County Softball Officials Looking for New Blood

In softball, the math is usually pretty simple.

 

Four balls, you take first base. Three strikes, and you’re out. Three outs, and the inning is over.

 

For the Berkshire County Softball Officials Association this spring, things have not always added up the way they would like.

 

With 22 active umpires on its roster and 22 teams – varsity and JV – in the county, the reality is that the association does not have enough officials to cover games the way it would like.

 

“We’ve been putting one official on junior varsity games for a few years,” umpire Mike Emerson said recently. “Once, last year, we told an athletic director that we were only going to have two guys [for a game day], and the AD wanted to have one on each. Fortunately, [the assignor] called me, and I was able to get down there and cover the varsity.

 

“We don’t want to have just one official on varsity. We don’t really want to have just one on JV. But we don’t have a choice sometimes.”

 

When that difficult choice is made, the quality of experience suffers for all concerned.

 

“You can’t cover what two people can cover,” Jim Hassett said. “In high school basketball, they’ve gone to three-man crews because you do a much better job. Picture it, if you have one umpire, that person has to monitor fair/foul, catch/no-catch, tag-ups, out/safe, everything like that.

 

“That is not a good thing for it to come to.”

 

The solution is obvious, and the BCSOA is putting out the call to find men and women – and even high schoolers – interested in training to become softball officials.

 

Normally, the local association holds classes for prospective umpires in February, the Emerson, the BCSOA’s interpreter, is willing to work with anyone who is interested to do the training this spring and be ready to go by summer for the travel league and tournament season.

 

The opportunity to work games on nights and weekends could make an ideal summer gig for high school students who play the game and are looking to pick up some extra cash, the veteran umpires note.

 

Ideally, they also are hoping to find adults who would be interested in continuing in the field and working high school games come 2024 and beyond.

 

Pay for summer games varies by league and tournament, usually ranging from $40 to $60 per game, Hassett said. The higher end tournaments, with multiple games on Saturdays and Sundays, can get pretty lucrative.

 

High school games currently pay $93 for varsity games and $69 for junior varsity games.

 

But the rewards go beyond that.

 

“Take last night’s game – competitive, talented players, two very well coached teams, somewhat of a rivalry, there was intensity, and we were there to make sure that the game was played fairly and the calls made were based on rules, our experience and unbiased judgments,” Hassett said after working the bases for Wahconah’s home game against Mount Greylock. “That, to me, is a great thing to be a part of, one I enjoy, and I know my fellow officials feel the same.

 

“Being a part of high school athletics for me is a privilege and an honor and just a small way to give back to my community, ensuring the student-athletes have someone to officiate their competitions.”

 

And, if prospective officials are concerned about stories of youth sports officials getting abuse from the bench or from the stands, they should not let that stop them, Hassett said.

 

“The athletic directors have taken a firm stand, and the MIAA has taken a firm stand,” he said. “It’s part of our pregame ritual at the plate … We have a couple of doctrines we have the coaches repeat back to us, which is: Is everybody legally and properly equipped and can we expect good sportsmanship out there.

 

“There are protocols put in place by these organizations of strike one, strike, strike 3. And they’re aware of that. You’re able to let the coach know that you’ve heard them, and you’ve heard them enough, and further action is going to result in the consequence.”

 

Beginning officials also have the comfort of being paired with an experienced umpire in their first year of service.

 

“There are tools we can use to combat the behavior,” Hassett said.

 

Thankfully, the softball umpires in Berkshire County do not need to use those tools very often.

 

“I’ve been doing softball since 2010, and I’ve never had an ejection,” Emerson said. “We don’t go looking to get rid of people.”

 

Anyone interested taking classes and getting certified to be a softball umpire should contact Mike Emerson at memerson@cbrsd.org or Marc Field at mfield@williams.edu.