2012 4TH
OF JULY "SHOOT-OUT"
Coaches, information on the 2012 Spokane Softball Umpires
Association 4th of July "Shoot-Out" Girls Fastpitch Tournament,
scheduled for July 6, 7 and 8 in Spokane, can be found in "Documents &
Materials" on this website. The "Shoot-Out" site includes tournament rules and a list of team entries received through May 21.
CONGRATULATIONS, STATE UMPIRES!
SSUA was allotted six spots to state high school tournaments this Memorial Day weekend. Below are the umpires selected by the committee chaired by SSUA's liaison to the WOA, John Isles. The group includes two who will be going to a state tournament for the first time, Bob Frances and Tom Doty. Congratulations to all!
Class 4A, Merkel Complex, Spokane
Paul Clary
Rich Hobson
Kathleen Burns, UIC
Class 3A, Lacey
Randy Harnasch
Class 2A, Selah
Heide Wehr
Class 1A, Richland
Bob Francis
Class 1B & 2B, Yakima
Tom Doty
.
BY THE BY
… LAWS!
Umpires, with our formal training program wrapped up, we have one
more important issue to complete … reading, revising where necessary, and
approving the proposed new bylaws for the Spokane Softball Umpires Association.
A hardy group of members has tackled the second readying at the
last two general membership meetings follow training sessions. There is still
more work to be done, however. President Ken Mathia said a special general
membership meeting will be called to finish the project. Look for his
announcement setting the date, time and place in an email as well as here, on
the Association website.
.
CHECK OUT
DOCUMENTS & MATERIALS!
As we receive material pertinent to the 2012 season, it will be
added in the Documents & Materials section.
Here’s what we have …
High School Rules (special league rules;
cover at plate conference) and bats on the ASA non-approved bats list.
It's all on one page, suitable for printing out, folding and carrying to your
school games.
ASA non-approved (banned) bats (separate from list that also includes special high school rules; this one has three copies of the banned bats so you can print it once and have extra copies to use throughout the season if one gets torn up.)
Spokane County Spring-Summer league rules (modified on April 18 to
2 Word pages)
Parochial rules
Spokane Girls Fastpitch rules
Spokane Senior League rules
Senior Softball USA rules
CAA rules (condensed to 1 Word document on April 26)
Deer Park rules
SSUA Pay Dates
Recreation Ejection Report
•Please note: The bats list is for your use as you check equipment
before the game both for school ball and ASA recreation ball. If you prefer the
non-approved bats list with pictures, you can find it on the ASA website - asasoftball.com
- under Certified Equipment.
•The Recreation Ejection Report is an easy-to-fill-out PDF file to
be used if you have an ejection during the recreation portion of our season. It
is under the “Information” section in Documents & Materials. It is
self-explanatory and leads you through the form using your tab key and mouse
and at the end tells you where to send it. If you need to use it, download it
to the documents section on your hard drive, fill it out, then email it as an
attachment. For school ball, ejections are dealt with through John Isles and
report forms on the WOA website.
NEWS,
NOTES & RULES
Remember, jewelry is NOT
allowed in high school games. That includes the implements used to spread
pierced ear lobes for what is known as “ear gauging.” The WIAA has ruled the
plugs are to be considered jewelry. Like other jewelry, they either take them
out or they don’t play. A lot of the plugs are clear plastic and may be
difficult to see. Best to talk specifically of the plugs at your plate
conference. … On the subject, if a player has tape on her ear, it’s likely
covering an ear piercing/stud. Have them show you what’s underneath. If it’s an
ear ring/stud, it must come out or they can’t play. Stress the importance to
the coaches and captains at the plate conference of no jewelry. … Defensive
conferences: If a coach removes a pitcher, even if they don’t decide to make
the change until after visiting with her on the field, it DOES NOT count
as one of their three allotted conferences. … Parochial games use ASA rules
and the program’s special rules that are in the “Rules” section in Documents
& Materials. If you are doing Parochial games, print out the rules, read
them and take them with you. … If you have rules questions or plays that may
have stumped you, contact ASA Umpire in Chief Randy Harnasch with ASA concerns
or Kathleen Burns for help with school-ball rules. They’re happy to help.
•Gary Kuck, a member of
SSUA since 1986 and current Vice President-Adult, has been named a Spokane ASA
Deputy Umpire in Chief by Spokane ASA Commissioner Fuzzy Buckenberger. Kuck,
retired military after a 22-year career, is in his 33rd year as an
ASA umpire and has worked in 10 ASA National Tournaments and two State High
School Tournaments. He joins Spokane ASA UIC Randy Harnasch and Deputy UIC Ken
Mathia on the SASA staff. … Our condolences to longtime SSUA umpire Ron Snyder
and his family on the death of his wife, Chrissy, following a valiant four-year
battle with cancer. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers. ... There will be
an ASA National Umpire School in Portland in 2013 on St. Patrick's Day weekend.
Start now thinking about attending.
KEEP THE
ARBITER UPDATED!
With the recreation season underway and the school programs wrapping up their
regular schedules and getting into the playoffs, we’re into one of the heaviest
portions of our season (between now and Memorial Day). Be sure to get in The
Arbiter (arbitersports.com) and keep your availabilty updated ... and let our
assigner, Le Harnasch, know if you have last-minute availability.
•Multisport officials, you are able to designate in The Arbiter
what days you want to make available to different associations. By using the
association's Arbiter number - SSUA's number is 102935 - you can select the
days you would like to work for each association, which will make it easier for
the assignors. Any questions, get in touch with President Ken Mathia or Treasurer
Heide Wehr. They can walk you through the process.
PLAN
AHEAD … SAVE THESE DATES!
It may seem like a long way
off – the 4th of July, that is – but it will be here before we know
it … and we’re really going to need all hands on deck this year! Because
the 4thfalls on a Wednesday, traditional weekend 4th of
July activities will have their choice of two weekends. In our case, our
traditionally heaviest softball loads will all come on the same weekend – July
6, 7 & 8. That’s
when SSUA will hold its annual 4th of July
"Shoot-Out" girls fastpitch tournament, again at the Merkel
Complex and Franklin Park.
That’s also the weekend the
Spokane County program will begin its season-ending tournaments with Men’s
and Women’s divisions. The County’s annual Coed tournament will be
the following weekend, July 14-15.
So PLEASE mark your
calendar, plan on umpiring those two weekends, and schedule vacations and
family time around them if possible. It’ll make the load easier for all of us …
especially our assignors for both the "Shoot-out" and rec ball.
WHAT
SHOULD I WEAR?
The SSUA Board of Directors established an updated uniform policy
that incorporates the uniform requirements for all the programs we do - WIAA
(school ball), ASA and SSUSA seniors. The Uniform Guidelines can be found under
"SSUA Policies" in Documents & Materials of this website.
Rich Hobson - 924-6531; rchobson@comcast.net - can
be contacted for ASA and school uniforms and equipment.
Rich has the new ASA jackets, and may even have some closeout
items, like the old-style ASA and plain jackets that can be worn locally, for a
discounted price. Call him and ask.
2011 SSUA
AWARD WINNERS!
Congratulations to ...
Campbell-Stewart: Dave Berghammer
Presidential Pride: Gerald Howard
Umpire of the Year-Adult: Paul Clary
Umpire of the Year-Youth: Jeff Camp
Most Improved-Adult: Bryan Raschka
Most Improved-Youth: Brian Fife
Rookie of the Year-Adult: Thomas Kirkpatrick
Rookie of the Year-Youth: Andrew Ridgley
Home
Run Award: Ron Burke & Kyle Leeds
Welcome 