[IRISHMAFIA]

For Immediate Release: 3/19/10

Drumm and Sloan to represent U.S. as umpires at 2010 Women’s World Championships

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. --- The International Softball Federation (ISF) recently announced the umpires named for the 2010 Women’s World Championships in Caracas, Venezuela June 23- July 2. Two U.S. umpires, Chris Drumm (San Diego, Calif.) and Jeff Sloan (Omaha, Neb.), will represent the United States and the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America at the championship this summer.

“Well this has always been a lifetime goal,” said Sloan. “With the Olympic Games no longer an option, this is the pinnacle that I have always strived to achieve. It means a lot to me and I am very appreciative of those that have helped me progress as an umpire. There are an awful lot of ASA people in particular who have helped me from the start in learning how to deal with the highest levels.”

Sloan, a 22-year umpire, is very rooted in the ASA program and has always put ASA on his priority list. He is a member of the Nebraska Umpire-In-Chief staff, umpires the Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Mountain West and Missouri Valley Division I conferences. The World Championships will add to his international career as he umpired in the 2005 National Games of the Republic of China and in the 2005 and 2006 World Cup of Softball.

Drumm, a 16-year umpire, participates at the Division I level primarily in the Mountain West Conference and is a member of the Southern California ASA Umpire-In-Chief staff. The Worlds will mark her fifth international event as she was an umpire for the 2009 Chinese National Games, worked the 2007 and 2005 World Cup and the 2006 World University Games.

“I am extremely excited and honored to be selected to umpire at this event,” said Drumm. “This has absolutely been a goal of mine over the years. I am really looking forward to creating new friendships and working with other umpires from other countries. I am extremely grateful for this opportunity.”

Below is the entire listing of the umpires selected to the ISF Women’s World Championships. The group includes on-field officials from 15 different countries and will be supervised by ISF Director of Umpires Bob Stanton.

(alphabetically by country name)
Javier Eduardo PENARROYA, Argentina
Roberto SANCHEZ, Dominican Republic
Darren SIBRAA, Australia
Andrea MARCON, Italy
Scott RINDFLEISH, Australia
Mitsutake ARIYAMA, Japan
Bonnie GOSTOLA, Canada
Peter VONK, Netherlands
Grant HOOD, Canada
Nicky OGIER, New Zealand
Maria MEJIA MORA, Colombia
Thabo DIKGALE, South Africa
Marlene SABOGAL VIGOYA, Colombia
Christina DRUMM, USA
Tomislav OZIMEC, Croatia
Jeffrey M. SLOAN, USA
Raul GARRIDO, Cuba
Carlos Eduardo FALCON C., Venezuela
Pavel KASPERCIK, Czech Republic
Pedro Rafael JIMENEZ H., Venezuela

Mr. Stanton said that actually the hope is to add two more umpires to the above crew in the next week.

The 16 teams that will compete are: Argentina, Australia, Botswana, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Great Britain, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, USA, and Venezuela.

The game schedule is being finalized and will be released shortly.

This year’s event marks the 45th anniversary of the first-ever softball world championship (see commemorative logo below). Five women’s teams competed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1965, and one year later the first men’s world championship was held (eleven countries competed in Mexico City). Eventually world championships were also started in the junior women’s and junior men’s categories (age 19-and-under).