Umpire Diary

I umped on Sunday night and last night, and I'm a few minutes away from heading out to umpire tonight as well. Then I'm likely finished umpiring for the year.

The league is winding down its softball offerings until winter ball, but there's still a few weeks to go; I, however, will be heading to California within a week for an undetermined length of time to help Marty out with taking care of my dad, so I begged off my shift for this Sunday and the next two weeks. I suppose if it turned out that I'm back before things are wrapped up entirely I might have one or two more before January, but it looks as if tonight will be it for me and softball for 2026.

Sunday's games were good, a nice crop of players to work with, although I was disappointed that one of the games, the score of which was 19-2 heading into the final inning, did not end at that score because that would have been a nice symmetry with the Mariners' loss to the Cubs by that same score earlier in the afternoon. Why did they have to go and score four more runs? Alas.

Las night was an even better group of folks, but at the lesser location of Dahl Ballfields, which is not especially well maintained. Games were fun—one back-and-forth affair that ended 19-18, one utter blowout of 34 to something far less than 34—but during one play I tripped on one of the may ruts in the field while hopping backward to adjust me view of the ball. I fell on my backside and somehow sprained my wrist trying to stop my fall. It's minor, as such things go, but I'm sitting here typing with an ice pack strapped to my forearm to keep it from hurting too much.

Anyway, tonight's crop of teams is a mixed bag or people I don't much like to work with and some that I do, but I'm hoping to go out on a trouble-free evening. Odds favor it, I would think.

It's been an uneven year for umpiring, with some hassles and some fun, but on balance I'm glad I've kept doing it and I'll be back at it in ’27.

Off I go. Tallyho!