OTTAWA- It’s been a busy and successful season for Baseball Canada’s National Teams in 2015 and the same can be said for some of Baseball Canada’s top umpires with one major event left on the international baseball calendar.
The inaugural Premier 12 event that brings together the top 12 ranked WBSC baseball nations in the world will take place in Japan and Taiwan next month and Ontario’s Trevor Grieve was selected to work the event.
“I'm excited, and appreciative, for the opportunity to umpire at the WBSC Premier12,” said Grieve. “I look forward to umpiring in both Japan and Taiwan which have a great appreciation for baseball.”
Grieve is just one of several Canadian umpires to work a major international baseball event in 2015 and he is quick to credit the Baseball Canada Umpires Program for developing umpires that are capable of officiating at the highest levels of the game.
“We have a great umpiring program, and umpiring community here in Canada, and to be able to represent that group at the International level is an honour. This has a been a fantastic year for our National umpiring program in Canada at the international level.”
At the Pan Am Games in July, no less than eight Canadian umpires worked the baseball competitions as Rob Allan (BC), Mitch Ball (Alberta), Jon Oko (Alberta), Darren Scott (New Brunswick) and Ron Shewchuk (Manitoba) officiated the men’s event, while Corrie Davis (Alberta), Elemer Jerkovits (Saskatchewan) and Rhonda Pauls (BC) worked the women’s competition. Andrew Higgins, Baseball Canada’s High Performance Lead on the National Umpires Committee, was a supervisor for the women’s event.
Darren Scott was one of four umpires selected to work the gold medal game of the men’s competition where Canada prevailed over the United States with a thrilling “walk-off” win in extra innings. On the women’s side, Corrie Davis was selected to officiate in the gold medal contest where Canada dropped a decision to the United States to finish with a silver medal.
At the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup in Japan, Saskatchewan’s Trevor Drury did a tremendous job representing Canadian umpires and was given the first base assignment for the gold medal game where the United States edged host Japan, 2-1 to win the title.
“Our umpires continue to proudly represent our program and it shows in the number of assignments we continue to get,” added Grieve. “Success at these tournaments hopefully opens door to further opportunities for current and future umpires within our program.”
On the professional side, Saskatchewan’s Stu Scheurwater, who made his Major League Baseball umpiring debut in 2014, worked over 20 games in 2015 at the MLB level.
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