2003 Arizona Interscholastic Association
Region 1
Tucson Softball Umpires Association

Web Site URL:

http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~umpire/softball/aiasoftball.html   

Officers:

Committee Members:

Area Commissioners:

Meeting Schedule:

Meetings are held on Monday evenings at the Rincon High School Library, 422 N. Arcadia Ave., except as noted.

  Minutes from past meetings can be obtained by clicking on the date desired.

DateTimeMaterial to be discussed
January 13 7:00 p.m. General Meeting, Registration, Administration, Meeting Requirements
January 27 7:00 p.m. General Meeting. Special Guest: Gary Whelchel, AIA State Commissioner of Officials. Election to replace Birdie Rastetter on Committee & 2/3/4 Committee Rep. Review Rule 2, Definitions.
February 03 7:00 p.m. Coaches night. General Meeting. The Designated Player (DP) Rule. Catcher’s helmet/mask requirements.
February 10 7:00 p.m. General Meeting. Review Rule 7.
February 17 6:00 p.m. Mechanics field clinic (11 a.m.) Hillenbrand Softball Stadium. Meeting to follow.
February 24 No meeting tonight!
March 03 7:00 p.m. General Meeting. Bart Henkle will review the AIA Handbook.
March 10 No meeting tonight!
March 17 7:00 p.m. General Meeting. Game situations, assignments.
March 24 7:15 p.m. General Meeting. Game situations, assignments.
April 07 7:00 p.m. General Meeting. Game situations, assignments.
April 14 7:00 p.m. Mandatory Meeting. Playoff ballot, election of 2004 Officers.
April 28 7:00 p.m. Mandatory Meeting. Move-up meeting.

  Minutes from past meetings can be obtained by clicking on the date desired.

  Go to minutes from 2000, 2001, or 2002.

2003 Rule changes

Fortunately, we have very few this year. The approved 2003 Rule changes can be found at the NFHS web site.

Note: The Designated Player (DP) Rule has been approved to replace the old, baseball-heritage Designated Hitter (DH) Rule in Arizona and Illinois. If you are not familiar with the DP Rule, please take the time to acquaint yourself with the differences. (Thanks to Emily Alexander and Cactus Umpires.)

Members’ Telephone & E-Mail Directory

PLEASE contact your partner a day or two in advance of your games. Be sure to discuss when & where to meet, what color shirt will be worn, and at which school the game is to be played. A telephone call is best, but an email a few days in advance works, too. This is especially important for out-of-town games. Members’ Directory in Excel format; (HTML format coming soon); Last Year’s Directory in HTML.

 

Handling Ejections

Last year college umpires received a letter from Emily Alexander on how to handle an ejection. As always, her words of advice are applicable to whatever flavor of softball is being played. Please take the time to read Emily’s procedure for proper handling of ejections.

Arizona Youth Softball (Louie Gonzales’ JO League) now has a rudimentary website. Not much is there as of this writing, other than the League Rules and their Tournament Schedule, but this may change in the future.

Here is a link to Emily Alexander’s AIA homepage (Phoenix, or Region II).

Forms On-Line

The following forms can be downloaded and filled out if you need them:

Name of Form Format(s)
AIA School Report Word
Umpire Evaluation gif image,  Excel sheet
Official’s Ejection form Word
AIA Official’s Registration Form (2002-2003)pdf
First Meeting Announcement LetterWord
For Coaches: How to use the DPWord

Where is that School?

Maps and directions to the schools we cover. If the school you want to find is not listed, try .
There are maps to just about all of the high schools in Arizona. Fill in the “Name begins with” field, and select “State > AZ”.

3-Man Umpiring Mechanics

Take the time to brush up on your 3-man mechanics. Thanks to Emily Alexander and Cactus Umpires for the link.

The History of the Game

Alan Nathan’s page on the physics of baseball is an interesting read.

How infield geometry has evolved. Read Jay Miner’s article from the February, 2001 issue of    magazine.

Do you know the origins of our game (and baseball)? Read about the game of Townball.

Do you know the origins of umpires’ hand signals? The answer may surprise you, Dummy!

An article on the history of the bat, by Bernie Mussill.

Humor

What really goes on in the stands at a ballgame? Get an earful from NPR’s Kevin Kling

The wisdom of the Perfesser.

Other Softball Links of Interest

Jump back to Bob Marcialis’ Home:

This Web page is maintained by Bob Marcialis
Copyright © 2003 Robert L. Marcialis
Nocturnal Aviation Industries, All Rights Reserved
Last Modified: 2003 October 03