A little league umpire sees a lot of poorly played baseball games. But every once in a while a gem emerges from the mundane. 

Early in any season, 10, 11 and 12 year-olds — having just come out of a cold southern New England winter — aren’t quite geared up to field, pitch and hit a baseball in early April . But as the spring weather warms, the grass greens up and leaves emerge on the trees, the skill sets of these youngsters improve dramatically.

Sharpened skills were on display at a Friday night little league baseball game, played under the lights, when Miller’s Auto Body and Wright’s Farm — arguably the two best teams in the Burrillville Little League this season — squared off.

The ace pitcher for Miller’s took care of business for the home team in the first inning. The catcher, a precocious 10 year old, mixed in fastballs and change-ups to help his pitcher record two strike-outs in the inning. 

It was a different story for the Wright’s ace. He initially struggled to find the strike zone, leading to some timely hitting and a walk that brought in a run for Miller’s in the first inning. 

The Wright’s pitcher settled into a groove after the rough start, and the 1-0 score stood up until the third inning. That’s when the bats for Wright’s woke up, and the team plated 3 runs. 

Each team had scoring opportunities in the fourth and fifth innings, but with quality pitching and solid defense from both teams, the 3 to 1 score held up. Then came the sixth and final inning with the home team, Miller’s, behind in the score.

The Miller’s pitcher had thrown 71 pitches at the start of the inning, only 14 pitches short of the pitch count limit that would end his night. Not surprisingly, he was able to get three straight outs and finished with a complete game. 

The same was not true for the Wright’s Farm starter. He reached his pitch count limit after the second out in the fifth inning.  A relief pitcher came in to finish off the frame. The same pitcher toed-the-rubber in the sixth to try to quickly end the game, but the home team had other ideas. 

With nobody on base and one out in the inning, Miller’s ace pitcher, who just finished pitching six innings, took a 2-ball, 2-strike pitch to right field and motored around the bases. The right fielder got the ball at the fence and hit his cutoff. An accurate throw to the plate sailed high, forcing the catcher to jump as the baserunner slid into home — just like that an in-the-park home run cut the score to 3 to 2.

The home run rattled the Wright’s pitcher, and the next two batters reached on walks. His confidence returned after a strikeout to the next batter, but not before throwing a wild pitch that allowed the runners to advance. With runners on second and third, he needed one more out for the win. 

As an umpire, I’m not supposed to be concerned with the outcome of the game. But if I am being honest, I was rooting for a single from the final Miller’s batter to tie the game and force extra innings. Sometimes, you don’t want a good baseball game to end.

But it was not to be this night, strike three swinging, game over, Wright’s Farm won.