Ardrey Kell VS South Caldwell

I must admit I got a chuckle watching him brush off homeplate the one time. I thought, "why the heck does he need to do that? He doesn't see the plate, anyway."

He was consistently horrible for both teams. There was another funny moment involving Woody...but I'll let the fans that attended to keep that as their own joke.

 

brushing off the plate

Braves I will tell you exactly why he was brushing off the plate. We were screaming at his "buddies" in the field, with runners on second and third, the field umpires were still at 1st and 2nd. He realized it and gave them time to move. Luckily there were no plays effected.

He made each starting pitcher throw 20-30 pitches more than they should have, but he was consistant, for both sides.

 

True, but I like my story better

On a serious note, this was the problem and I have witnessed this from other umpires this year---HS and college. They are good 2 strike umpires. They are fair and consistent until the batter gets two strikes: But they freeze on a called 3rd strike. Unless the pitch is at the heart of the plate, they will not ring someone up. I don't know if it is out of fear or what...but the zone changes dramatically with 2 strikes.

This is the 4-5th time I have seen this this year at both the HS and college level...and umpire unwilling to call the 3rd strike. I felt just as bad for Cody Penny as I did for Alex Wood. They deserved better

 

Pulling the Trigger

Braves, your story is better, he certainly struggled pulling the Trigger, I agree this is not an uncommon problem. We don't need a big "punch out dance" from the umpire, but obviously in theory, the zone should not change, based on the count. I was glad that home plate was the only umpiring issue of the night, I don't think there was anything in the field that was really even close.

Thanks to all the folks at SC, and a special thanks to Dalton Hall's father for coming over and wishing us good luck. Class act, and if you know Dalton, the apple does not fall far from the tree.

 

and speaking of big thank you's. Thank you to Steve Penny for renting some "airplane' blowers and spent all morning and afternoon getting the flood off the field. Without his help, this game never would have played.

 

I'll second that!! He has put blood, sweat, and tears in that field all year.
Someone may need to re-introduce him to his wife. She hasn't seen much of him this season.

 

No problems in that regard! Just providing some deserving players from both teams recognition as that is what TBR is about.

 

Humble in Victory

Hal keeps a tight reign on those kids and they would never disrepect another team he loves the game of baseball all too much! It should be a fun series vs ND. Thanks SC for being a gracious host..