I can only imagine that the catcher said something to the effect of “I don’t get paid enough for this” after this wild incident.
To clarify, the “mini-tornado” is actually called a “Dust Devil,” or even a “Dustnado.” However, it bares a striking resemblance to the larger Tornados that often bring extensive damage to the Midwest United States.
The National Weather Service suggests:
“Wind speeds in larger dust devils can reach 60 mph or greater. Even though they are generally smaller than tornadoes, dust devils can still be destructive as they lift dust and other debris into the air.
Small structures can be damaged, and even destroyed, if in the path of a strong dust devil.”
The dust-nado made for quite the scary scene in this 7-U baseball game in Florida. Though these dust devils commonly spin up around the country, this one seemed to be rather strong and aggressive and happened to take place in the worst possible spot: home plate.
It almost looks like a scene from a movie as the dust devil surrounds the small child on the baseball field. The catcher caught up in the natural phenomenon quickly becomes disoriented as the sand spins around him and the speed of the wind knocks him around.
The young player’s vision is obscured as he is stuck in the middle of the sudden weather event. That’s when the umpire steps in to save the day and bravely enters into the dust devil.
The ump enters into the spinning wind and dust and pulls the young baseball player to safety. The only thing that the umpire loses is his hat, so all in all, everyone on the field was pretty fortunate.
Those in the infield and outfield remain where they are, most likely shocked at what they just saw spring up in a matter of seconds. No one appears to have been hurt from the incident, though the catcher will probably be finding sand all over himself for the next couple of weeks.
Watch the wild video below:
I’m glad everyone is okay, but now I’m interested to see who won the game. The FCAA 7U Indians (apparently they haven’t been canceled yet) were taking on the FCAA 7U Sharks, and at the top of the 4th, the Indians were up by one run. How about that for a high scoring nail biter?
If I were a betting man, I’d say that whichever team had the catcher that got caught up in the dust devil probably ended up losing. No way you can be shaken like that and continue to play at the same level. The kid practically got attacked by the Tasmanian Devil.
Win or lose though, that catcher will always have that video to show people that question his toughness.
“How tough am I? I took on a dust devil and won, that’s how tough I am.”
