■SPORTS
The Woman in Blue
by John Haakanson
It’s 86 degrees and getting hotter as
Delma Stuck peers through her pro
tective mask at the pitcher 40 feet
from home plate.
As the batter edges into position,
Delma signals the pitcher with a quick
left hand, and crouches low over the
catcher. The ball explodes from the
pitcher’s mound and smacks loudly
into the catcher’s mitt.
"Steeerike one!” says Delma, shoot
ing her right hand out full length, then
snapping her forearm back briskly so
her hand points skyward.
The last-pitch softball game has of
ficially begun, and, true to form, the
crowd is soon nit-picking over Del
ma’s interpretation of the strike zone.
"Peple tend to rip you about your
strike zone,” says Delma. “But if
you’re consistent, most good pitchers
will adjust. I’ve had more trouble with
coaches than with pitchers.”
Although Delma, 38, is paid for
umpiring, she has a day job with the
Eugene school district and says she
isn’t doing this for the money.
“I have a really good time umpir
ing and when I reach the point that
it’s a job, I’ll probably quit,” she says.
She was playing slow pitch softball
when then-umpire Anne Freuchte,
now assistant athletic director with the
Eugene Parks and Recreation Depart
ment, encouraged her to begin umpir
ing four years ago.
She’s been calling them as she sees
them ever since, and her love for the
game is obvious as she praises players
like Churchill High School’s Dena
Carter, or recounts the details of a
close play.
“I’ve made bad calls and I admit it
when I do,” she says. “If I blew it,
coaches have the right to yell, and I’ll
let ’em yell maybe a little longer than
another ump would.”
But there are limits. Delma recently
made a difficult call on a foul ball at
a crucial moment in a state tourna
ment game. The wrath of the home
field crowd and one very angry coach
descended immediately.
“There were lots of people and no
body liked me, but I went to the coach
and said, ‘That was a good call,’ ” she
says.
“He apologized after the game for
coming unglued.”
Back on the field, Delma flips off
her mask as a runner races home,
sliding just under the slap of the op
posing catcher’s glove. Delma watch
es the play unfold, then spreads her
arms wide and hollers “safe!”
She wears black shoes, navy blue
slacks and a light blue shirt. After the
inning is over she strides down the
first base line to confer with the base
umpire.
The two toe the foul line, backs to
the crowd, and talk for a few seconds.
Both seem to enjoy this ritual, and
they return to the spot several times
during the afternoon to discuss calls
of the previous half-inning.
Delma’s toughest moment as an
umpire may have come this year in a
very close game. With two outs in the
bottom of the last inning, a runner slid
home as the catcher applied the tag.
The play represented either the tieing
run or the final out of the game, and
it was all up to Delma.
“The ball was there ... but I made
my call too quick,” says Delma, who
initially called the runner out. Um
pire’s decisions are final, right or
wring, except in the rare instance
when an umpire agrees to ask for help
from his or her partner.
Delma felt her call might be wrong,
Fast-pitch baseball umpire Delma Stuck.
asked her partner’s opinion, and
changed her call, which meant the
game was tied instead of over. After
the initial call, one coach had come
“ripping and tearing and screaming”
off the bench to protest. Now it was
the other coach’s turn.
“He ripped me apart, told me I was
a coward and said the first coach had
intimidated me,” she says. “But go
ing back over it in my head, I knew
I blew the call.”
“I had to eat that call,” she says
now. “In some people’s opinion you
lose your credibility, but I think it
takes more guts to admit you’re
wrong.
“That may not be what other umps
think, but that’s the way I’ll continue
to officiate.”
Between innings at today’s swelter
ing game, Delma heads for the water
cooler and quickly drains two cups.
The sun glares on the diamond as she
steps to her place behind the catcher,
adjusts her mask and settles into the
familiar crouch.
It’s a pressure cooker out there,
with no room for indecision as the
ball screams to the plate in a blur of
white. The batter swings and misses,
then looks at strike two as the crowd
hums and mutters.
A pause. Then the pitcher rears
back and rockets the ball over the out
side corner of the plate while the bat
ter watches helplessly.
"Steeeerieeekthree!" the woman in
blue yells, combining words into one
gutteral sound while shooting her
right hand out. Her fingers clench for
one moment into a fist as her arm
points skyward again.
Nobody's arguing this call.
SPORTS CORNER
by Garde Wells
Athlete’s
Alert!
David Heisler, Butte-to-Butte Race
Director, wants runners (and walkers)
who didn’t yet get t-shirts to bring
their race numbers to Nike Eugene
(in the Atrium at 99 W. 10th) to pick
up their t-shirts.
The McKenzie Riders Bicycle Club
leaves Alton Baker Park Sunday at 9
am, for a 45-mile spin out Deerhorn
Road. Call 747-2625 to confirm.
Yo! It’s the 5th annual YMCA
Triathlon, Sunday, August 23. You
must register yourself or your team
by August 17. Register at local
athletic stores or at the Eugene Family
YMCA. The cost is $28 for individ
uals or $48 per team. New this year
will be the Corporate Challenge team
division. There are eight sub cate
gories for the corporate team
entries—legal, media, medical/dental,
retail, restaurant, manufacturing, pro
fessional/service, athletic facilities,
and government.
1980 Olympic team member (5000
meters) Bill McChesney is now a
licensed massage technician who spe
cializes in athletic therapy. At 1916
Madison Street, he offers massage
and fitness consultation. 683-6464.
The finest sports shoes
and clothing unavailable
everywhere.
Feets pLus
5th & Pearl
344-5288
AACHE._
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(SWEATSHOP
“famm=========
,52167
NEC)
We're moving to campus
MOVING
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selected items
MONSAT
10 am-6 pm
949 Pearl
343-8352
Bring a Friend to the River
During Our Late Summer Special
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Downstream
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ISCOVERIES
offers 2 McKenzie River float trips for
the price of one.
For just $35, you and a friend can
float the beautiful McKenzie, a
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—the splashy, frothing upper
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—the tamer (except for famed
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Trips leave Sat., Aug. 29 (Lower); Sun.,
Aug. 16; Sat., Aug. 22; and Mon., Sept.
7 (Upper), OR, book your own, any day,
for groups of 6-14 persons.
Clip this ad & mail with your check to:
DOWNSTREAM DISCOVERIES
186416 Moss, Eugene, OR 97403
Or call 484-9763 for more informa
tion. See you on the river!
ACTING
Sek
New & Nearly New
Women’s and Men’s Apparel
& Accessories
All Summer Clothes
on sale thru August
Fall Clothes
arriving daily
Consigning, Buying &
trading by appointment
Call 344-1413
1077 Willamette
(next to LCC Downtown)
We're air-conditioned
10-6 Mon-Sat • 12-5 Sunday
CHIROPRACTIC
CARE
combined with
• Massage
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GENTLE TECHNIQUES
CYNTHIA STOCKWELL, D.C.
CHIROPRACTIC PHYSICIAN
595 West 8th Avenue
342-6500
100 MILE BICYCLE RIDE
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_AAAs
— 1967—
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2
Start your
training now
for Eugene’s
finest touring event
The 10th Annual Willamette Flyway Century
Sunday, September 13, 1987
Entry forms are available at most Eugene-Springfield area
bicycle shops. For more information call:
485-6007 or 342-6465