Julissa Iriarte, authority on a diamond filled with men

Juan Manuel Vazquez

Newspaper La Jornada
Thursday May 11, 2023, p. a10

Julissa Iriarte made her debut on Tuesday night in the Mexican Baseball League (LMB), a sport that does not have a professional circuit for women, but her entry into the field was not as a player but as an authority on the diamond. The 25-year-old from Sinaloa is the second female umpire in a world of men, the first was Luz Alicia Gordoa in the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

I had to arrive as an authority in a world of menhe says after the experience of making his debut as a second base umpire, which was repeated yesterday in the third, but tonight he will have the stellar place as the central authority in the home.

The role that Julissa plays was intended for boys. Her uniform gives it away: masculine pants like the ones any father of a family oblivious to fashions would wear and a wide polo shirt to wear under the chest protector. Traditional umpire attire includes an oversized blazer to wear the dungarees underneath, giving them a Frankenstein-esque look.

On Tuesday night, Julissa entered the field of the Kukulcán park in Mérida, Yucatán, they announced it and the public was moved by that debut. A few days earlier, another woman, Justine Siegal, was the first coach to participate in the LMB with the Sultans of Monterrey.

Professional baseball is a man’s world, but women are breaking in and showing that we do the same work and with a lot of qualityexpresses Iriarte; That world is going to fall, because we women push hard and we are gaining power; not only in sport. What happened yesterday with my debut, and with Siegal’s a few days ago, is an example that things are changing..

Hot ball is a sport where women participate in a large proportion as the public. It is an activity that requires attention and knowledge, as well as patience, to push the enjoyment to the limit. When they are girls they play in co-ed teams, but when they reach puberty they face the limits imposed on them by some leagues that no longer accept women with the boys and they go into exile to practice softball.

Julissa comes from that world. She grew up in Estación Naranjo, Sinaloa, a town of 6,000 inhabitants that was founded by railroad workers. In that region, softball fulfills an important social function, says Iriarte. It is one of the sports that women practice the most in that state or in Sonora or Baja California.

Even the skin crawls…

Your skin even gets itchy when you go to softball games in places like MochisJulissa recalls. because there are so many women’s teams, it’s amazing, so many girls, young and mature women, you don’t know where so many teams come from, but that makes you see how important this game is in our ranches.

Since she was little, Julissa played ball, the hobby of her entire family in Sinaloa. Growing up, she entered a softball league and from there she made the leap to professional baseball, but as an umpire, something that never crossed her mind, but at this moment she is very motivated.

I did not know this role. I knew how to play baseball and softball, but not set the rules, I never imagined being an umpiresays Iriarte, who interrupted his university studies to concentrate on baseball.

An acquaintance called me one day to invite me to the LMB academy in Nuevo Leónremember; I talked to my family and they supported me. This is how I began this process that has been slow and very disciplined..

The part related to physical conditioning was not a problem for a young woman used to playing softball, the smaller version of baseball, but more dynamic and more athletically demanding. What she did not imagine was the work in the classroom, that did seem to her something different and very demanding.

From the first day that I faced all the theoretical part of the game, the regulations and all that stuff, I was even surprised because I didn’t imagine it that way, it’s very demanding.

When she was informed that she would be chosen to start in the LMB in a match between the champions Leones de Yucatán and Olmecas de Tabasco, she received a shock of emotions, but she also knew that her training was for this moment. Since before the pandemic she had expected it.

Before going out onto the pitch, I still didn’t believe it.share the amapayer; but then I assumed that it is the dream opportunity and for which I have prepared myself; I knew that I have a responsibility to other women who can follow in my footsteps.

Julissa has a six-year-old daughter who has confessed to her that she wants to follow in her mother’s footsteps and wants to be a professional baseball player. The young referee is moved by the girl’s early vocation.

My daughter is six years old and she saw me last night on television, she told me very excitedreports; she wants to be a ball player, so when I get on the diamond, I have to do my best for her. I think all the time about that great responsibility.

Tonight, when Julissa Iriarte for the first time in her career stands firm behind the catcher, the stadium will plunge into an intimidating silence waiting for a kick to sound or for the batter to miss in the attempt. Then, the young woman from Sinaloa will shout with authority: ¡Strike!