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Romano selected to umpire in Division III College World Series
By Greg Gulas
Poland
The Division III College Baseball World Series began Friday in Appleton, Wis., with Poland’s Joe Romano selected as one of eight umpires working the NCAA championship.
“Deep down, it sure is nice to know that others appreciate your work and that they have confidence in you when you are working a game,” Romano said. “My assigners and other assigners as well were pushing for me, so that makes me feel good as I represent both the conferences and regions of which I have worked.”
The eight-teams comprising this year’s championship field include Ithaca College, Kean University, Linfield College, Manchester University, Millsaps College, University of Southern Maine, Webster University and Wisconsin-Stevens Point University.
A seasoned veteran who started umpiring in 1975 in his native Poland, Romano has drawn regional assignments since 2008 and most recently served as crew chief for the Mideast Regional in Terre Haute, Ind.
During that span he has worked more than 40 contests and five years later, finds himself working his first and only national title game.
“You are only permitted to work one championship so you can understand the thrill and excitement in being selected,” Romano said. “During the Terre Haute regional things could not have gone any better. We had great weather, an excellent crew and when one umpire was hit by a pitch and suffered a concussion, we just revised our rotation and everyone picked up the slack.”
While umpires are only required to work two games during any one day of competition, last Friday the adjusted schedule resulted in Romano working three contests, including a 13-inning affair and 15-inning contest that took over five hours to complete. He worked 37 innings overall.
“Needless to say I was a little tired after those three games,” Romano said. “Our 15-inning game was such a great game, no one worried about being tired or cared how long the game took because the players were competing at such a high level and putting all they had on the line.”
Romano, a Youngstown State graduate who works in the promotions department of WFMJ, also works in the local Class B and AA leagues in addition to his collegiate duties.
A member of the Collegiate Baseball Umpire Association, he has been working college baseball the past 15 years and works Division I, II and junior college games as well.
The past 10 years he has also worked Division III conference tournament games in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference, Ohio Athletic Conference and North Coast Athletic Conference.
“Time sneaks up on you when you are having fun so as an umpire,” Romano said. “We will all try to enjoy the moment knowing full well that we have a job to get done in the process.”
Over the years Romano has worked collegiate ball in seven states and this year, will be joined at the championship by umpires from Pennsylvania, Vermont, California, Maine and Georgia, and two from the host state, Wisconsin.