My Baseball Season Ends....

I finished up my Spring/Summer Baseball work over the weekend....94 games by my count since the 3rd week of March, if you count scrimmages, and the Summer games....

Drove 80 miles north to Archbold to work my 5th straight year in the Summer High School ACME State Championships.  Tim Copsey out of  Antwerp and I had games 3 and 4 in the opening round on Saturday Night.  Working the plate for the game between 2 time defending champion, Defiance, and the team they defeated in 2012 for the title, Dayton Northmont...The Bulldogs, as usual, got outstand pitching, and made my job easy, calling mostly strikes and watch both teams swing their respective bats, Defiance pulled away late and salted away a 8-0 opening round win, a No Hitter via Junior to be hurler, Shay Smiddy.  Always good to work a game behind the plate with quality teams....

In the nightcap, Tim and I almost got out early with the 4th straight game of under 1 hour 40 minutes...but Lima Bath tied the host school Archbold 1-1 with 2 outs in the 7th....and pushed the game to 9 innings, coming away with a 5-1 win....I will be surprised if Defiance doesn't win a 3rd straight title, especially with Coldwater losing it's first game to fall into the loser's bracket of the Double Elimination Tournament. {the Defiance team did indeed win the State for the 3rd straight year}

Sunday Wrap Things Up....

On Sunday I headed south some 35 miles to Russia{Rue-She} Ohio for a 14 and under tournament, a level I seldom do, but had worked there last year, they pay cash, so I figured what the heck?  Working the second Semi-Final and the Championship games both behind the plate,, I sweated for 5 hours, as the Championship game between the travel team Storm and Minster's 8th grade team lasted almost 3 hours, with the Storm pulling out a 14-13 win in the bottom of the 7th.

I was gassed!  And frankly happy to see the season end...love baseball and umpire work, but it's time for a break....Rick Pearson's daughter gets married this Saturday in Muncie, Indiana, then Patricia and I head for Brown County to rent out a cottage for a few days.

The next month will see the above, then before the arrival of our 2nd grandson, due about August 10th, and the start of football officiating season on August 12th....I will have some time to relax...and the old body needs it.

back later:

Photos-my rear end view in action at Elida during the ACME District and early last year during a cold weather spring HS game...