Cloquet Native Officiates At The Division I level

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Oct 12

Wes Vork-NSO

When Tyler Korby began umpiring just a couple of years ago he probably had no idea how quickly he would rise to the top of local officiating circles. Last Sunday, the 23 year old Korby joined another local umpire, Mike Orn, as they officiated a pair of Division I softball games in Brookings, South Dakota.

“Mike has been umpiring college softball games for a number of years, so due to his watching me for the past couple of years he felt I was ready to umpire at the Division I level,” recalled Korby. “I have traveled to many cities, tournaments and national tournaments with Mike and I have gotten to know him very well. He told the Division I umpire assigner about me and I got scheduled.”

Orn, who is from Barnum, has been well known as one of the top umpires in Minnesota and apparently his influence has shown Korby the finer insights into the game and it has begun paying off.

“I have known Tyler since he was just a young guy and he has really matured on and off the field,” said Kerry Rodd head coach of the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College Thunder women’s softball team. “The one thing I like about Tyler is that he is very true to the game. He has umpired in summer league games I have coached and he is as good an umpire as we have in this area. He works hard, he has an honest strike zone and he doesn’t miss many on the bases. Tyler also has the ability to let you vent without letting you get out of hand and as a coach that is really appreciated.”

Orn and Korby traveled to Brookings on Sunday to officiate a doubleheader between the DI South Dakota State Jackrabbits and South Dakota State University Trojan’s an NAIA school. In game one, Korby worked behind the plate calling balls and strikes and the experienced Orn moved behind the plate for game two.

“Things went great during the games! It was such a great experience and it is a different level of softball and a lot of fun,” commented Korby. “We didn’t have any problems at all and things went smoothly.”

For Korby, this is perhaps a turning point in a career that is only a couple of years old. To move into the college ranks from umpiring in the U-12 ranks just a couple of years ago is nearly unheard of and speaks to great volumes of his maturity and his knowledge of the game.

“Umpiring means a lot to me and to be selected to DI ball is an honor,” explained Korby. “I take pride in my umpiring ability and I am always looking to get better and improve. I have a dream of working in the college world series one day and this is an awesome start. I’ll just continue to do my best and get my name out there and see where it takes me.”

So far, umpiring has taken Korby on a six hour-320 mile road trip to Brookings, but it perhaps is just a matter of time before he moves on into even bigger and better things.

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” said Rodd of Korby’s future. “You just don’t see you guys that are his age that have a command of the game like he has. If he continues to improve he will open a lot of eyes and turn a lot of heads if he gets in places to be seen. The key is for him to remember the game is about the game and not about the guy behind the plate and he already has learned that so for him it is just doing a little polishing and, without him getting too big a head from me complimenting him, he is already pretty much right there and there isn’t a whole lot for him to do, but continue to get time on the field.”

Rodd should know as he has coached three teams into the national top 10 through the years in summer fast pitch and he has coached five state championship youth teams as well as last year’s Thunder team which was ranked #4 in the nation for nearly five weeks.

“Korby is lucky in the fact that he has played baseball, coached at the college level with us for the Thunder and now he has been behind the plate,” Rodd stated. “When you take that combination it is a great mixture for success. Mike Orn has it, and I think Korby has it. They both take it serious, but allow the game to be fun and they both try to improve without resting on their past achievements.”

As Korby’s career continues he will continue to build on a 2 1/2 year resume that already includes umpiring at the DI level, umpiring at the ASA state U-16 tournament, the ASA Northern national tournament for U-14 and U-12 , the Little League state tournament in which he did the championship game, the ASA Northern nationals at the U-18 level as well as umpiring the state championship game at the U-18 level of the ASA state tournament in Cloquet last summer.

“The whole experience was awesome and I loved every minute of it,” exclaimed Korby. “Umpiring softball is just something fun for me and I seem to really excel at it. When I started in 2007 I never would have dreamed my career would have gone this far so quickly. For me, umpiring softball is the best thing ever. Period!

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com