A softball umpire was punched in the face by a woman wearing a ‘Mother of the Year’ shirt who waited to pounce after being thrown out of her child’s game in Mississippi for spewing profanities.

Kristi Moore, a 10-year veteran umpire, was calling the game between 12 year olds in Laurel when she was slugged in the face by Kiara Nichelle Thomas, police said.

Kiara Nichelle Thomas and Kristi Moore

Thomas, a 32-year-old mother of one of the players, had been thrown out of the game by the coach for cursing at the umpires, WLBT reported, and instead of going home, she waited in the parking lot to confront Moore.

The ump took to Facebook Sunday to post the shocking photo of her bruised face and black eye – and wrote ‘I got punched coming off a field last night. There is no excuse for this.’

Thomas was arrested after the attack, still wearing what she had on at the game – a T-shirt with the phrase ‘Mother of the Year’ stamped across it.

She was charged with misdemeanor simple assault and is scheduled to be in court on Wednesday.

‘When you don’t feel you have the quality of umpires you should….this is why,’ Moore wrote on Facebook. ‘When the day comes that your kid can’t play a ballgame because there are no longer officials to call it….THIS.IS.WHY.’

Moore continued her post, imploring parents who want to complain about umpires to take on the job themselves.

‘Before you post the next “funny” meme about umpires that suck, or are blind, or have missed calls on their phone or whatever it is, before you post about how an umpire was so awful and terrible and lost the game for you…….why don’t you sign up? Get on out there and give it a go,’ she wrote.

‘Umpires are not perfect. We never will be,’ Moore added.

She told WLBT that parents are out of control and are making it harder and harder for umpires to do their jobs.

‘It’s ridiculous,’ she told WLBT. ‘The verbal abuse. And even now, the physical abuse now, at this point, and enough is enough.’

This year, the state pushed a bill that would make assaulting a referee or umpire a felony, making it aggravated assault. But the bill died on the calendar.

Moore is hoping that, after this incident, lawmakers will take a second look. {snip}

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