Click here for the ASA’s June 2008 of “The Inside Pitch”.
ASA is the National Governing Body of Softball in the USA, including USA Softball.
Challenge for the day? Find the men’s fastpitch in this issue. Email me when you do. jim (at) fastpitchwest.com
A reader writes:
There is no Mens fastball in the issue…What is that about? ASA, please, lets call it the WASA (Womens American Softball Association)
June 19, 2008 – Winning the Snapper Shootout was more than enough to keep the California LumberKings on top of the ISC II rankings as they were picked number one by 10 of the 12 ranking committee members.
Other western teams in the rankings include:
16 Sacramento, CA River City Rockers
21 Salt Lake City, UT Innovative Communications
26 Sun Valley, CA Rude Pac
27 Kelowna, BC Clayface Stucco
Three of those four have already qualified for the 2008 ISC II Tournament of Champions, while River City Rockers are expected to nail down a berth this weekend at the Rose Cup.
Expect all of these teams to make some noise in Appleton as the ISC II continues to grow in popularity.
For more on the ISC II rankings, click here for the story on our brother blog The Deuce.
Young USA Junior Players Ready for ISF Jr. World Championships
Eighth in a series of Player Profiles of USA Jr. National team members, who will be competing in the ISF Jr. World Championships at Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, June 20-29, 2009. Ballparkradio will be broadcasting from Whitehorse, June 26-29, 2008.
#17 Cedrick Lang
Height: 6′ 3″
Position: C/1B – R/R
Hometown: Sioux Falls, SD
2468 miles to Whitehorse
Did You Know ?
• Born May 12, 1992
• Attends O’Gorman High School
• What inspires you to play softball? “Having the opportunity to play for my country.â€
• Favorite food: Steak
• Favorite pro team: Green Bay Packers
• Dream career: Professional baseball player
• Favorite Quote: “I can accept failure, but I can’t accept not trying.” — Michael Jordan
Accomplishments
2007 ASA 18U Sioux Falls Rookies
• National Champions
2007 ISC 19U McDermotts of Baltimore
• International Champions
2007 NAFA 23U Kegel Knights of Fargo, N.D.
• National Champions
2006 ASA 16U Sioux Falls Rookies
• National Runner-Up
Coach’s Corner
“A big strong catcher from Sioux Falls, S.D. who has been around the game with his dad — long time pitcher Rick Lang — since he was a small boy. Cedrick has continued to improve his skills over the last couple of years and is really coming into his own as a catcher.â€
— Coach Gary Mullican
Editor’s note: You think he got much practice catching his dad ? 😉
The Baytown Hawks went 6-0 on the weekend, beating a very good Killen team, 1-0 in the championship game of the Houston Sportsmen Father’s Day Tournament.
All Tournament Selections
Landy Rodriguez
Manuel Mata
Andy Ortiz
Outstanding Pitchers
Lucas Mata and Marc Tipol
Most Valuable Player
Charlie Pena (shown below in photo)
After a series of “release candidate” beta versions, the folks at Mozilla have released the final version of Firefox 3.0 today. Click the Firefox icon for the free download. For Firefox users with version 2.something, you will definitely notice the improvement in speed, as well as other enhancements.
“What’s so great about Firefox 3?”, you say?
Read on.
Young Canadian Junior National Players Ready for ISF Jr. World Championships
This is the sixth in a series of Player Profiles of Canadian National team members, who will be competing in the ISF Jr. World Championships at Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, June 20-29, 2009. Ballparkradio will be broadcasting from Whitehorse, June 26-29, 2008.
#25 Darcy Walushka
Born: April 24th, 1990
Hometown: Victoria, BC
Throws: Right
Bats: Right
Position: Center Field, Utility
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Birthdate: April 24, 1990
Birthplace: Victoria, BC Canada
Hometown: Victoria, BC Canada
Residence: Victoria, BC Canada
Languages spoken: English
Height: 172 cm / 5’8″
Weight: 68 kg / 150 lbs
Throws: Right
Bats: Right
Marital status: Single
Father: Dan
Mother: Tammy
Brothers: Kristopher
Sisters: Shelley
High School: Belmont Senior Secondary
High School Location: Victoria BC
Most Influential Person: Brother Kris.
Who most influence your softball career: My Dad and brother, i was bat boy for my brothers team and travelled with them everywhere.
Softball Goals: Win a Medal as a Member of Team Canada
Club Team: Sooke Smoke
Club Team Coach: Kevin Maycock
Canadian Championships Experience: 2007 Midget Nationals – 1st Place
Years on National Team: 1
Sports Awards: All-Star Outfield 2007 Midget Nationals
Other Sports/Hobbies/Interests: Any Other Sport.
Most Memorable Softball Experience: Winning 5 straight games at 2007 midget nationals to win the title.
Pets: 2 Cats
Favourite Movie: Field of Dreams, 61*
Favourite Food: Pizza, Shrimp
Favourite Athlete: Jose Reyes, Grady Sizemore
Favourite country visited: US
Favourite Hobby: Playing Catch
Favourite Drink: Dr. Pepper
Favourite Quote: Ya Got Good Zip
Reprinted with permission from the Times Colonist
Team Canada juniors come calling on Langford softball star
Brian Drewry, Times Colonist
Published: Tuesday, June 10, 2008He was barely out of the womb, and Darcy Walushka was already thinking softball.
Or so his mom likes to think.
“She told me when I was four days old I went to my first fastball game so she likes to take credit for my success,” laughed the 18-year-old Walushka, who was recently named one of 17 players who will represent Canada at the ISF Junior Men’s World Championship June 20-29 in Whitehorse.
Bruce Stotesbury, Times Colonist
Walushka, a Langford resident who’s just finishing up his Grade 12 at BelmontSecondary, has had plenty of reason to smile when it comes to his softball career in recent years. The upcoming trip to the world juniors is just the ultimate way to cap off an impressive year that has seen him be part of a national midget championship last season with his club team, the Sooke Smoke.
“It has been quite a year, that’s for sure,” said Walushka, who is just one of two B.C. players on the Canadian roster. Jessin Potskin of Prince George is the other.
“I’ve just been real fortunate to play on a great team which really helped me get noticed.”
The modest Walushka was named a tournament all-star at last year’s midget nationals in Saskatoon where the Smoke beat the defending champion FSIN Chiefs in the championship game. Walushka played his usual stellar defence in centre field, swung a hot bat and used his blazing speed on the base paths to generate even more offence for the Smoke. (more…)
Australia Will Try to “Four-Peat” at Whitehorse in 2008
The Australian Junior National Team is the proud owner of three gold medals from ISF Junior World Championships, holding the top spot for more than a decade.
The 2008 Australian Under 19 Men’s Team to play at the ISF Junior Men’s World Championship in Canada later this year has been selected.
A team of 17 players and 5 reserves have been selected to represent Australia at the 8th ISF Junior World Championships.
The team will then travel to Canada in June, to try and win Australia’s fourth consecutive ISF Junior Men’s World Championship. The World Championship will be held at Whitehorse in Yukon, from 20-29 June.
The Australian Under 19 Men’s Team won the ISF Junior Men’s World Championship in Canada in 1997, in Sydney in 2001 and again in Canada in 2005.
The 2008 Australian Under 19 Men’s Team is as follows:
Steven Albee (NSW)
Craig Bingley (ACT)
Cameron Bint (NSW)
Aaron Boccardo (WA)
Shaun Bostock (NSW)
Tyson Duncan (WA)
Thomas Edwards (ACT)
Drew Faulkner (Vic)
Beau Harich (WA)
Ryan Lavers (NSW)
Shane Norman (NSW)
Ty Priest (Vic)
Brad Riley (ACT)
Rahim Rohizat (WA/Tas)
Matt Stafford (ACT)
Jason Tutt (ACT)
Heath Wells (ACT)
Photos of team members after the jump. (Profiles not available)
Young Argentine Junior National Players Ready for ISF Jr. World Championships
(click to enlarge)
Editor’s Note: We’ve been posting Player Profiles from countries which maintain official websites, including the USA, Canada and New Zealand (Australia to follow soon). We’ve not located a site for Argentina, but we couldn’t fail to cover a “local” Argentine, a face familiar to many of us here in Southern California, Guido Silbert. He is currently a member of Clyde Bennett’s Santa Barbara Young Bucks 23-and-under team, has pitched for the editor’s SCIFL team, the So Cal Hustlers, and will be in uniform next week for his home country of Argentina. A cap tip to David Blackburn, who discovered Guido while in Argentina with his Maccabiah team earlier this year. Guido was also featured in our feature story, “Argentine Pitching Pipeline”, posted last week.
#11 Guido Silbert
Born: September 11th, 1989
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Throws: Right
Bats: Right
Position: Pitcher
Personal Information
Birthdate: Septembert 11, 1989
Birthplace: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Residence: Santa Barbara, California (USA)
Languages spoken: Spanish and English
Height: 174 cm
Weight: 74 kg
Throws: Right
Bats: Right
Marital status: Single
Father: Alejandro
Mother: Sandra
Brothers: Gaston and Alan
High School: ORT Technical School
High School Location: Buenos Aires
Who most influence your softball career: The coaches I had ( Oscar Lopez and Mario Porco) and my father helped me a lot.
Softball Goals: Finish on the first four with Argentina in this Jr world Championship
Club Team: Club Nautico Hacoaj (Buenos Aires) and Young Bucks (Santa Barbara)
Club Team Coach: Mario Porco (Hacoaj) and Clyde Bennett (Young Bucks)
Argentinian Championships Experience: Almost every national tournament since 2001. Best result 2nd Place.
International Competitions: International tournaments held in Argentina in 2006 and 2007 against open teams from South Africa and Czech Republic. 2004 and 2008 Pan-american maccabiah games. 2nd place in 2004 and 1st place 2008.
Years on National Team: 1
Other Sports/Hobbies/Interests: Music and Sailing
Favourite Movie: Pirates of the Caribbean
Favourite Food: Argentinian steak with french fries
Favourite country visited: France
Favourite Drink: Orange Juice
Favourite Quote: Impossible Is Nothing. Don´t Worry, Be Happy!
Editor’s note: I am smiling about his favorite food being “Argentine Steak”. Maddy worked in Buenos Aires for a year and tells me that the restaurant menus there offer “Steak, steak and ……steak”.
Spanish translated version after the jump, for our Spanish speaking friends in Argentina and elsewhere.
[New Westminster, BC] – The Vancouver Grey Sox and the New Zealand Under 19 Mens National Team completed a doubleheader at Moody Park this evening in comfortable mid June west coast weather conditions and a decent gathering of spectators. The Grey Sox downed the Kiwis by scores of 4-1 and 8-1. Results from the games are listed below.
Next action for the Grey Sox is Saturday June 14th when they will play the Canada Under 19 Mens National Team a doubleheader starting at 3:00 pm PDT at South Memorial Park in Vancouver. The same two teams also have scheduled a single game commencing at 11:00 am on Sunday June 15th again at South Memorial Park.
Game 1 – played Friday June 13 at 6:45 pm PDT
Vancouver Grey Sox 4 – New Zealand Under 19 National Team 1
WP – Nick Underhill, 7IP, 3H, 1BB, 1R, 8Ks
LP – Nik Hayes, 3IP, 1H, 2R, 3Ks with relief from David MacKenzie, 3IP, 5H, 2R, 1K
Trevor Johnstone led the Grey Sox offense with a 2 for 2 performance at the plate with a BB and 3 RBIs.
Game 2 – played Friday June 13 at 8:30 pm PDT
Vancouver Grey Sox 8 – New Zealand Under 19 National Team 1
5 innings
WP – Mike Piechnik, 5IP, 1H, OR, 9Ks
LP – T. Eroka with relief from Michael Ernshaw (4)
Larry Kancs
President
Vancouver Grey Sox
www.vancouvergreysox.com
