A local coach who also umpires will be umpiring a regional baseball tournament next month involving several Midwest states for the second time in three years.
Josh Koenig, who is a physical education teacher in the Falls School District and the Rainy River Community College head baseball coach. will be putting on his umpiring equipment for the Junior League Central Region Tournament taking place Aug. 5-11 in Fort Wayne, Ind.
“I’ll be down there umpiring all the teams from the Central Region, which is North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan,” Koenig said. “The team that wins for their state ends up going on to (the) Central Region.”
Two years ago, when he umpired at the Little League Central Region Tournament in Indianapolis, Koenig said he was the plate umpire for a game televised on ESPN.
To be considered as an umpire for a Region Tournament, Koenig said the application process includes being recommended by the district administrator for umpiring.
“I’ve been umpiring for a long time, but since I moved up here I’ve been umpiring for Little League and for the district and state tournaments, and stuff like that, now for probably about the last six years,” he said.
Koenig said his goal is to one day be selected to umpire the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
“When I put in (an application to umpire) for the Junior League Central Region that I got selected for this time I also put in for the Little League World Series...,” he said. “If you work regionals long enough, then you have an opportunity to hopefully get selected to do the Little League World Series.”
Koenig said the Region umpiring crews typically consist of four umpires for the initial games with the opportunity to work two games a day and at different positions on the field, leading up to a six-person umpiring crew being in place for the title games.
