(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen)
    Edwin Louisa one of four European Umpires invited for World Baseball Classic
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
Veteran Dutch umpire Edwin Louisa is invited to be one of the international umpires in the upcoming fifth edition of the World Baseball Classic.
Louisa will be one of four European umpires to officiate game in the First Round of the global event.
...Edwin Louisa...
...third Dutch umpire in World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Edwin Louisa, who is an umpire in the Dutch big league since 2012, has been assigned to Pool C.
Playing in that Pool will be the national (professional) teams of Canada, Colombia, Great Britain, Mexico and the USA.
They will play their games in Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, the home of Major League-club Arizona Diamondbacks.
The first game in this Pool is scheduled for March 11.
It will be concluded on March 15.
,,This is a tremendous honor'', Edwin Louisa reacted.
,,I'm honored to get this opportunity''.
In his eleven years in the highest league in the Netherlands, Louisa officiated in some 300 regular season-games and became one of the most experienced and well-respected Dutch umpires.
He is an international umpire since 2016.
Since then, Louisa officiated games during the 2018 Women's World Cup (USA), the 2019 European Championship (Germany), the 2019 Europe/Africa Olympic Qualifier (Italy) , the 2016 Samurai Games (Japan), the Baseball Week Haarlem (Netherlands) in 2016, 2018 and 2022 and the World Port Tournament (Netherlands) in 2017 and 2019.
In each Pool, five teams will play in the First Round.
The Netherlands, which participated in all four previous editions, reached the Semi-Finals in the last two tournaments in 2013 and 2017 and finished in fourth place both times.
In the upcoming Classic, the Netherlands will open the event in Pool A and is joined by Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Italy and Panama.
The games in Pool A will be played in the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium in Taichung (Taiwan).
The Netherlands, which is ranked seventh on the World Ranking List of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), will play in the first game of this years World Baseball Classic against Cuba on March 8.
The final game in Pool A will be played on March 13.
Pool B (March 9-13) will be played in Tokyo (Japan) in the Tokyo Dome, the home of Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
Playing in this Pool are Australia, China, the Czech Republic, Japan and South Korea.
The games in Pool D (March 11-15) will be played in Miami, Florida (USA) in the LoanDepot Park, the home of Miami Marlins.
In this Pool, the Dominican Republic, Israel, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and Venezuela will play.
The best two teams of each Pool then will advance to the Second Round, which are the Quarter Finals.
The top-2 of Pools A and B will continue in Tokyo (Japan) for their Quarter Finals (March 15-16), the two best teams of Pools C and D will play the Second Round (March 17-18) in Miami (USA).
The four winners then will meet in the Semi-Finals on March 19-20 in Miami.
The Final then will be played on March 21, also in Miami.
Edwin Louisa will be the third umpire from the Netherlands to participate in the World Baseball Classic.
In the first edition in 2006, Fred van Groningen Schinkel officiated in Pool B of the First Round, which were then also held in Arizona (USA) in Phoenix and Scottsdale, as well as the Second Round in Puerto Rico.
There were no Dutch umpires during the Classics in 2009 and 2013.
However, Jan Esselman was one of the Technical Commissioners during these two events, as he was in the Second Round and Final Round in 2006.
In 2009, Esselman was active during the Second Round and in 2013 in the First Round.
Six years ago, during the fourth edition of the Classic in 2017, Winfried Berkvens was one of the umpires in Pool D of the First Round that took place in the Mexican city of Zapopan.
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...Fabry Fabrizi, Serge Makouchetchev and Cuti Suárez...
(© All Photos: Henk Seppen) |
The other three European umpires invited for the World Baseball Classic are Fabrizio (Fabry) Fabrizi (Italy), Serge Makouchetchev (France) and Cuauhtámoc (Cuti) Suárez Hernandéz (Spain).
Fabrizi will travel to Miami (USA), Makouchetchev to Taichung (Taiwan) and Suárez to Tokyo (Japan).
Fabrizi also was one of the umpires in the First Round of the 2017 Classic in Tokyo.
Suárez and Makouchetchev officiated in games in the 2016 Qualifying Tournaments in respectively Mexico and the USA.
Former Major League Umpire Larry Young is the Umpire Coordinator of the World Baseball Classic since the 2009 edition.
Young was active in the Major League in 1983-2007 and umpired in the World Series in 1996 and 2003, as well as two All Star Games and several American League Championship Series and Division Series.
Since 2009, the World Baseball Classic is held every four years by the WBSC in partnership with Major League Baseball.
The upcoming fifth edition of the World Baseball Classic was originally scheduled to take place in March 2021, but in May 2020 the event was cancelled due to ongoing measures against the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Earlier, the Qualifying Tournaments, which were to take place in March 2020, were already scrubbed.
The coming edition is expanded from sixteen to twenty teams.
All countries that participated in 2017 automatically qualified.
The other four came from the two Qualifiers that were organized in September and October last year.
In September, in Regensburg (Germany), Great Britain and the Czech Republic qualified, while Spain was surprising eliminated.
In October, in Panama City (Panama), Panama and Nicaragua qualified for the 2023 Classic.
Several wellknown Major League-players already have committed to playing for their national team during the upcoming Classic.
The team of defending champion USA will be loaded with Major League-players, including pitchers Nestor Cortes, Nathan Eovaldi, Clayton Kershaw and Adam Wainwright, catchers J.T. Realmuto and Will Smith, infielders Pete Alonso, Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, Trevor Story and Trea Turner and outfielders Mookie Betts and Mike Trout.
(January 5)
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