MIDLAND — It takes a world-class effort to put on a world-class event.
That was quite evident during nine days of International Softball Congress World Tournament action at Midland’s Emerson Park last week.
The only complaint I heard was in regard to ISC brackets, which included an ISC II bracket for the first 24 teams eliminated. With some teams needing three losses to be eliminated, one wondered if the ISC tabbed a physicist down the road from Dow Corning to come up with the bracket formula.
Emerson Park’s three fields were well-manicured, bright flowers greeted fans at the entrance to Currie Stadium and an estimated crowd of 15,000 found time between the Great Lakes Loons homestand and the Midland County Fair to create their own festive atmosphere for the 180 games.
“It was a total success from the host’s standpoint,†said Kyle Beane, co-chair of the ISC Host Committee. “The weather was perfect, nothing got backed up and everything I heard from teams, players, officials and fans were all positives.
“It was a long year-and-a-half, but it was well worth it.â€
Beane and his crew modernized Currie Stadium quickly, running Internet into the pressbox and razing an infield that had built up over the years. While razing the dirt infield, workers uncovered a wooden slab believed to be used to anchor a pitching rubber back in the day. When isn’t clear, but officials think it could date back as far as the Dow AC’s of the 1940s.
This year’s tournament had 45 shifts, using 12 to 15 volunteers for each shift to keep track of stats, scores, traffic direction, water refills, beer tent and cleanup.
“The Midland community really got involved,†Host Committee member Peter Finn said. “It went better than I thought. A month before the tournament, you’re scrambling, thinking we need this for this and that for that.â€
Midland became just the second city in Michigan to host the ISC Worlds, the other being Saginaw in 1981. Saginaw had the memorable 34-inning marathon game that is talked about to this day.
Midland provided its own memories.
There was hard-throwing Adam Folkard, an Aussie for the Jarvis (Ont.) Travelers who hurls the softball equivalent of a 104 mph fastball in Major League Baseball. New York Gremlins Rhys Casley, another Australian native, smashed a grand slam in the 10th inning on the first pitch he saw after a 40-minute delay was needed for his teammate, who was knocked unconscious with a pitch to his helmet.
The Travelers knocked out two-time defending champion Kitchener (Ont.) Riversharks Twins in an entertaining title game that was close until Jarvis hit back-to-back homers in the sixth inning. There were 2,000 people in the stands Friday and Saturday night, despite the fact that the hometown Midland Explorers were eliminated early Thursday.
“With the Loons, Midland County Fair and Mount Pleasant’s fair, I think we showed there’s still a lot of fastpitch softball fans around here,†Beane said. “Our goal was to run a great tournament and pay our bills and we’re right on track for that.â€
Midland may be on track to host the top players in the world again in two years. Kitchener dropped its bid to host the tournament in 2012 and rumor is because of the added pressure of holding the extra games in the ISC II.
“There used to be three to five cities bidding to host this, but with the economy and everything, there’s not as much interest,†Finn said. “ISC officials were pleased and I heard people say it’s the best ISC they’ve been at in 10 years.
“Without a doubt, they want to come back here. I think people here need to recharge our batteries from this week, but a fair amount of work that was down to put this on won’t have to be done again.â€
And the novice softball fans and the aficionados just might again be able to enjoy the best fastpitch players who hail from Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina and the United States.
“Emerson Park is ideal for this tournament,†Beane said. “We have three fields that are good for it and a fan can watch action on all three fields in 10 minutes. We’re an added benefit because of our proximity to Ontario.
“We still have a hotbed of softball right here.â€
You can find the rest of MLive’s outstanding coverage of the 2010 ISC World Tournament here.
