News

THE WOMAN BEHIND THE MASK

by Ryan Watters; Falcons Play-by-Play and www.ryanwatters.ca

They say if you love your job, it’ll take you places.  That’s exactly what has happened to Kelowna’s Kelly Hunter.

As a ball player, a rite of passage so to speak is to have an argument with an umpire.  But no-one ever takes an umpire up on their suggestion to “ try it yourself” do they? Kelly did.

She has come a long way since arguing with an umpire on the ball field in Kamloops, BC.  After the umpire told her, “why don’t you come to a clinic if you think you can do better,” and 12 years later Kelly has been places she only dreamt about.

In 1990, the Dawson Creek, BC native began her umpire career in fastball simply for some extra cash, or “beer money” as she puts it.  She climbed the umpire ranks very quickly after a chat with Doug Hadley in Vancouver, telling her if you take this seriously “you could go places.”

After that advice she began taking things seriously, attending a number of evaluations including national tournaments and gaining her Level Five status which sent her to an international clinic in Planet City, Florida.    Following that clinic she would ump the plate at an international game at the Junior Women’s World Championships in China.  During that game she received a high evaluation, which then caught the eye of the International Softball Federation, putting her on track to umpire at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

As Kelly continued to receive high evaluations during her fastball games she was indeed given the opportunity to represent Canada at the Games in Greece.   She would ump eight games during the Olympics including two very special memories.  The first was being behind the plate for the no hit, shutout thrown by China over Japan.  The world’s fastest female pitcher, Uno from China picked up the victory, throwing pitches at 117km/hr from just 38 feet away.    Her second special memory was being the third base umpire for the Gold Medal Game between Australia and the USA.

While Kelly was continuing with success in fastball, she would also be training to be eligible to umpire baseball.   Like in fastball, Kelly very quickly became qualified to umpire baseball and went to her first World Championships in Venezuela.  It was a mix feeling for Kelly, going to the championships as a rookie, but had more experience than anyone else at the tournament because of her background in fastball.

Despite all her experiences in fastball and baseball she says the talent level within the West Coast League (Kelowna Falcons) is “unbelievable.”  She says umpiring a Falcons game will most likely be the closest she will come to a semi-pro game.  She loves the caliber of the league and the game within the game all the while trying not to get caught up in the moment. 

Still if Kelly was given the opportunity to umpire any game at any level she says she would pick an exhibition game between the Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays.  Laughing Kelly says “I’d pick an exhibition game because if I screwed up it wouldn’t make a difference.”

With 12 years under her belt and experiences from coast to coast and internationally, she is starting to phrase out of fastball, with ultimate goal of becoming part of the junior college system in the United States.  However her love and drive for baseball is still very much alive, and has no plans to hang up her clicker anytime soon.