Two Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies were walking a patrol at Golden Eagle Park on Saturday when they were approached by Little League Coach Vincent Marsello, who asked if they were wearing their body armor. When they said yes, Marsello said, “Good, would you umpire our game for us?”

The volunteer umpire assigned for the game failed to show up, so the kids were in danger of having to forego the contest.

Deputy Shawn Bowers played some semi-pro baseball before becoming a deputy so he was more than happy to step up to (the back of) the plate.

Deputy Leonard Miller helped out calling some of the plays in the field.

After a brief tutorial on some of the rules that applied in Little League, the kids and the fill-in umpires took the field.

The kids loved having the deputies on the field and the parents thought it was great, too. There was none of the usual heckling of the umpires from the stands.

“They did a great job,” Marsello said. “Better than the regular umpires.”

The MCSO Facebook page had praise for the deputies stepping up.

“‘Come on Blue!’ If you watch baseball or softball in recreational leagues around the Valley, you’ve heard those words shouted in a not-so-friendly voice from the folks in the bleachers. Not so in Fountain Hills recently,” the Facebook post states. “MCSO Deputies Leonard Miller and Shawn Bowers stepped in to save the game…and it was time to ‘play ball.’ If they hadn’t volunteered, the game would have been cancelled.”

Deputy Bowers’ dad, Mark, got in some praise of his own with a post.

“These two men are great examples of what being in public service is all about,” Mark Bowers said. “This type of thing happens every day in America and we should all take the time to remember the men and women in blue and to thank them for their hard work and dedication.”

Phoenix Fox News outlet KSAZ television broadcast the story over the weekend and it was picked up nationally by Fox News.