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Michigan Twisters Burst onto Fastpitch Scene

Thursday, June 21st, 2007

Midland Daily News
By Greg Chalfin

There’s a new local fastpitch softball team taking the competition by storm. The Michigan Twisters — a brand new team with several Midlanders — broke into the International Softball Congress II rankings on Saturday, coming in at No. 30.

“We’re in our first year, and we’ve got a good squad,” catcher Neil Faccio said. “We’re starting to turn some heads.”

The team has started its inaugural campaign with three tournament victories, including a win in the ‘A’ division at Midland’s Boulevard Lounge tournament two weeks ago.

Faccio and five of his Midland-based teammates — Rick Engle, Seth Freed, Adam Osantowski, Ron Case and Matt Morgan — left locally operated Coppens Brigade to help form the new Twisters squad.

“It was kind of a bad leave (from Coppens Brigade),” Faccio said. “We were ready for a change.”

Former Coppens Brigade manager John Coppens was reached and opted not to comment about the state of his club at this time.

Faccio said he and his teammates were looking for an opportunity to play more often and against better competition and decided to join with some players looking to leave Roscommon’s Roofs of the North team. The team’s fast start — a 26-2 record thus far — has the team considering traveling to Kitchener, Ontario for the ISC II World Tournament. But the team will run into another Midland juggernaut this weekend.

Coming off two consecutive tournament victories, the Midland Explorers (14-3) return home for three exhibition games at Currie Stadium this weekend.

The Explorers started quickly last season but struggled after pitcher Doug Gillis suffered a midseason stroke. Midland finished 21-17-1 last year, marking its worst record in the history of the club.

“We just lost a lot of close games,” manager Clint Beane said. “For whatever reason.”

But the Explorers have come back strong this season, having won 11 of their past 12 games.

“When you get good pitching and good defense, the hitting usually comes around,” Beane said. “It’s been a really good start.”

On Saturday, the Explorers tangle with the Twisters at 5:30 p.m. before a nightcap against St. Thomas (Ont.) at 7:30 p.m.

The Explorers conclude play Sunday against Jarvis (Ont.) at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.

Berryhill traveling to Escanaba Tourney

Berryhill Post 165 manager Steve Cronkright’s ballclub heads to its first tournament of the season, playing Friday-Sunday in Escanaba. Last year, Berryhill won the tournament.

“But it wasn’t a cakewalk or anything like that,” Cronkright said. “There are some real tough teams.”

Berryhill will play four teams from Wisconsin in pool play, and its record in those games will determine if it makes the final four, which will be played Sunday.

“You could play up to six games,” Cronkright said. “And then drive six hours home.”

Ice continue NPF action Tuesday

Manager Tom Short’s Mid-Michigan Ice will travel to Rockford, Ill. next week for a four-game set with National Pro Fastpitch’s Rockford Thunder. The Ice have performed well in early-season competition, losing just once in six games.

Short said he’s been pleased with his pitching — which has already thrown two no-hitters — and defense in the early going and will use this weekend’s practices to get his offense on track.

“We’ve got to keep the sticks going,” Short said.

Lady Explorers look to bounce back

After losing its first three games against the Ice and the Venezuelan National Team, manager Mike Kozuch’s Midland Lady Explorers will try to rebound at this weekend’s Petoskey Mary Ingalls Memorial Tournament.

Midland will play a round robin format against four other teams, beginning with Kalamazoo’s Kam Hooters at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

“They’ve been kind of our big rival,” Kozuch said.

Upcoming area softball tournaments

Midland will host a number of softball tournaments during the summer, including the Chapman/Alexander tournament the weekend of July 13-14, the men’s slowpitch 50 and over “AAA” state tournament from July 20-22, the men’s fastpitch class “A” and “B” state tournaments from Aug. 3-5, the men’s modified class “B” state tournament from Aug. 10-12, and the men’s fastpitch class “D” state tournament from Aug. 31-Sept. 3.

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California’s ISC II Teams to Square off at Rose Cup

Wednesday, June 20th, 2007

California’s two ISC II teams, the California Lumberkings and A-1/Taylor Farms will square off at 4:30pm on Saturday, in the Rose Cup tournament at Portland, Oregon. The head-to-head matchup puts bragging rights, ISC II rankings, and a spot in the Rose Cup playoffs on the line.

For more, visit our sibling blog for ISC II teams, “The Deuce”.

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California Lumberkings Vault to ISC II # 4 Ranking

Monday, June 18th, 2007

California Lumberkings Vault to # 4 in Rankings

The California Lumberkings moved up two more spots in the ISC II rankings, from # 6 to # 4, in the recently released June 15 rankings and are now the top ranked USA team in the ISC II division, which is has been dominated by Ontario, Canada area teams. The Lumberkings have qualified for the 2007 ISC II Tournament of Champions, which will be back in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, this yeasr, on August 14-18, 2007.

Last year, the Lumberkings became the first ever team to compete in the highly competitive ISC II division, qualifying for the playoff round (top 24 of 40 teams), and went on to win their first round playoff game, putting them in the top 12, before falling to a then-unbeaten Kitchener Outlaws team in an extra inning, 2-1 nail biter.

The Lumberkings will be back in action next weekend at the prestigious Rose Cup tournament in Portland, Oregon, where they will face one of the top teams in the world, the Broken Bow Gremlins of New York, who are currently ranked # 3 in the ISC World rankings. The Lumberkings schedule is as follows:

Pool D.
Broken Bow Gremlins (NY)
Lumberkings (CA)
Italian Athletic Club (CA)
Brotherton (OR)

Saturday – June 23rd
0830am – White Field – Broken Bow Gremlins vs. Lumberkings
12:30pm – Budweiser Field – Lumberkings vs. Brotherton
04:30pm – M&W Field – Lumberkings vs. IAC*

*IAC is not in the tournament, and has been replaced a team yet to be announced.

Top two teams from each Pool advance to Championship round

Click here to view our post on the latest ISC II rankings, at our sibling blog, “The Deuce”.

Full ISC II Rankings for June 15.

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Ghostkeeper to Vancouver for 2007 Senior Canadians

Thursday, June 14th, 2007

Editor’s note: We gratefully thank Sports Editor Jim Swanson and the Prince George Citizen newspaper, both for granting permission to reprint their stories here at Fastpitchwest, and for providing the fastpitch community with such great coverage in the first place. Readers will recall that during last year’s Senior Canadian National Tournament, they ran feature stories on teams and players every day, in addition to the game by game reports, remarkable coverage for men’s fastpitch in this day and age, where many papers ignore the sport altogether. Today’s story, reprinted below is another well-written piece. Ghostkeeper moving from the hometown Black Bears to the arch rival Vancouver Grey Sox? Tantamount to Johnny Damon signing with the Yankees ! So to the folks at the Citizen, we say “well done — again”. Your newspaper’s coverage of men’s fastpitch is among the best in the nation. We’ve posted from a few more newspapers graciously providing coverage for men’s fastpitch, including the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls SD, the SE Missourian and the Du Quoin Evening Call in Illinois. Know of any others providing good coverage for men’s fastpitch? Let us know.

Reprinted with permission from:

(click logo to visit their website)

GREY SOX CATCH A CATCHER FROM P.G.

by JASON PETERS, Citizen staff

At the 2006 Canadian senior men’s fastpitch championship in Prince George, Chad Ghostkeeper was front and centre in pulling down the hated Vancouver Grey Sox.

When this year’s nationals step on the diamond in St. John’s, Nfld., Ghostkeeper will be there. And he’ll be wearing a Grey Sox uniform.

Ghostkeeper, a 35-year-old Prince George resident, has signed on with the Grey Sox for the Canadian championship tournament, set for Aug. 26 to Sept. 2.

Has he crossed over to the dark side? He doesn’t see it that way.

“I don’t really see them as an enemy,” said Ghostkeeper, the all-star catcher at the 2006 nationals as a member of the now-defunct Prince George Black Bears. “They’ve been bugging me throughout the year (to play for them at nationals). There were a few teams that were bugging me, and I just thought I would go to Vancouver. I know a few guys on the team, and it’s a lot closer.”

During the 2006 tournament, played at Spruce City Stadium, the Grey Sox — loaded with national-team talent — were one of the favourites to leave town with the title. Because of their star-studded roster, they became a target for other teams. The Sox ended up 2-5 after the round-robin portion of the event, won their first playoff game, and were then eliminated after a 4-1 loss to the Black Bears. The Bears had also beaten the Grey Sox in round robin. That game, won 8-1 by Prince George, was cut short by the mercy rule.

(more…)

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Tornadoes Hit Blue-Gray Tournament

Thursday, June 14th, 2007

By DAN ARMONAITIS, For the Herald-Journal

TORNADOES CAPTURE TITLE

In their first of existence, the South Carolina Tornadoes did something last weekend that no other team from the Palmetto State had done before.

The Tornadoes – an amateur softball team based out of Spartanburg – captured the championship at the 54th Annual Blue-Gray Men’s Fast Pitch Invitational last Sunday at Lagoon Park in Montgomery, Ala.

“There have been a lot of other good teams from South Carolina that have gone down there over the years, but none of them had ever won it,” manager and right fielder Travis Owens said. “So, for us to win it all, it was something special.”

The Tornadoes swept through the two-day tournament, finishing with a 6-0 overall record. They won their two championship round games by a combined 22-4 margin.

“All the pieces fell together,” Owens said. “Our defense was playing well, and our offense was hitting the ball. We averaged 11 runs a ballgame while giving up three. When you do that, the odds are definitely in your favor.”

The Tornadoes – the only traveling men’s fast pitch team in the state – clinched the title on Sunday with a 12-4 victory against Alpha Heating and Air, which had won the tournament three of the previous four years. They posted a 10-0 win against Montgomery Fast Pitch in the semifinals.

Jahmal Overton, a former baseball player at Georgia Tech, was named the tournament MVP after hitting four home runs, including two in the championship game.

“Jahmal was on,” Owens said. “He was seeing the ball well, and it seemed kind of effortless for him. He was a spark plug for us, and every time he made contact, it generated something good.” Chris Sturgill and Greg Gerhart each added two-run blasts for the Tornadoes in the title game, and pitcher Brad Courtney claimed the decisive victory.

“The thing that was so great about the tournament was that we played all the better squads that were there,” Owens said. “Sometimes, you can go through and not have to play the best based on the way the brackets fall, but this time, we had to beat the best.”

Many members of the team had previous experience at the Blue-Gray Invitational but had never before competed in the tournament as the Tornadoes.

“When we went down to Montgomery, we kind of took everybody by surprise,” Owens said. “They didn’t know who we were by our team name, but when we showed up, they knew us as players.”

Owens said that the Tornadoes are planning to compete in two national tournaments this summer – the National Softball Association Men’s Fast Pitch World Series (Aug. 3-5 in Salisbury, Md.) and the Amateur Softball Association Class B national championships (Aug. 29-Sept. 3 in Altamonte Springs, Fla.).

For now, however, the Tornadoes will continue to savor their recently won title.

“(The Blue-Gray Invitational) is one of the best in the Southeast as far as the quality of teams that participate, so winning it is quite an accomplishment,” Owens said. “It’s a well run tournament, and every year, you know you’re going to go down there and see some good teams.”

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New Zealand Black Sox vs. Kitchener Hallman Twins

Wednesday, June 13th, 2007

From Al Doran, of Al’s Fastball, on the scene for the New Zealand Black Sox Canadian tour:

The previous posts were done from my Blackberry at the park.

We hope to be on site in Orillia, Sebringville and Kitchener, Thur, Fri, and Sat and will do similar updates to this site, with more detailed updates later when we get home.

Tavistock, ON

The Black Sox vs Kitchener Hallman Twins in Tavistock Ontario.

The evening started off with an emotional presentation to local softball hero, Brian (Chubb) Stere. Stere, who was a walk on try out with the Waterloo Twins 16 years ago was an immediate
hit and after 16 years, the team is retiring their first number in their forty year history.

Larry Lynch, long time coach and friend to Stere made an powerful presentation to Brian in front of an estimated 800 strong crowd here in Tavistock. Stere received a jersey with his number 16
on it and received a standing ovation from his home town fans. Another local softball hero, Dan Yantzi threw out the first pitch to his long time catcher, Brian Stere.

Game 1

New Zealand Black Sox at Kitchener Hallman Twins

New Zealand: 11
Kitchener Twins: 3

New Zealand: 5.0.1.5.0.x.x.x.11.
Kitchener: 2.0.1.0.0.x.x.x.3.

WP: Michael Gaiger 4 IP
Heini Shannon: 1 IP
C: Pat Shannon

LP: Don Scott: 3 IP
Grant Patterson: 2 IP
C: Chris Shewfelt

Pat Shannon and Rhys Casley had the big hits for the Black Sox while Dale Levy did well for Kitchener. A crowd estimated at around 800 turned out on this beautiful evening to take in the ball game. The Tavistock park was an excellent setting for this evening of fastball. Sculpted out to provide comfortable seating for a good sized crowd, the fans had an enjoyable evening.

Game 2

New Zealand Black Sox at Kitchener Hallman Twins

New Zealand: 3
Kitchener Twins: 0

New Zealand: 0.2.0.1.0.0.0.x.x.x.3.
Kitchener: 0.0.0.0.0.0.0.x.x.x.0.

WP: Jeremy Manley
Heini Shannon
C: Pat Shannon

LP: Todd Martin
Paul Koert
C: Chris Shewfelt

Pat Shannon hit a home run for the Black Sox. Dave Bailey had a hit for Kitchener.

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New Zealand Black Sox, Jarvis Split a Pair

Tuesday, June 12th, 2007

From Al’s Fastball:

RHYS CASLEY EN FUEGO, BLASTS TWO MORE HOME RUNS

[JARVIS, ONTARIO] – Close to 300 fans turned out on Monday night to catch the kick-off of the New Zealand Blacksox tour of Ontario. Under clear skies, the fans were treated to two well played games.

Game 1:

New Zealand â€“ 5
Jarvis â€“ 0
WP- Jeremy Manley (with relief from Michael Gaiger)
LP- Brian Urquhart (with relief from Andrew Phibbs)

New Zealand broke a scoreless tie in the top of the 4th when Rhys Casley hit a solo HR. Patrick Shannon followed with a solo HR of his own in the 5th. After a Brad Rona walk, Casley hit his 2nd HR of the game to make the score 4-0. Stacy McLean scored on a fielderâ€™s choice to round out the scoring. Manley and Gaiger combined strike out 12 and give up 1 hit. Urquhart allowed 8 hits and struck out six in his 4-1/3 innings. Phibbs gaveup three hits and struck out two.

Game 2:

New Zealand â€“ 2
Jarvis â€“ 3

WP- Scott Wagar
LP- Heinie Shannon (in relief of Gaiger)

The Blacksox struck first with a pair of runs in the firstinning on a walk to Nathan Nukunuku, an RBI triple by Travis Wilson and a FC byPatrick Shannon. Jarvis responded with a run in the bottom of the second ona HR by Brad Robinson. New Zealand threatened in the 4th inningwhen Brad Rona and Casley singled with one out. After a McLeanfly-out, Milne singled to center but Brad Rona was thrown out with a collisionat the plate on what was scored an 8-3-4-2 put out at home. Jarvisreplied in the bottom of the fifth to win the game with a pair of runs. Rino Dambrosio singled on a misplayed pop-up that landed between three Blacksoxplayers. Chad Staats followed with a single to RF to put runners at firstand second. Bob Gillow then hit a high chopper to SS to load the baseswith none out. CF Bill Simmons then hit a 2-1 pitch to center fielddriving in two runs to end the game.

Rhys Casley was hot on the night with four hits for the Blacksox. Pat Graham went 2 for 2 in the second game and Bill Simmons hada pair of hits on the night for the Merchants.

The executive of the Jarvis Merchants would like to thank all the fans, sponsors and the Black Sox for their attendance and support on Monday night.

Clarke Staats
cstaats6@hotmail.com

Editor’s note: Rhys Casley continued the home run barrage he started last month in the Bahamas, where he hit 6 HR’s in 3 days. (Was it the fried conch?) Casley added two more in the opening round exhibition games for the visiting New Zealand Black Sox. Photo of Casley below, while in uniform for the Bahamas’ Texaco Pirates at the 2007 Bahamas Invitational.

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Circle Tap in Green Bay Newspaper

Monday, June 11th, 2007

From the Green Bay Press-Gazette

Circle Tap splits a pair in Liberty Bank tournament in Iowa

[ELKHART, IOWA] â€” Circle Tap of Denmark split its first two games Saturday at the Liberty Bank Invitational men’s fastpitch softball tournament.

Collin McKenzie threw a three-hitter with 16 strikeouts as Circle Tap beat the Des Moines Stampede 6-2 in its first game. Steve Schucker had a home run and double, Chris Delarwelle also homered and Kyle Magnuson had two doubles.

In its second game, Circle Tap lost 7-0 to the Quad City Sox of Davenport, Iowa. Matt Bramwell took the loss, and Magnuson had Circle Tap’s only hit.

Circle Tap (11-5) played another game late Saturday, and the tournament concludes today.

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So Cal Bomber’s Coach in Vancouver News

Sunday, June 10th, 2007

From the Vancouver Sun

SHICK’S SUMMER SHTICK:

Long-time NHL referee Rob Shick, a Port Alberni native, is staying close to sport in the off-season. Shick is in his first year as an assistant coach with the SoCal Bombers men’s fastpitch team, which will be in Vancouver this weekend for a four-game exhibition series with the Vancouver Grey Sox at South Memorial Park.

The Bombers, 5-1 this season, are currently ranked No. 7 by the International Softball Congress, while the Grey Sox, 11-3, are No. 9. The teams will play twice on Saturday — 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. — and twice on Sunday — 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

“Rob not only brings over 25 years of experience in professional sport to the table, but was an accomplished and highly respected ballplayer in Canada in his younger years,” says Bombers head coach Kelly McGiffin, himself a Port Alberni native. “He knows the game and he knows how the game should be played.”

And we suspect he won’t be caught getting in an umpire’s face or pulling up second base in a tantrum.

Other Canadians with the California team include C/OF Chad Ghostkeeper and IF/OF Evan Potskin, both of Prince George. Both play key roles with the Bombers, as do C Darren Box, OF Greg Crawford and pitchers Sean Whitten and Darrell Tilley, all from Alberta.

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Vancouver Grey Sox vs. So Cal Bombers Games PPD – Rain

Saturday, June 9th, 2007

Vancouver, BC

Unfortunately due to steady rainfall since early morning in the Vancouver area, today’s cheduled doubleheader between the Vancouver Grey Sox and the So Cal Casa Trejo Bombers has been postponed. The teams will attempt to salvage the weekend super series with 3 games on Sunday June 10th commencing at 9:00 am, 11:00 am and 1:00 pm. All games to be played at the Grey Sox home field, South Memorial Park located on 41st Avenue East and Windsor
Street in Vancouver.

Results from Sunday’s action will be provided.

Larry Kancs
President, Vancouver Grey Sox
www.vancouvergreysox.com

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