(click logo to visit the official ISF XII World Championships website)

From the official website:

Online Streaming

What You Get – Live online viewing of all games (including opening ceremonies) at Bob Van Imp field (View Schedule) and access to recorded games 24 hours after completion.

What You See – Stationary camera from behind home plate. Some games may have audio play by play, otherwise all audio will be direct from the stadium.

What You Need – Microsoft Windows or Macintosh PC with Flash Player 10 (Check Flash Version), Microsoft Internet Explorer 6,7 or 8, Mozilla Firefox 3.X, or Safari 3 or 4. and a high speed internet connection.

What it Costs – Tournament Pass – all matches – $59.95 (Can), Championship Weekend Pass – $34.95 (Can)

Test Player – If you can play the video below, your all set!

Click here to sign up.

New Zealand’s Marty Grant in search of a fourth ISF Gold medal
(click photo to enlarge)

Marty Grant calls Saskatoon, “A softball town that knows how to host an international tournament”. The excerpt below is reposted with permission, from Marty Grant’s Facebook page (for the benefit of our readers not on Facebook):

Saskatoon: My first visit to this town was in 1987 as a 21 year old. ISC with the Ashland Amvets, OH. We went 3-2 and finished 12th. In 1990 I returned and debuted with NZ. My first international was the semifinal of the Canada Cup and we beat Cuba 1-0. Canada were victorious in the final 3-0. In 2002 I was pitching coach for the White Sox and we finished 5th equal at the ISF’s.

From Wikipedia:

Saskatchewan (pronounced /səˈskætʃɨwɑːn/ ( listen)) is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of 588,276.09 square kilometres (227,100 sq mi) and a population of 1,023,810 (according to 2009 estimates), mostly living in the southern half of the province. Of these, 233,923 live in the province’s largest city, Saskatoon, while 194,971 live in the provincial capital, Regina. Other major cities, in order of size, are Prince Albert, Moose Jaw, Yorkton, Swift Current and North Battleford. The province’s name comes from the Saskatchewan River, whose name comes from its Cree designation: kisiskāciwani-sÄ«piy, meaning “swift flowing river”.

Click here for prior posts on Marty Grant at Fastpitchwest.

What: Benefit Fundraiser for Kenny Vierling
When: Saturday, August 29, 2009
Where: Farmington American Legion..Farmington, Mn
Who: We need you there!!!
Details: For further information, check out:
http://www.kenvierling.org

Silent Auction: 6 – 9 pm
Beer Bash & Sandwiches: 6 – 9 pm
Music by Chopper: 8:45 – Close
Cost : $10 (please make checks payable to Ken Vierling Benefit)

We need your help!! If you can help sell tickets or want to buy tickets, please let us know!! We will get them to you.

Please HELP & contact:
Paul Harrington Les Novak
17281 Jade Court Box 26612
Lakeville, Minn. 55044 or St. Louis Park, Minn. 55426

Donated Silent Auction items and doorprizes are also needed for the Benefit!!

If you have any questions on the above or can help, please contact:

Les Novak at 612-750-1340 or Paul Harrington at 612-940-6363.
See www.kenvierling.org for further information on the above.

Editor’s Note: Click here for an earlier post about KenWe heartily encourage you to support these efforts to help a good friend in the fastpitch community.

Other posts on Ken at Fastpitchwest.

While it’s not fastpitch, we know that a lot of fastpitch players and fans will be tuning in to the MLB All Star game tonight, including many ISF players killing time in their hotel rooms, waiting for the World Championships to begin at week’s end.

Our friend Jim Williams has a great recap of all of the media coverage, on radio, TV and broadband in his column at the Examiner. (Sorry, this one not to be carried live on Ballparkradio)

(click logo for original news story)

Jim Williams
Sports Media Examiner

Your TV, radio and broadband All Star Game day planner

We know that you can see the game broadcast tonight at 8p.m. on FOX but what else is going on today media wise?

Plenty and here is your All Star Day Planner:

Radio: ESPN started their coverage early this morning with Mike and Mike who are live from St. Louis with plenty of All Star Game lead up to the game tonight. The Herd with Colin Cowherd, Scott Van Pelt and The Doug Gottlieb Show all will have an All Star theme as they build up to the pregame show tonight at 7:30p.m.

The game is on ESPN Radio tonight at 8p.m.

Fox Sports Radio Chris Myers Show will be live from St. Louis at 4.pm. with lots of guests including the broadcast team of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver.

Sirius/XM will have baseball all day with all the Home plate programs coming live from St. Louis. If you are a baseball fan this is where you want to be all day.

Chris Russo will have a special edition of Mad Dog Radio from St. Louis from 2p.m. to 7p.m. We know that our pal Chris always scores the big guests so it always worth a listen.

The Major League Baseball Network will be live from 4:00p.m. till very late tonight. Here are
some of the highlights to look forward to:
Bob Costas, Greg Amsinger, 12-time MLB All-Star Barry Larkin, two-time MLB All-Star Al Leiter, Joe Magrane, two-time MLB All-Star Harold Reynolds and Matt Vasgersian will share on-air hosting duties while Trenni Kusnierek, Hazel Mae and Reynolds will report from the field.
July 14 – 4:00 p.m. MLB All-Star Game Red Carpet Show Presented by Chevy
July 14 – 5:00 p.m. MLB Tonight: All-Star Batting Practice Presented by Budweiser
July 14 – 7:30 p.m. MLB All-Star Game Red Carpet Show Presented by Chevy (abbreviated)
July 14 – Post All-Star Game: MLB Tonight Presented by Budweiser

Costas will also narrate a feature segment about the 1964 All-Star Game at New York’s Shea Stadium that will air during MLB Tonight in the 5p.m. hour.

The post game will start directly after the game on FOX.

Broadband – You can see the All Star Batting practice on MLB.COM and Fox Sports along with plenty of features.

Monday, July 13, 2009
Weekend Blog July 13, 2009-07-13

Well the blackberry sore thumb award this week goes to the whole crew of Circle Tap Boys of Summer who did an outstanding job of sending us updates all 3 days of the Denmark tournament and we know that once he has a chance Zakk Flash will do a wrap up report as well. Caren Conrod led the team especially with the Blackberry updates. Hank de Wilde was right on time with full stats for every game. Even Darren got in on the act sending us updates. A team effort and it worked, thanks a lot guys.

Congratulations to the MidWest Stampede on their big win in Boys of Summer. Following their runner up performance in Monkton, the Stampede have let it be known they will be a force to be dealt with when it comes to August 14-21 in Quad Cities for the ISC World Tournament.

Special congratulations to Colin Abbott of the Farm Tavern who was the Leading Hitter and on
the All Tournament Team. It’s nice to see the perpetually young Mr. Abbott is in fine shape for the ISF World Tournament about to start this Friday in Saskatoon.

The Boys of Summer Report is at: http://tinyurl.com/ksknou

We had a lot of positive feedback on our Monkton report last week, http://tinyurl.com/nllm73
And on Brian Baillie’s wrap up report, http://tinyurl.com/m5t3hl

Honourable mention this week to Dennis Dosman for his excellent write up on the weekend in Tavistock, http://tinyurl.com/l9ewra leading the troops, put together a 4 team exhibition tournament featuring two ISC/OASA senior clubs the First Ontario Jarvis Gamblers, St Thomas Evergreen Centennials, along with the Saskatoon bound New Zealand Black
Sox and the host club, Sebringville Sting. Dave Bailey

We were getting results from the Vancouver Challenge then the lines went down. I can only assume that the final report is going to show up about the time I send this report out. As usual, we did have their schedule well in advance.

We did get a report from Huntsville, thanks for that Roger. I know some stats and pictures are coming soon, they will be added in when we get them. This was their 35th Annual Tournament and they were kind enough to send us a schedule well in advance.

We were also getting reports out of Frankenmuth, then the rain hit, but not sure what happened after that. Again I am sure the Stasics are sending final results soon for the U19 and U23 tournaments.

Last week we reported that a number of tournaments failed to report their results, that included:

July 3-5, Crogan, NY – Lewis County 4th of July Tournament
July 3-5, Port Huron, MI – Bluewater Invitational – ISC II Qualifier

Sadly we are still waiting for results from all of them. Port Huron had a lot of interest and they actually sent us a number of follow up reminders about their tournament yet we never got a schedule and not a clue as to who won it. And no, don’t send me the winner, send me the full results, please.

It was an only a so-so weekend for getting tournament results from other tournaments with the exception of the ones mentioned above. As for the other tournament organizers, all I can say is: “what happened?” We are still waiting for results from:

July 11-12, 2009 – Salt Lake City, UT – Carl Hansen (Page Break) Tournament
July 10-12, Au Sable Forks, NY – 47th Annual Au Sable Forks Tournament
July 10-12, Lackawanna, NY – Mickey Brennan Memorial Men’s Fastpitch Tournament
July 10-12, Glace Bay, NS – John Deering Memorial
July 10-12, Ponsonby, NY – Tom Rider Memorial Tournament
July 10-12, Ludington, MI – Ludington Tournament – A-C
July 11-12, Mississauga, ON – Mississauga Sportsmen’s Fastball League Tournament

A lot of other news came in over the weekend – see http://www.alsfastball.com/index.php?page=25

The schedule for the ISC II Tournament of Champions was posted this week on the ISC II site and is generating a lot of interest. http://www.iscfastpitch.com/index.php?page=191

Click here for the rest of Al’s weekend blog at his website, Al’s Fastball.

OLYMPIA — The Yakima Gamblers split thier two games on Sunday to finish in second place in the Brick Tavern Invitational.

The Gamblers topped the K-Klub 4-0 before falling in the title game 7-0 to the Lacey A’s. Yakima’s Sam Karr pitched a complete game two-hitter while striking in the opener. Jason Scheibner and Derek Gonzalez each drove in runs for Yakima.

In the second game, Jason Scheibner went 2-for-3 and Sataaro Aromos went 1-for-3 to account for the Gamblers’ three hits.

By finishing second, the Gamblers earned a spot at the NAFA National Tournament next year in Fargo, N.D.

Game 1
K-Klub 000 000 0 — 0 2 3
Gamblers 030 100 x — 4 5 1
Hannan and Dailey; Sam Karr and Jason Scheibner.
Highlights: Sam Karr (G) 2 hits, 7 K’s; Jason Scheibner (G) RBI; Derek Gonzalez (G) RBI.

Game 2
Gamblers 000 000 0 — 0 3 1
Lacey A’s 401 101 x — 7 8 0
Mark Seward, George (5) and Scheibner; Harv Urens and Josh Baumgart.
Highlights: Jason Scheibner (G) 2-3; Sataaro Aromos (G) 1-3.

OLYMPIA — Down 9-0 after three innings, the Yakima Gamblers erupted for 12 runs in the fifth inning to beat JRW & Associates 15-10 in the Brick Tavern Invitational on Saturday.

Dave Beavert’s grand slam highlighted the big inning for the Gamblers, who went 2-1 on the first day of the tournament. Sam Karr pitched a one-hitter in an 8-0 win over Cleon’s.

Yakima Gamblers 000 3(12) — 15 8 3
JRW & Associates 243 10 — 10 5 4
Seward, George (3) and Root; Kraft, Arndt (3) and Johnson.
Highlights: Shane Jones (G) 3-5, 2 RBI; Casey Feist (G) 2-3, 3 RBI; Dave Beavert (G) GS; Travis Lamb (J) 3-run 3b.

Cleon’s Seattle 000 00 — 0 1 1
Yakima Gamblers 053 0x — 8 10 1
Tunsvik, Divish (3) and Daily; Karr and Root.
Highlights: Sam Karr 1 H, 6 K; Shane Jones 3-3, 3b, 2 RBI; Brandon Campbell 2-3, 3b, RBI; Chris Berger 2-2, RBI.

Yakima Gamblers 000 000 2 — 2 4 1
Lacey A’s 200 100 x — 3 5 1
Seward and Schiebner; Koster and Baumgart.