My last 2 games before going to Williamsport......

Gotta tell you about my last 2 games.  My last two games were Divisional games (10-11 in Watsonville semi final, and 11-12 in Fremont Championship game). 

Thursday July 26

I'm with a 6 man crew from my District.  We traveled to Watsonville, CA  to do a semi final 10-11 Divisional. Game started at 6:00 PM.........Good thing they had lights.





After 6 innings is was tied 2-2....and stayed that way for 14 1/2 innings.  It was great.  These kids would not give in.  It went F-I-F-T-E-E-N innings !

Game at Watsonville.  Must have been early as it is still daylight.

Around the 12th inning, tournament director approaches me through the screen "Dan, you need another bottled water?"  I said "No way.  If I drink any more water, I'll have to stop this game and go to the bathroom."  Got a few chuckles from the crowd.

In the bottom of the 15th, home team gets a runner at second base.  He gets to 3rd on a passed ball.  And then....finally...a clean base hit.  Home team wins 3-2.

I spoke with the scorekeeper after the game, as I was curious how many "squats" I did as the plate umpire.

Game time...4 hours 10 minutes.

Total number of pitches....460

That's a lot of squats !

Next Day Friday, July 27

I'm in Fremont, CA doing the 11-12 Divisional Championship game. 

A fantastic 6 man crew.  Every umpire on the field did a Western Region tournament in the past, with 2 of them going to Regionals next week.  The announcer was great, sounded just like a professional radio announcer.  He announced each umpire individually with their Regional accomplishments, and when he got to me, announced my LLWS selection, the crowd was really grateful with their applause.  Felt good.

Until the first pitch.....just kidding.

For that Championship game, San Ramon was down by one and a walk off base hit single with runners at second and third ended the game.  This forced an "if necessary."  The following day, Petaluma beat San Ramon (7 innings) so Petaluma will go to San Bernardino.

The six man crew:

 Plate  Dan Campagnolo    D12

1st      Mike Saso               D39
2nd    Tony Ortiz                D59
3rd     Bruce Marcellos       D14
LF      Rob McCarthy          D14
RF     Pat Mulhern              D14

This was the "Special Announcement"  I have to admit, the announcement watered my eyes a bit.  It made me and my crew feel really special that night.

Special Announcement

It is the dream of every little league player to have their team win every tournament, which includes District, Section, Divisional, Western Region and World Series.  That would be the “golden summer” for the team.

Well…umpires have this dream too. 

By the end of August, all 6 umpires you see on the field have or will have umpired in Western Regional Tournaments and World Series tournaments.

On the  RF line, Pat Mulhern did the Little League Regionals in 2010.
On the LF line, Rob McCarthy did the Junior Regionals in 2009.
On  3rd base, Bruce Marcellos did the LL Regionals in 2002 and the Senior Regionals.
On  2nd base Tony Ortiz, and at 1st base, Mike Saso will be at San Bernardino next week to umpire in the LL Western Regional Tournament.
      
The plate umpire, Dan Campagnolo did the Little League Majors Western Regionals in 1999, the Little League Juniors Western Regionals in 2001, and the Little League Juniors World Series in Taylor Michigan in 2006.

This August, Dan has been selected to umpire in the Little League Majors World Series Tournament in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.  This is the highest honor for a Little League umpire.  There are only 16 umpires for that tournament selected from all over the world and only 3 come from the 14 states of the Western Region, and Dan is one of them.

You will see all the games on ESPN August 16-26.  Let’s wish Dan, Mike, and Tony  “Good Luck” this August as they enjoy their umpire “golden summer” at the Little League Western Regional and World Series Tournaments.