Monday, April 12, 2004
Umpire: He gone!
Softball assistant coach gets ejected in Huskies’ loss to KSU
Article by:
Sean Connor - Sports Reporter
• sconnor@northernstar.info
With the NIU softball team’s batting average at .205, Huskies hitting
coach Kevin Welch finally let the frustration of NIU’s 10-27 season
get to him.
During the third game of a three-game sweep by Kent State over NIU,
Welch lost his cool with umpire Mike Whalen.
In the bottom of the fourth inning at Mary Bell Field, a pitch from
Kent State’s Kate Leary hit sophomore Kelly Drozd. The NIU left
fielder was not allowed to take her base as Whalen called her out on
strikes for not checking her swing when Drozd turned toward the pitch
to dodge it.
Though an umpire may refer to a field umpire on calls that determine
whether a batter breaks his or her wrist while checking up on a swing,
Whalen took it upon himself to call Drozd out.
Welch marched down from his third-base coaching box, yelling at Whalen
in disgust with his call.
“It was a situation where, as an assistant coach, I felt like
I haven’t been doing my job this year with our hitters,” Welch
said. “I finally got frustrated with us not getting any calls.”
After a lengthy conversation with Whalen, NIU coach Donna Martin had
to escort Welch off the diamond.
When a coach is ejected from a game, he or she is not allowed to stay
in the dugout but can stand outside the outfield fence or leave the
premises. Welch opted to view the remainder of the game with his wife
and kids from center field, with NIU down 1-0.
However, the Huskies began to play with renewed energy after Welch’s
ejection, Drozd said. After allowing one more run, NIU came back to
tie the game at two.
“The team fed off that,” Drozd said. “That really sent
the intensity through the roof.”
A second 11-inning effort in the past four games by NIU went for naught
as the Huskies lost their ninth game in a row, 3-2.
If it is determined that there was any threat of physical intimidation
or harm toward Whalen, Welch may be suspended from the team’s next
two games, according to NCAA rules.
“He appreciates their effort,” Martin said of Welch. “He
wanted to fight for them.”
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