Playing international softball with the Canadian Senior Women’s National Team has been “the best experience of my life so far,” says Drayton native Victoria Rumph, who added a Pam Am Games silver medal to her trophy case earlier this month.
Canada won the Silver medal at the Pan American Championship, held from Aug. 10 to 18 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Canada beat Cuba 2-0 to earn a spot in the gold medal game, before losing 8-1 to the United States.
It’s a been a hectic summer for Rumph, who played with Team Canada in July as they finished fourth at both the General Tire World Cup of Softball in Oklahoma City and the Canadian Open Fastpitch International Championships in Surrey, B.C.
The top five finish in Puerto Rico qualified the Canadian team for the 2014 ISF Women’s World Championship next August in Haarlem, Netherlands, as well as the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.
“The team has such a great group of girls and I am so lucky to have been a part of this group both on and off the field,” said Rumph.
“I’ve learned so much playing at this level from both the coaches and veteran players and I can’t wait to see what the future brings.”
Rumph is a catcher who made the national squad for the first time this year after completing her senior year at Youngstown State University in Ohio, where she batted .291 with six home runs and 35 RBIs in 46 games in 2013. This spring she became Youngstown State’s career leader in runs batted in, breaking the previous record of 119.
Rumph said she was very impressed with the level of play in the international game, particularly the defence.
“Girls are constantly leaving their feet to make unreal plays which are successful almost all the time. The energy amongst the team and even the fans is inspiring to be around,” she stated in an email to the Advertiser.
In addition to the softball, Rumph said the travel was a great experience on its own.
“In Puerto Rico we stayed close to the beach and would often go for beach runs. It was quite entertaining when we found coconuts and cracked them open, drinking the milk and eating the inside. Off the field it was also exciting interacting with other teams from around the world. I saw a real camaraderie between teams in the sport. We ran a kids camp in Vancouver while we were there and its an amazing experience to get to teach young children who dream to represent Canada one day.
“Playing in Vancouver was one of the highlights of the summer. It was amazing to play in front of so many fans who were all cheering for us. Of course standing on the podium and accepting the silver medal with my team and Canada written across my chest is something I’ve only ever dreamed about. To say it gave me butterflies is an understatement.”
In Puerto Rico, Rumph shared the catching duties with Natalie Wideman. She started half the games in round robin action and also got the start in the quarter-final game against Puerto Rico.
For Rumph, the most memorable moment of the quarter-final came when Puerto Rico loaded early in the game with none out.
“The home crowd was roaring so loud we couldn’t hear anything but we got out of the inning with no runs scored against us, quieting the huge audience,” stated Rumph.
In January the national team will head down to Miami to train together for a week, but all through the off-season members will be training hard individually. The team has selection camps every spring, and Rumph says, “I hope to continue to wear the leaf on my chest for a long time. It is such a privilege and an honour to play the sport I love and represent Canada around the world.”
Olympic dreams
As for her future in the sport, Rumph hopes someday to represent Canada on the biggest sporting stage of all.
Softball is making a bid to get back into the Olympics in 2020 in Tokyo. The international Olympic Committee will be voting between softball/baseball, wrestling, and squash on Sept. 8th in Rio de Janeiro. The decision will be based on the amount of world participation in each sport, as well as the level of social media support on both Facebook and twitter. The World Baseball and Softball Confederation are seeking support to get softball and baseball back into the Olympics. The website for the Confederation is playball2020.com. On Facebook, the group is asking people to “like” the page Play Ball 2020, and on twitter supporters should follow @playball2020 and use #playball2020.
“This movement is very important to me because if softball were back in the Olympics I have the potential to be any Olympic athlete which has always been a dream of mine,” says Rumph.
