At home plate, umpires usually are observers, watching for balls and strikes and whether a base runner touches home before being tagged. But an umpire had to make a play at the plate during a baseball game Sunday in Jacksonville, Florida.
A batter for the Fort Caroline Athletic Association Indians had just taken a swing and missed when a dust devil formed at home plate and engulfed the catcher, Bauer Zoya, 7. Umpire Aidan Wiles ran to Zoya’s aid, lifted him and whisked the catcher out of the whirling dervish, video shows.
“I couldn’t breathe that much,” Zoya told Jacksonville TV station News4JAX. “So I held my breath and I feel like I couldn’t touch the ground. So I kind of lifted up a little bit.”
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Dust devils are wind vortices, which typically occur under clear skies and light winds above warm ground – like a baseball field – and when they expand can reach speeds of up to 60 mph, the National Weather Service says.
Wiles, who is 17, didn’t hesitate to get Zoya free of the dust devil.
“I was looking at the pitch, and then I look to my right and see this dust storm,” Wiles said, according to FirstCoastNews TV of Jacksonville. As the swirling wind blew rocks against his chest, he saw the catcher needed help. “At first I was freaked out myself until I saw him trapped in it,” Wiles said. “So, I decided to run in there and grab (him) out of it.”
Once the dust devil left the game, play resumed. Zoya returned to the game, too, after his dad poured water on him to get the dirt out of his eyes. However, the Sharks succumbed to the Indians in the game at the Fort Caroline Athletic Association baseball field.
Zoya’s father Brian Zoya told News4JAX he was relieved the umpire Wiles helped his son out. “A kid that just had the presence in mind to just do that it’s just special to see,” he said. “It was pretty cool to see yesterday. He had great parents raising him.”
Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @mikesnider.
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