Laundry again at 6:00 am followed by mirror work on the mechanics. I was originally scheduled for 2nd base on the 5:00 game, but they've pushed the games to noon to again try to beat the lightning. Sounds like we'll also be mixing up the crews for this last day of pool play, as the brackets start tomorrow. It will be interesting to work with some of the other crew members.
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We got new working partners for the day. I had second base working with Mike, Jordan, and Will. Mike I know and worked with previously in California. Jordan is a local 18 year old who replaced an umpire that had to drop for family reasons. The kid is really good, and he's the one in the plate gear in the photo with the powder blue shirts.
This game featured Socal and Oregon, and Socal won easily 18-3. We messed up a few rotations early in the game but found our way by the second inning. Once again, we gave the kids a quality game.
I didn't get an assignment in the 2:30 second game which featured a 100 degree temperature at the start with 25% humidity. The plate umpire was overcome by heat in the fourth inning and was replaced by Will. I stayed with our comrade after he was released by the paramedics and he was fine after a shower, water, and food. I expect he'll be back tomorrow.
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Since we were off around 6:00 tonight, we headed into downtown Nogales for dinner at Las Vigas Steak Ranch. Dinner was excellent.
As some of you may know, there is a wall separating Nogales, AZ from Nogales Mexico. Not quite the Trump wall, but a reminder of where we are.
We start bracket play tomorrow, with crew assignments completely up in the air, as umpires cannot be the plate umpire if their team is represented in the game. Us California guys get squeezed because we have 2 California teams, as does Arizona. We have 4 games tomorrow (each crew gets 2 games) starting at 10:00 am. Second games are scheduled for 12:30.
We are expecting record highs tomorrow.
