Junior Umpire Program

One of the missions of the District 63 Umpires Association is to promote and train Junior Umpires. It is our pleasure to provide two scholarships this year for qualified Junior Umpires to attend the 1 week Little League Western Region Junior Umpire School in San Bernadino CA. This year the candidates were Isaac Pittman of Montalvo Little League and Karsten Lindahl of Foothill Little League. Below is a bio of each candidate. Congratulations to both of our candidates.

Isaac Pittman

Isaac signed up to play T-Ball with Montalvo Little League the minute he was eligible and has played every year since. Isaac began showing an interest in umpiring younger division games a couple of years ago. He worked bases and behind the plate and I was able to watch his confidence and knowledge of baseball grow because of his umpire training.

In the summer of 2011, Isaac was given the opportunity to attend the ‘Western Region Junior Umpire School’ in San Bernardino, CA. After one week of intensive training, he arrived home with a newfound passion for the game and could not wait to put his newly acquired skills to work. The next day, Isaac was the plate umpire in a tournament between two long-standing rival teams of 10 year olds. While the bleachers were full and the intensity high, Isaac was self-assured and confident – handling challenges by the coaches with firmness and respect.

While it saddens me to think that Isaac’s playing time with Montalvo Little League has come to a close, I know that his high school baseball career has been built on that Montalvo field. I also know that as his schedule allows, he will continue to step into that umpire gear and happily bellow, “Play Ball!”

Karsten Lindahl

Karsten started as a Little League player in T-ball at the age of 6 and played until he was 11. He took a year off from baseball to play on a traveling soccer team while he was waiting to be old enough to umpire at age 13. This was his first year as an umpire for Foothill, working 17 games during the season, 8 of those as Plate Umpire. He spent his entire season working games at the Farm A (7-9) level, getting his calls, signals and rules down. Karsten attended the Jr. Umpire camp at WRLL in June with two other junior Umpires from Foothill. When he returned, Karsten jumped right into the 8-9 yr. old tournament hosted by Foothill and Umpired a couple of games. He hopes to be able to work Minor level games next year.

Between what he has in hand-me-down equipment, what he won at the umpire dinner and the training he was given at the camp, he is feeling very confident about how he will present himself next year when walks out on the field.

Collectively, the 3 Lindahl's are planning on spreading our umpire time around a little more this year and doing games at various Ventura league fields to help out other leagues in need of umpires.

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