I was assigned the left-field line for the New England championship game. Some people might be upset about that, but Jeff Holliday, who had the plate, is a solid umpire, and I had gotten three plates (two on TV). For this game, our original crew of Mid-Atlantic umpires was re-united, with one exception – Rick Fletcher had had to leave the tournament early due to business obligations, so Jonathan Pesaturo from the New England group was assigned to the right-field line. (Jerry Fisher at first, Mike McDowell at second, Al Erdmann at third.)
It rained around noon – not for long, but I’m sure that the grounds crew was sweating things out, hoping we would be able to make the 6:00 scheduled start for Connecticut vs. New Hampshire. As it turned out, the field was playable without problems. Left field was still pretty beat up from the work they’d done on it the previous day, and a bit squishy in places, but not so much that it affected any play.
Connecticut jumped out to an early lead, but New Hampshire hung close for most of the game. In the top of the fifth, however, Connecticut’s bats caught up to New Hampshire’s pitching, and they put 5 runs on the board to take a 9-0 lead. New Hampshire squeaked out of the inning without being 10-runned, however in the top of the 6th Connecticut struck again for another 5, including a grand slam that just cleared the center field fence. At this point, the wind was out of New Hampshire’s sails, and so they put a final pitcher in who clearly was simply getting an opportunity to throw – he was easily the weakest of the pitcher we’d seen from New Hampshire the entire tournament. Despite throwing much more slowly that the others, he managed to retire Connecticut 1-2-3 on a grounder to the pitcher, a fly ball to center field and a strikeout. The grin on the kid’s face when he recorded the strikeout was a joy to behold, even in a losing effort. Connecticut then had the mandatory dog-pile in the center of the field, with ESPN and the still photographers shooting away. We snuck off the field and headed back to change.
This brought to a close my participation in the 2012 Eastern Regional tournament. I met a great group of guys, both the umpires and the staff that helped us through the tournament, and have memories that will last a lifetime. It was “pack up and go” the next morning – with an impending return to work on Monday morning, I didn’t stay for the Mid Atlantic final, even though New Jersey was participating (and won 1-0, thus earning their ticket to Williamsport).
I will watch both Connecticut and New Jersey with interest as the Little League World Series is broadcast.
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