.... I always got the impression that most umpires get sanctioned for multiple associations? For example if I'm umpiring in Ohio I probably am OHSAA, ASA, PGF, NSA and USSSA "certified". True or no?

My own experience has been that umpires in the central Ohio region tend to limit it to just a couple of sanctions. Many that do high school also do one of the major associations in the summer (ASA, NSA, USSSA) since these two seasons don't really overlap. You can do a full schedule of high school games in early spring, then when that season is over, do a full schedule of, say, ASA ball without much conflict in the schedules.

In the summer, it's kind of tough to work multiple sanctions. You would have multiple sanctioning fees to pay, multiple meetings and classes to attend and multiple assigners to deal with. And the assigners tend to not like it when you blow them off to work for another association, so if you do that enough times the assigners will begin to schedule you for fewer games.

An umpire might be forced to register with another association if he works in a league that plays under their rules. You might work ASA tournaments every weekend, but during the week do games for something under USSSA. The league might require you to register with USSSA, even if you don't plan on working any other of their games.

I don't want to answer for the entire state, because you can have completely different circumstances from city to city or region to region. But from what I see around here, most umpires tend to stick with one sanction during the summer. I've worked as many as three different ones in a season, but the third one was just to work one or two tournaments on weekends where I wasn't doing anything else. There is too much overlap, with tournaments all on the same weekend, for umpires to work more than one sanctioning body on a regular basis.
 
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softball24_7

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Challenge at the Creek this past weekend... You know it's bad when the field ump shakes your hand and says "sorry, you should report him"....
 

Hilliarddad3

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10 u usually gets the newest umps just as freshman and JV do, you graduate up to the higher levels usually....
 

FastBat

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As long as the ump is equally bad for both teams, i.e- low strike zone, I have no problem. You really can't argue grey areas like strike zones. Rarely do I see an ump that seems to call all bad calls against one team and not the other. As a coach, I wouldn't get on an ump too bad, it just hurts your own team. Most umps this year I thought have been really equally great or bad.
 

BretMan2

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Challenge at the Creek this past weekend... You know it's bad when the field ump shakes your hand and says "sorry, you should report him"....

Yes, that's bad. But not maybe for the reasons you're thinking.

Umpires have a code of ethics and conduct to adhere to. Making a comment like this breaks several of its guidelines. Throwing your partner under the bus like this is often more about building up your own ego than making an apology to a coach. And this goes beyond throwing him under the bus. It's throwing him under the bus, then backing up to make sure you run over him again.

If the umpire wasn't up to the task and had a bad game, you already know that. You don't need the other umpire to tell you that. His partner should be talking with him in private after the game to see if he can help fix whatever's wrong, instead of bad mouthing him to the coaches.
 

Jose_canusee

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I have watched more umpires this year get calls wrong and not know the rules than ever. It's really sad .
 

Evil_Dad

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Been to 2 u trip tourneys so far and feel they have been better than the D2 umps we saw this spring.
 

hpifm

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I heard the best one EVER from an ump this past weekend. On questioning the pitch location his response was "It barely caught the plate" BALL. First I heard that any pitch the "barely crossed the "plate"" was a ball. I guess that in 60 years of being involved in playing and coaching, my strike zone doesn't meet today's syandards.
 

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