Beth Chlopek, right, a high school umpire in San Mateo County for the past 23 years uses a digital tablet to communicate with home plate umpire Ed Major. Chlopek uses the tablet because she is unable to talk, a symptom of Lou Gehrig’s disease, which she was diagnosed with in 2017.
There was an intriguing appeal play that led to an umpires’ conference in the middle of the diamond during Thursday’s softball game between Mercy-Burlingame and Castilleja.
Field umpire Beth Chlopek was asked to appeal a call that was initially ruled a hit batsman when Mercy senior Lily Perkocha got hit by a pitch in the fourth inning. The initial call, made by home plate umpire Ed Major, was appealed by Castilleja on the grounds that Perkocha bunted at the pitch.
After the umpires’ conference, Chlopek ruled, correctly, that Perkocha indeed bunted at the pitch. Thus, the pitch was ruled a strike and the batter was brought back to the plate to continue her at-bat.
The intriguing element of the appeal play was Chlopek’s manner of communicating; for this she “spoke” with Major by writing all her words on a digital tablet.
“Very important,” Chlopek said about getting the call right, words she also conveyed via her trusty digital tablet. “Just being fair.”
The reason Chlopek, 67, uses the digital tablet is because she has lost her ability to speak over the past four years. An umpire in San Mateo County for the past 23 years, Chlopek was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease in 2017. Yet she continues to umpire on a regular basis. When asked how many games she’s umpired this season, she gave the only honest answer she could.
“A lot,” she said.
A San Bruno resident, Chlopek graduated from Serramonte High School in Daly City in 1972. She began her umpiring career in 1998, working her first game at Notre Dame-Belmont. She now works as both a softball umpire and a volleyball referee.
“I love sports,” Chlopek said of why she’s worked in the field for over two decades now. “It’s sharing love of sport.”
Chlopek has struggled with her speech for the past two years and incorporated the digital tablet into her umpiring equipment as a result. She said via her tablet that she can still speak a bit.
“Not that I can be understood,” she said.
Chlopek said she considers herself fortunate, though, in respect to her overall mobility. Symptoms of ALS range from muscle spasms to weakness in the arms and legs, which can cause mobility problems for some. Chlopek said she was initially informed these symptoms might arise within two years of her diagnosis.
Yet, some four years later, she has yet to experience any mobility issues. She still walks two miles a day for exercise. And she can still run on the field, she said, when she’s umpiring games.
“I’m not going to stop until I have to,” Chlopek said. “God has blessed me with a slow advance.”
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