Meanwhile, down in the Dominican Republic:
This photo appeared in the El Nacional newspaper in the Dominican Republic this week, provided courtesy of our friend in Omaha, NE, Matt Christiansen.
Can you spot anyone you know? (Hints: Sisko, Potolicchio, Algar, Montero, Ezekiel, Schweyer, etc)
City may bench adult softball
Santa Rosa budget cuts would eliminate sports, recreation programs
By TRACIE MORALES
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Photos by KENT PORTER / The Press Democrat
Aric Weinzinger of Curtin Air Freight, a team in Santa Rosa’s Recreation and Parks adult softball league, waits on deck for his turn at bat during a game Wednesday at Northwest Community Park. City budget cuts may spell the end of city support for adult softball and other recreation programs.
Softball has taught many recreational athletes in Santa Rosa to persevere even if down nine runs in the seventh inning — or if a looming budget crisis threatens to take their leagues away.
“I remember our captain kept saying, ‘Don’t give up, never give up,’ ” said Rich Depp, recalling a softball championship almost 30 years ago. “This is a prime example of never giving up until it’s over.”
The City Council in November will consider a proposal to eliminate all adult and youth athletic programs, a move that would end one of the largest recreational softball programs in Northern California and a staple in Santa Rosa for more than 40 years.
“It’s been something we never thought was going to go away,” said Lawrence Solomon, whose team is sponsored by Curtin Air Freight.
City softball leagues drew 3,600 players this summer, and 1,500 signed up for fall leagues. The city’s proposal also would cancel youth soccer, basketball, T-ball and sports camps, clinics and classes for 700 children. Tennis lessons for 600 youths and 80 adults also would end.
Eliminating the athletic programs would save the city $128,000 a year. It is one of about 85 steps the city is considering to close a $10.5 million budget gap.
“We find ourselves in a totally repugnant situation,” said Assistant City Manager Marc Richardson, who oversees the Recreation and Parks Department. “We have to do what we have to do. These are the options that have to be considered by the council.”
Players such as Theresa Strickland refuse to lose softball without a fight. She and her fiance have gathered 1,000 signatures on a protest petition and launched a Web site, www.savesantarosasports.org.
Editor’s note: We encourage our readers to click the link above, and to email the city, using the link provided on the website, to speak up for softball. Please be respectful, as it is likely to be more effective that way.
She is urging softball players and the community to attend the City Council meeting Tuesday, when some proposed cuts will be discussed. The council will not be reviewing the sports proposal until its Nov. 18 meeting.
“I hate the thought that it won’t be here,” she said. “It’s a sad thing for the whole community.”
Strickland, who coaches a women’s team, said the league offers an outlet for stress, keeps people active and stimulates the economy by supporting local restaurants and bars frequented by players after games. “If there is no softball, there is going to be more people staying at home and not involved in the community,” she said.
Jonny Berglund looks forward to playing softball every week with his brother and friends. “Honestly, what can you do to get adult men involved without alcohol on a routine basis?” he asked.
Berglund said he supports raising fees as long as it’s not a dramatic increase. Fees range from $595 for a coed team to $670 for men’s fast-pitch teams.
City officials said they’ve raised fees in the past to avoid cuts, but this time would require up to a 75 percent increase.
“Our experience is that people won’t pay that,” said Eric Jorgeson, deputy director of the recreation division. “We begin to price ourselves out of being able to offer a program.”
Jorgeson said league fees generate about $150,000, which covers expenses for umpires, scorekeepers, balls, awards and lights, but not enough to pay for the two employees responsible for overseeing the sports program.
Depp said he worked for 35 years to keep the Rollmasters alive so he could see his two sons play alongside him, and now they do.
“We’re going through a financial crisis, people are worrying about losing their jobs and not providing for their families,” he said.
“You treasure the outlets you have, and one of those for my family is softball.”
You can reach Staff Writer Tracie Morales at 521-5274 or tracie.morales@pressdemocrat.com.
A situation recently developed requiring the ISC Executive Committee to approve a slight change in our PRAWN restrictions.
PRAWN restrictions are shown on page 146 of the 2008 ISC World Championship Guide and on the ISC web site www.iscfastpitch.com There is a front page link to the PRAWN Restrictions document.
The change involves the scenario when a team loses its only PRAWN pitcher and whether or not they can replace the pitcher with another PRAWN pitcher even if their total PRAWN count is at 6 or higher. Our previous wording was contradictory where one paragraph allowed it and a subsequent paragraph disallowed it.
By unanimous approval of the Executive Committee, the PRAWN replacement may be made in this type of situation. This change also expresses the original intent of the rule when it was first developed by the ISC Player Rep Committee.
The new wording states: No team may add a PRAWN to their roster until their total PRAWN count falls below 6 except when a team loses its only PRAWN pitcher they may add a replacement PRAWN pitcher, regardless of their total PRAWN count.
This wording change now appears on our web site and will be incoporated into the PRAWN rule when the 2009 Guide is published in the spring.
Ken
From Robert Hernandez at NAFA
2008 NAFA Masters World Series Wrap Up-All World Selections
The completed brackets are on the NAFA website at www.Nafafastpitch.com The 2009 NAFA Masters World Series will be held September 11-13 tentatively in Rockford, Illinois for the East and definitely in Carson City, Nevada September 18-20 for the West. The 55-Over will be held in the East Only. The Women’s 35-Over will be held in the West Only. Based on the coaches survey’s we have received so far, we will be adding an additional game for a 4-Game Guarantee (3 round robin games followed by single elimination on Sunday). Currently the plan is for each team to play one game Friday night, 2 games on Saturday and then the Single Elimination on Sunday. Some teams have requested 3 Saturday round robin games and no Friday game. We will try and accommodate their requests as much as possible but the consideration of all teams will take priority. If we did play Friday night it would be after 5pm with furthest driving teams playing at 6:30 or 8:15pm or 10 pm. The Masters Survey can be printed out and emailed to us. It is online at www.Nafafastpitch.com
Many of the survey responses have asked for a way to make sure games stay on time on Saturday in the round robin using one of the following methods; tie breaker, time limit or 5 inning games. Everyone agrees that the Sunday Elimination play should have no time limit, be 7 innings and not have a tie breaker unless it is after a lot of innings. In Carson City, players asked that due to the high elevation that the homerun fences be moved back from the present 250 feet to somewhere between 265 and 275 feet. The palm pilot scorekeeping in the West was so awesome that we are trying to work out having them in the East also for 2009. The courtesy runner for the pitcher and catcher only was well received and well enforced by the umpires. The older age groups have asked for an additional fielder to have a courtesy runner as well and we will be looking into that. We will continue the age eligibility rule for all ages (3 players, 3 years too young that are not pitchers) but the 55 Division where all players have to be turning 55 in the current calendar year. We will continue to do player ID checks in the East and start them in the West in 2010. The new ball was an overwhelming success and we will use it again next year. On the surveys many people have swung to desiring the yellow ball but not a majority yet but we need to address it soon as it is about even on white verses yellow on the surveys.
We would like to thank Terry Knight and his staff at the Bowling Green Complex in Middleton, Wisconsin for bringing in 3 backhoes, skinning 4 infields and making unplayable fields playable very quickly once it stopped raining at 2:30pm and had fields up by 4pm on Saturday. The staff at Verona did very well also using 30 bags of diamond dry to get their fields playable. With the amount of rain we had it was close to a miracle that the staff was able to get the fields playable. We started at 4 PM playing 5 inning games and got all games in by 2 AM. We started again at 7 AM on Sunday and got all games in playing 7 full innings and got done just 10 minutes before it started raining again. Thanks to Tournament Directors Mike Watson and Jon Kegel, Loren Lathrop for doing an outstanding job of administering this event and thanks to the Umpires and Tournament UIC Hank St. Clair for putting in a lot of late hours on the fields.
We would also like to thank Joel Dunn and his staff (especially Jeremiah) for hosting such an awesome event with perfect weather in Carson City, Nevada. The homerun contest was a hit Friday night and the games went very smoothly all weekend. Due to the number of teams we had to play on a 5th field for the first time and that went well also. Special thanks to Loren Lathrop, Dewey Yoke and Robert Hernandez for administering the event. Thanks to Roy Stout for handling the gate. Thanks to Jan, Mike, Kate, Sylvia and Tammy for doing palm pilot scorekeeping and stats and special thanks to Tournament UIC Steve Vail and the umpires for doing a great job. Kris Russom did an awesome job with souvenirs at both East and West events.
With a record number of teams in both the East and West, our NAFA Directors would like to thank each of our teams for choosing NAFA and making us #1. The 2009 season will be even better as we will have 80 Masters teams (48 in Rockford, Il. And 32 in Carson City) as well as over 228 classified teams that will participate in our NAFA World Series events in 2009. The dates and City’s for the classified World Series will be released on our website October 1st.
Benjie Hedgecock
NAFA Executive Director
nafafastpitch@gmail.com
All World Series Selections After the Jump.
Guest Editor’s Note: A colleague of mine at my office has an entry (and a good one) in the Hockey Night in Canada theme song contest. (For our American friends, the rights to the old Hockey Night in Canada theme song, which is essentially Canada’s second national anthem, expired and were acquired by another tv station, so there is a contest to write a new theme.)
Click here to listen and vote!
Cheers,
Blair
Thanks to Herb Dower for this report.
CARSON CITY. NV — Fat City of Sparks NV finished in a tie for third place in this year’s 2008 NAFA Masters Over-40 Division World Series at Carson City, NV with a 2-2 record.
Fat City lost its tournament opener to the Long Beach Black Sox, 15-6 in five innings, with Long Beach pounding out five home runs and four doubles off losing pitcher Brandon Shearer. Todd Hodge and Tom Dower homered for Fat City.
In its second game, Fat City trailed Bloodline of Nevada, 4-2, going into the bottom of the seventh inning, but rallied for three runs to win 5-4. Back to back triples by Joe Pollock and Tom Dower started the comeback, Shearer singled to tie the game, and then scored the winning run. Pitcher Ed Davis went the distance, limiting Bloodline to six hits to get the win.
On Sunday, Fat City pounded out 19 hits to defeat the NAFA Yard Dogs of Southern California, 14-6, in five innings behind the pitching of Brandon Shearer. Leadoff batter Andy Parisotto hit two three-run home runs and a single to drive in seven runs, Sunny Wood went 3 for 4 and scored three timers, and shortstop Tom Dower went 3 for 3 with a home run and three RBI.
In its next game, pitcher Russ Chadwick of Utah Fastpitch limited Fat City to four hits, walked one and struck out three to win 10-3 in five innings. Utah got 10 hits off losing pitcher Brandon Shearer. Todd Hodge went 7 for 13 (.538) and Tom Dower went 6 for 13 (.462) with two home runs and a triple for a better than 1.000 slugging average to pace Fat City. Both earned all-tourney honors.
Editor’s notes: The article below appeared in the Quad City newspaper last Thursday, but requires a correct and clarification.
A move of the ISC II Tournament of Champions to nearby Rock Island, it is not a done deal. If the proposal is made to move the ISC II to that complex, the tournament host, the Quad Cities Sports Commission would have to approve it, and then the revised contract would have to be reviewed and voted on by the ISC Executive Committee.
Additionally, the article states that Midland, Michigan will host the ISC World Tournament in 2010. While they are in discussions with the ISC to host the 2010 tournament, the decision as to who will host in 2010 remains to be made.
By Doug Green | Thursday, September 18, 2008 Quad-City Times
There could be one change when the International Softball Congress, or ISC Men’s World Fastball Tournament comes to the Quad-Cities in 2009.
The event, which is expected to generate $11 million in revenue, is scheduled to be played at Green Valley Complex in Moline.
But a proposal under consideration is that the ISC II Men’s Fastball Tournament of Champions — a separate tournament governed by the same body as the World Tournament — would be held at the Campbell Complex in Rock Island. Tournament officials want the split between the two complexes for safety reasons and press box room.
“Using a baseball analogy, ISC is Major League Baseball and ISC II is Triple-A, so it’s just a competitive notch below. If we would use all four diamonds at Green Valley, and that was the plan they had given us, two would be for the world tournament and two of them would be for ISC II. Men’s fastpitch softball is played by strong, talented athletes who throw the ball hard, pitch the ball hard, and swing the bat hard. And they hit long foul balls and they hit a lot of foul balls,†Ken Hackmeister, executive director of ISC, said.
Fans at Green Valley would be sitting with their backs to the other fields and would not be able to see foul balls from other diamonds. According to Hackmeister, a foul ball at Green Valley could land in the middle of a neighboring diamond.
Even though the tournament was held in Rock Island in the 1960s and ’70s, the Quad-Cities is being treated like a first-time host. The host team for the tournament will be the Quad-City Sox, an ISC world team.
“I think everybody on the Quad-City Sox is really excited about it. No. 1, we haven’t had a tournament here since 1968 or ’69, but our goal is to put the best team on the field and try to win a world championship,†Sox coach Steve Kaiser said.
Other cities under consideration to host the event were Midland, Mich., and Eau Claire, Wis.
“We know that there is a history and tradition that our sport is known here and we are hoping to capitalize on that history,†Hackmeister said.
The Quad-Cities will host in 2009 and has an option for 2011. They must accept or reject that option by Jan. 1. Midland will host the event in 2010.
“We typically award one tournament at a time, two years in advance. However, in this case, they asked for an option for 2011, and we gave it to them,†Hackmeister said. “It’s basically a flat bid, then we have requirements on fields, on number of hotel rooms, certain obligations that the hosts have to provide. They met all those requirements for the ’09 contract, so it’s safe to assume that if they choose to accept the option they will meet those requirements for 2011,†Hackmeister said.
The Quad-City Convention and Visitors Bureau helped bring the tournament to the Quad-Cities and expects it to do well.
“It’s an $11 million estimated economic impact if we draw the crowds we drew in the 1960’s,†Lynn Hunt, vice president of sales for the Quad-City Convention and Visitors Bureau, said. “The teams are coming from all over the nation and the world. We could have the Bahamas playing here, we’ll have Canadian teams playing, U.S. teams, for a nine-day period.â€
At a glance
What: ISC Men’s World Fastball Tournament and ISC II Men’s Fastball Tournament of Champions
When: August 14-22, 2009
Cost: Adults $5, Seniors (age 60 and over) $3, 16 and under free, 9 day pass $35 through June 1, $45 after June 1, Seniors $25. Tickets available after January 1, 2009.
The Editor’s team, Long Beach Deadwood won two more games on Sunday, over Bay Area Merchants and Hellman Colorado to reach the finals, taking a 4-0 record into the finals, but fell to Seattle Fastpitch 7-0 in the championship game. It was Seattle that eliminated Deadwood last year in the semi-finals with Deadwood finishing third. The squad improved on that finish this year, finishing second, reaching the championship game on the strength of a 16-1, 3 inning semi-final game against Colorado.
Doug Shaw homered in the early morning game Sunday, his third in three games, while Jim Brundage added his second of the tournament, in the same inning.
Dan Zupp picked up the win in the morning game, while Billy Montana won the second, with Zupp suffering the loss in the title game.
Deadwood placed five on the All Tournament team:
Jim Brundage
Mitch Mendenhall
Doug Shaw
Larry Giese
Dan Zupp
The Editor’s team, Long Beach Deadwood won both of their pool play games Saturday, 7-4 and 9-6, with pitchers Dan Zupp and Billy Montana picking up the wins. Newcomer Doug Shaw (who plays for the So Cal Hustlers during the regular season) homered in his first plate appearance in the 50+ division, and homered again in the nightcap, to put the game away.
In the first game, Deadwood scored in the first on Shaw’s homer and never surrendered the lead against Hellman, Colorado. Zupp threw a shutout into the 5th inning, when a couple of unearned runs got Colorado on the board. Another newcomer, Mitch Mendenhall added a couple of key hits and played solid defense at third base.
In the nightcap, Deadwood’s catcher, Larry Giese started the offense rolling with a home run in the second, and Deadwood led 3-2 into the 5th inning. Northwest Old Growth, from Portland Oregon rallied back, scoring two in the top of the fifth on a two out, two run single by pitcher Dean. In the bottom half of the inning, Deadwood’s Dean Bettencourt got the squad even with a line drive double to right center field, and set off a four-run scoring outburst capped off by Doug Shaw’s home run. Portland did not go quietly though, scoring two more in the top of the seventh to trim the lead to 9-6, and had the tying run at the plate before the final out was recorded.
Deadwood will start the single elimination bracket this morning at 9:45am against Bay Area Merchants of Northern California, needing two wins to reach the final in the eight team division.
Scores from other age divisions to be posted at the NAFA website, www.nafafastpitch.com
For our ISC II fans, our brother blog The Deuce is providing updated scores throughout the day for the two Ontario Challenge Cup qualifiers taking place in Innerkip and Fitzroy Harbour.
Click here for running scores from Innerkip and here for the scores from Fitzroy Harbour.