Peninsula Sports Management director of officials says there’s
enough time, officials to play earlier rainouts
Hollister – Although about 400 baseball and softball games have been washed out across Monterey, San Benito, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties during this record-breaking season of rainfall, Peninsula Sports Management (PSM) director of officials Mark Risley says all games should be made up in time for the end of the regular season.
“We’re in great shape,” said Risley, who assigns officials to Monterey Bay, Mission Trail Athletic and Tri-County Athletic Leagues. “On any given day we can whack out 40 (make-up) games in one day.”
As the rain continued to fall during an especially rainy March, local coaches and athletic directors became increasingly concerned about how their teams would make up rained-out games, fearing a shortage of officials with so many Monterey Bay and South Valley teams wanting to make up games on the same day.
But Risley said that hasn’t been a problem.
“I haven’t found one of those (days) yet,” said Risley Tuesday. However, he said April 6 was booked full, a first in his 11 years as director of officials.
Risley said he tells schools what days officials are available and that schools have been very cooperative in working with the schedule.
Coaches will have to schedule double-headers down the stretch to get all of their games in. Though that might not be ideal for a team, Risley said it’s not a problem for officials.
“They love a double-header,” Risley said.
The director said 400 games represents “a drop in the bucket” percentage of the full baseball and softball schedule. Risley approximates that he assigns officials to about 7,500 games per season.
Peninsula Sports Management is always looking for new officials. If you’re interested in officiating high school sports, contact Mark Risley at (831) 375-3301.
