On Saturday, a female umpire at a softball game for 12-year-olds in Mississippi was slugged in the face after the game, sustaining bruises and a black eye, by a woman wearing a “Mother of the Year” shirt who already had been thrown out of the game for hurling profanities.
Kristie Moore was filling in for an umpire who got sick. https://t.co/FzFO7D6w2R
— FOX5 Las Vegas (@FOX5Vegas) April 13, 2022
Police arrested Kiara Nichelle Thomas and charged her with misdemeanor assault after the attack on umpire Kristi Moore, a 10-year veteran of umpiring. Moore told WLBT she was filling in at the game because another umpire had fallen ill, adding:
It’s ridiculous. … The verbal abuse. And even now, the physical abuse now, at this point, and enough is enough. I also staff every USFA tournament in the state of Mississippi with umpires and it gets harder and harder to staff these tournaments because no one wants to listen to the verbal abuse and run the risk of what happened to me happening to them.
Moore wrote on Facebook:
Ssoooo, this is embarrassing if I’m going to be open and honest about it. But, it’s real life and it’s unfortunate that it has gotten to this place.
The next time you go to a tournament and you only have one umpire on the field…this is why. When you have brand new umpires on the field that may not know everything they should know yet…..this is why. When you don’t feel you have the quality of umpires you should….this is why. When the day comes that your kid can’t play a ballgame because there are no longer officials to call it….THIS.IS.WHY.
Before you post the next “funny” meme about umpires that suck, or are blind, or have missed callls on their phone or whatever it is, before you post about how an umpire was so awful and terrible and lost the game for you…….why don’t you sign up? Get on out there and give it a go.
I got punched coming off a field last night. There is no excuse for this. If you think this is ok, please remove yourself from my friend list.
Umpires are not perfect. We never will be. But guess what? No one is.
Earlier this month, teenage players from a basketball game at a Georgia church athletic facility assaulted a referee after the game; he reportedly needed 30 stiches from the wounds he suffered. “Three young basketball players from one team and two adults can be seen chasing the referee around the court and pinning him to the floor. The group then proceed to viciously punch and kick the referee, causing him serious injuries,” The Daily Mail reported.