FEATURE/'Umpire strikes back': Taiwanese ump sets U.S. pro baseball milestone

By Lin Hung-han and James Lo, CNA reporter and writer

In her younger days, Sophiyah Liu (劉柏君) was a spiritual medium, serving as a bridge between the mortal plane and that of the unknown.

Her experiences inspired her to pen several stories on the unique subject, which later served as the basis for HBO's Taiwanese series "The Teenage Psychic" (通靈少女).

Today, the Taiwan native focuses on a more earthly pursuit, blazing trails as a baseball umpire in a profession dominated by men, most recently in the fledgling Women's Professional Baseball League (WPBL) in the United States.

Working five games in the four-team WPBL in its first official season in 2026, Liu became the first Taiwanese umpire to ever officiate in a professional league in the U.S.

With Liu back in Taiwan, CNA caught up with her recently in a video interview to find out about her unique experience with the new league and the five games she worked, two of them behind home plate and three in the field.

League of their own

Though women's professional baseball achieved some success during World War II, as depicted in the 1992 Geena Davis hit "A League of Their Own," it has struggled to gain traction since.

Ladies League Baseball was founded in 1997, but it folded in its second season in 1998 after just 12 games.

The WPBL is giving it another try with salary caps of US$95,000 per team and all games being played in Springfield, Illinois, to keep costs down.

After starting its first season on Aug. 2, 2026, the league is currently holding its best-of-five WPBL Championship Series beginning on Sept. 16 (local time).

Liu was the first woman in Taiwan to receive official umpire certification from Taiwan's Chinese Taipei Baseball Association, and it was her years in the sport and subsequent training at U.S. umpire institutions that caught the eye of the WPBL.

The league had her umpire WPBL tryout games in 2025 before bringing her on board for the inaugural season on a two-week contract.

WPBL commissioner and league co-founder Justine Siegal was upbeat about Taiwan's first umpire in any American pro baseball league.

Liu was "really one of the best umpires" in the league, Siegal said in an interview with CNA.

"Sophiyah made history," Siegal said. "She's part of the inaugural women's pro baseball league. So in 20 years, she can say she was here in the very first season."

Liu made such an impression that people in the league were sad to see her return to Taiwan after her contract was up and hoped she would return to the WPBL next year, Siegal said.

A different game

The Taiwanese umpire did not say whether that would be appealing to her, but she seemed happy to have had the chance to work professional games after only umpiring amateur games and tournaments with the World Baseball and Softball Confederation (WBSC), even if there were challenges.

Liu said, for example, that the use of a pitch timer sped up the pace of play and made the job more difficult, and she found that managers, coaches and players challenged umpires more at the pro level than in the amateur ranks, making arguments more common.

Those arguments can get more heated, Liu said, because the WPBL does not have replay review systems or the automated ball-strike (ABS) electronic system found in Major League Baseball, making the umpires responsible for all calls.

Lost in translation

Liu has found, however, that working in a second language can help defuse situations that could have been worse, even if her English is excellent.

She is a professional translator of Mandarin and English and has received umpire training in the U.S., but there were still instances when phrases using regionally based sports lingo and slang were misused or lost in translation between players from various countries.

That helped Liu, who said she had a player or manager who would come after her and she would answer with questions such as "Can you repeat that?" and "Are you yelling at me?" which often got the game back on track.

"Someone might have come over to pick a fight, but after running into me, that heat just gets snuffed," Liu said.

Be what you can see

As one of the pioneers seeking to advance women's sports in Taiwan, Liu had a lot of positive reflections regarding the WPBL.

In addition to naming each of the four teams after a key female figure in history, the WPBL was praised by Liu for breaking archaic gender norms in the otherwise male-dominated sport, in part by organizing events for underage divisions to encourage girls of all ages to pursue the career they want.

"Their motto is 'If she can see it, she can be it'," Liu said of the WPBL, adding that the league will inspire the next generation of women to become the managers, athletes, and even officials they want to be.

The league's commissioner said the WPBL could even hold a tryout in Taiwan to give local women the chance to shine.

"Possibly we can come to Taiwan and have a tryout and to help grow the game. I know Sophiyah's been doing it her whole life," Siegal said. "I think it would be great to do it for us as well."

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