Story by Kadin Rogers
Another series of rain showers over the weekend, and more forecasted storms on the way, has likely knocked out many baseball and softball games from the local sports schedule. Rain, of course, is always a common concern for playing baseball games at every level, but another concern that has effected high school baseball recently is a lack of umpires ready to enforce the rules of the game. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, or NFHS, high school sports lost around 20,000 umpires between the 2018 and 2022 seasons. There are many reasons for why officials across baseball and all high school sports are starting to put down the whistle. United High School graduate and local baseball umpire Riley Whitsitt has advice for fans who plan on attending high school baseball games this season, include remembering that even umpires are subject to human error.
Whitsitt, a former baseball player at United High School plans to umpire alongside his current position as the Head Coach of the ICS cross country team.
For the full interview with Riley Whitsitt visit the Sports Podcast section.
