Making Some History



CLEARWATER, Fla.–The lone televised game of the weekend is about to begin, as Purdue will take on South Florida and the Bright House Network will broadcast. Interestingly, this game features two female umpires–Perry Barber and Ila Valcareel. The pair also worked yesterday’s Cincinnati-Purdue game, the first time ever that two female umpires have worked the same college baseball game. Bo Carter, a giant in the sports information community who is working this Big East/Big Ten Challenge this weekend, tells me there have been single female umpires in Division II and Division III in the past, but it’s uncertain if a woman has ever worked a Division I game before yesterday.



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You GO GIRLS!…Even when my children were in little league we had women umpiring (even behind the plate). I wouldn’t be surprised at the D-1 level…it’s 2009.

Hey there, Baseball America! There’s an axiom in sports officiating that the umpires who do the best job are the ones nobody notices are out there. In the case of Ila Valcarcel and me, I hope we’re the exception to the rule! But thanks for the “historic” mention. And FYI, I’ve been working college baseball all over the country, including Division I and the Cape Cod League, for twenty years – so if you never noticed until now, I must be doing something right.

Thanks for the great job you do reporting on college and minor league baseball.

Perry Barber

I heard the crowd had some mixed reaction to the ladies, yelling things such as “stick to softball.” I hope this wasn’t true. This was a great day for women trying to step forward in officiating.


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  • Aaron Fitt is the lead college writer for Baseball America. If you have questions or comments about college baseball you can e-mail him at collegeblog@baseballamerica.com.

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