Umpires from 18 countries named to WBSC Softball World Championships 2018

LAUSANNE, Switzerland – The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) today appointed umpires from 18 countries and all five Olympic continents to officiate the WBSC Women’s and Jr. Men’s Softball World Championships 2018, highlighting the global reach and caliber of the sport.

The WBSC Jr. Men’s Softball World Championship will be held 7-15 July in Prince Albert, Canada, and be followed by the WBSC Women’s Softball World Championship in Chiba, Japan, from 1-12 August, where the winning nation will automatically qualify for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

The Umpire in Chief in Chiba for the flagship women’s softball tournament will be Bob Stanton (Canada), while Haruhi Goto (Japan) and Wayne Saunders (New Zealand) will serve as Assistant Umpire in Chiefs.

WBSC Women’s Softball World Championship 2018 Chiba – Umpires (20):

• Frankie Billingsley (Canada)
• Lance Brown (New Zealand)
• Bridget Cameron (Great Britain)
• Jason Carter (Australia)
• Jose Chaparro (Puerto Rico)
• Kyira Cox (Australia)
• Chris Drumm (USA)
• Jeng Sup Hwang (Korea)
• Tony Kaiaruna (Japan)
• Ayaka Kato (Japan)
• Mitsunori Kusamoto (Japan)
• Hideko Okano (Japan)
• Zhe Li (China)
• Yu-Sung Lin (Taiwan)
• Gianluca Magnani (Italy)
• Abel Mataboge (Botswana)
• Ashley Mmakola (South Africa)
• Mariana Prins-Atansova (Netherlands)
• Renzo Ruiz (Mexico)
• Miki Yabe (Japan)

WBSC Junior Men’s Softball World Championship 2018 Prince Albert – Umpires (14):

• Mike Burwell (USA)
• Abel Chapa (Mexico)
• Frank Fargey (Canada)
• Clinton Harvey (Canada)
• Jan Hora (Czech Republic)
• Rosi Bin Ismail (Malaysia)
• Kgatla Kgomo (South Africa)
• Trevor Murphy (Australia)
• Kenji Nakashima (Japan)
• Dave Selden (USA)
• Mike Shemcuk (Canada)
• Gavin Shepherd (New Zealand)
• Trever Topping (Canada)

Stanton will also lead as the Umpire in Chief in Prince Albert. Carolien Stadhouders (Netherlands) will serve as Assistant Umpire in Chief .

The 2018 Jr. Men’s and Women’s World Championships will be their last editions, before the rebranding and restructuring of the WBSC flagship softball events into Softball World Cups.