A Day in the West wins championship1 min read

By
Jeff Bear
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What started as a recreational softball game at Posse Grounds Park on Thursday, Aug. 29, to determine the 2013 Adult Softball League champions turned into a serious incident in which an umpire felt threatened enough to call police.

The game matched the top two seeds of the Parks and Recreation Department’s co-ed league tournament — A Day in the West and Roster Check JMC — who had each won games earlier in the evening to advance to the final.

But a disputed call in the top of the first inning caused players on the Roster Check JMC team to shout that they were “protesting the game” before leaving the field.

Officials huddled at home plate and quickly decided that Roster Check JMC had forfeited the game by walking off the field. A Day in the West was then presented with the championship trophy.

Roster Check JMC captain Joe Mulcaire said his team was protesting the call, in which a Roster Check JMC player was called out by umpire Don McCombs for leaving the batter’s box, because the chalk lines that define the batter’s box were gone.

“If he’s saying that there is a batter’s box, it needs to be chalked out,” Mulcaire said. “As you can see right there it’s not, so he’s going to call us out every time our feet move.

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“That’s my point, and he’s continuing to do it.”

But McCombs was adamant that the Roster Check JMC players had no basis for their protest.

“It’s a judgement call,” McCombs said. “They forfeited the game when they walked off.”

For the full story, please see the Wednesday, Sept. 4, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.

Jeff Bear

Jeff Bear began his journalism career in 2003 as a graphic designer and sports reporter at the Weekly Register Call in Central City, Colorado. In 2007 he began working at the Canyon Courier in Evergreen, Colorado, as a graphic designer, but soon transferred into the editorial department where he worked as a copy editor and sport reporter under Editor Doug Bell. After a stint as a graphic designer at American Classifieds in 2009-10, Bear began working in 2011 as a copy editor at the Arizona Daily Sun, in Flagstaff. While at the Daily Sun, Bear was tapped by the late Randy Wilson to report on local sports including Northern Arizona University and Olympic medalists training in Flagstaff for the 2012 Olympics. In 2013 Bear began working at the Red Rock News in Sedona, Arizona, where he was an assistant editor and sports editor. Bear has two daughters, Angela and Jessica, with his wife Nina. He is a singer and guitarist, an avid cyclist and hiker, and enjoys camping with family and friends.

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Jeff Bear
Jeff Bear
Jeff Bear began his journalism career in 2003 as a graphic designer and sports reporter at the Weekly Register Call in Central City, Colorado. In 2007 he began working at the Canyon Courier in Evergreen, Colorado, as a graphic designer, but soon transferred into the editorial department where he worked as a copy editor and sport reporter under Editor Doug Bell. After a stint as a graphic designer at American Classifieds in 2009-10, Bear began working in 2011 as a copy editor at the Arizona Daily Sun, in Flagstaff. While at the Daily Sun, Bear was tapped by the late Randy Wilson to report on local sports including Northern Arizona University and Olympic medalists training in Flagstaff for the 2012 Olympics. In 2013 Bear began working at the Red Rock News in Sedona, Arizona, where he was an assistant editor and sports editor. Bear has two daughters, Angela and Jessica, with his wife Nina. He is a singer and guitarist, an avid cyclist and hiker, and enjoys camping with family and friends.