Archive for the ‘Players’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Mark Seward Named Top Pitcher in Yakima, WA League

Friday, November 11th, 2005

From the YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC, Friday, November 11, 2005
Seward named adult fastpitch’s top pitcher

Mark Seward of league champion Les Schwab/Pistoresi’s was named the top pitcher on this year’s Yakima Softball Association’s adult men’s all-star team. Seward posted a 10-6 record with a 3.97 earned-run average and 119 strikeouts in 97 innings. Mike Parham, a shortstop for Eric’s Remodeling, was tabbed the league’s top player. Parham had a season batting average of .561 and he led the league in hits (46), runs (39) and RBI (32). Les Schwab/Pistoresi’s had five all-star selections and Eric’s Remodeling and JRW & Associates had four each.

MVP player: Mike Parham, Eric’s Remodeling (.561, 32 RBI, 5 HR).
MVP pitcher: Mark Seward, Les Schwab/Pistoresi’s (10-6, 3.97, 119 Ks).

C: Jason Scheibner, Les Schwab/Pistoresi’s (.455, 25 RBI, 7 2B, 6 HR). 1B: Tom Magers, Eric’s Remodeling (.448, 27 RBI). 2B: Don Cawthron, JRW & Associates (.375, 23 RBI). 3B: Mark Seward, Les Schwab/Pistoresi’s (.390, 19 RBI, 7 3B). SS: Mike Leitch, Les Schwab/Pistoresi’s (.585). Util: Eric McClellan, Eric’s Remodeling (.362, 22 RBI). DH: Kevin Root, Les Schwab/Pistoresi’s (.488, 24 RBI, 8 HR). OF: Tim Fischer, JRW & Associates (.517, 10 3B); Troy Grow, JRW & Associates (.482, 20 RBI, 5 SB); Jason Grow, JRW 23U (.444); Bobby Harris, JRW & Associates (.420, 20 RBI). P: Bryan McKitrick, JRW 23U (8-6, 4.26, 61 Ks); Jacob Andreas, Eric’s Remodeling (8-11, 7.00, 36 Ks).

Cap tip to JR Williamson for the news.

Posted in Players | No Comments »

The Wide Wide World of Fastball, on Frappr

Saturday, October 29th, 2005

The Frappr map of fastball teams, players and fans continues to grow, hitting 70 members in only its third day. One of the first to “stake a flag” was Andy McColl way down under in Australia. GHFL’s Blair Setford and a whole block of members from that hotbed of fastball, Ontario, Canada, dropped in. Al Doran, who heads up fastball’s “Holy Grail“, and mailing list, planted his flag and photo. Tom Taylor and the guys up north in BC helped “paint” the rest of the west coast, adding to those up and down the US west coast, including California, home to Fastpitchwest.com. The Fighting Illini came out in force yesterday to stake their claim. Today’s newest member is Norman Ames over in the Netherlands. Simply amazing to see how wide is this world of men’s fastball. (To “see” flags outside of North America, click their link on the list. Note also that you can click a “photos” link at the top of the page and view the photos, 9 to a page.)

Check out our Frappr!

Thanks to all who have taken the time to “stake a flag” showing us where you are, and especially to those who have fished out a photo or logo to go along with it. If you haven’t posted a flag, it takes just a moment — your zip code and name (or nickname if you prefer) is all that is required. Two-thirds of the postings have included photos, which we strongly encourage. There’s even a place for comments or as the young players call them, a “shout-out” (for your favorite team, for example) Remember that you may post your website address or email address if you wish, so others can reach you.

And if you need a “do-over”, just send me an email and I’ll delete your first attempt and let you start over.

Welcome aboard — to all of you.

Posted in General, Players, Teams, Websites | No Comments »

Stake Your Flag at Fastpitchwest’s Readers Map

Friday, October 28th, 2005

Frappr is a new online mapping service which allows readers of Fastpitchwest.com to post a flag showing where they are, add a note (and photo if they wish). Just enter your name and zip and Google Maps does the rest !

Take a look, or better still, add yourself to our map. (Once at the map, click a flag and the reader’s name, note and photo pop-up) Have a team website? Add the URL to the note (e.g. http://www.fastpitchwest.com)

Check out our Frappr!
Click here to view and/or add yourself to our map !

We strongly encourage you to post a photo; as you will see, it’s more fun to peruse the flags when photos are attached ! Feel free to use a photo of yourself posted at Fastpitchwest. The Frappr system will automatically resize the photo for you. Note that you can “zoom in” on any flag by using the grid on the left hand side of the page. (Zooming in will show you the city and surrounding area for the zip code entered)

Update: Thanks to those of you who have take the time to “plant your flag” on the map, and especially those posting photos (most have). If you decide you’d like to add or change your photo, or run into any problems, please email me (jim (at) fastpitchwest.com and I’ll delete you and you can do it again.

Update 2: You may include a website address in your “comments”, but need to include the full http://www.yourwebsite.com URL to create a hyperlink.

Update 3: If you have a high resolution (large) photo, Frappr will shrink your thumbnail, but post the photo in full size (which may be too large for online viewing). We recommend nothing larger than 800 x 600 (640 x 480 works fine, or even smaller if you wish). If you don’t know how to reduce that giant photo, email it to me and I will do it for you: jim @ fastpitchwest.com

Update 4: Great job out there. The map is growing by the day. Note that you can click “photos” link at the top of the map page, and view the photos, 9 to a page. You can click the photo to enlarge them as well. Right now, about 2/3’s of the members have a photo or logo for their flag.

Posted in Computers, Fastpitchwest, Photos, Players, Websites | No Comments »

Help Wanted – “C” Pitcher for Palm Springs, November 5-6

Tuesday, October 25th, 2005

A team headed to Palm Springs for the tournament Nov. 5-6, 2005 is looking for a “C” pitcher. Click here for contact info.

Posted in Players, So Cal, Tournaments | No Comments »

Andy Martinez of the LB Black Sox “on the Hot Seat”

Thursday, October 20th, 2005

Don’t miss the latest “Hot Seat” interview at the Long Beach Black Sox website. This month’s “victim” is shortstop Andy Martinez, (at right in photo below) one of the bright young stars in Southern California. The “Hot Seat” feature is a favorite at Fred Hanker’s Long Beach Black Sox team website, and always makes for good reading. Incidentally, Andy Martinez, 27, was named the Sox co-MVP for the 2005 season, as well as garnering “Gold Glove” honors for the team.

Andy (at right in photo) is currently playing shortstop for the Mustangs in the City of Artesia fall league, alongside his younger brother Christian, (at left in photo) who is five years his junior. The two will team up full time next season. And just for good measure, there is a third brother, five years younger than Christian, the third of the Martinez brothers to play baseball at Tustin High School. As a pitcher who’s had the privilege to play in front of these two, I can tell you they throw the leather. Shades of the fellow who helped introduce Andy to fastball, a Mustang teammate, Terry Canale, former Long Beach Nitehawk great who recently earned All World honors himself at the ASA 45+ Nationals last month.

(Photo courtesy of Fred Hanker)

Posted in Players, So Cal, Teams | No Comments »

Help Wanted – Pitcher for AAU

Thursday, October 20th, 2005

The Union Storm, a team from Ontario, Canada is looking for a pitcher for the AAU tournament in Orlando, FL in January 2006. Click here for contact information. The tournament is played at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex, one of the finest fastball facilities in the country. The fastball diamonds are adjacent to the Atlanta Braves spring training facility at the complex.

Last year’s tournament hosted a number of international teams, hailing from the Caribbean, Venezuela, Mexico, Canada and the U.S., 28 teams in all. For a complete recap of last year’s tournament, click here.

For a look at the five galleries of photos from last year’s tournament, click here.

Posted in Players, Tournaments | No Comments »

Sonny Perkins Bumped to ASA “A” Pitchers List

Wednesday, October 19th, 2005

To no one’s surprise, Sonny Perkins has been bumped up to the ASA “A” pitchers list. Sonny’s last couple of seasons have been stellar, capped off last month with the announcement of his selection to TEAM USA. Currently, he is featured on the cover of Fastpitchwest.com.

It was just September 2003 when a certain out of state ASA commissioner approved him to play in the “C” Nationals, notwithstanding the fact that California ASA Region 14 had him classified as a “B Restricted” pitcher at the time. Go figure. (That’s a lot of improvement in a couple seasons, Sonny, from “C” to “B” to “A” 😉 ) Well, regardless, the folks in So Cal know Sonny as one of the best players around, and are proud of his accomplishment in making TEAM USA. In 2005, he pitched in the ASA Major tournament and the ISC World Tournament, and has shown that he can compete with the best in the game — as a hitter, and as a pitcher.

The pitchers’ list at the ASA Region 14 website contains a note that as of October 10, 2005, the classification list is not yet complete, so keep an eye on that list before the first pitch of the 2006 season.

The “A” list is a pretty select group: Matt Barnes, Glen Davis, Tony Peeples, Phil “Sonny” Perkins, Mark Bennett Mark Higgins, Travis Price, Lonnie Brooks, and Tony Hunoff.

The “Major” list is a list of one: Bill Hillhouse, who turned in some outstanding performances in this year’s ISC World Tournament for Keating’s Fitness, who moved up from the ISC II division in 2005. Bill teaches pitching back on the east coast, runs a website, (“Houseofpitching.com“) and serves as an ISC official in his spare time. He is responsible for bringing international teams to this year’s ISC World Tournament, including the Czech Republic and Denmark. This past week, Bill was in Aruba, giving pitching clinics to the folks there. He has played a key role in helping fastball to become a truly international game.

Posted in ASA, General, Players, So Cal | No Comments »

Billy Montana is Most Valuable Pitcher at NAFA Masters 50+ World Series

Friday, October 14th, 2005

Billy Montana was selected as the Most Valuable Pitcher at the NAFA Masters 50+ World Series held October 8-9, 2005 at Carson City, NV. Montana’s team, Badger Roofing of Prescott, Arizona was the winner of the tournament, the second year for the NAFA event. Badger Roofing also won this summer’s ASA 50+ Masters National in their hometown of Prescott, AZ, staking their claim as the top 50+ team in the country.

So Cal’s Bill Trembley, Dave Long and Tony Coppin of the So Cal Master were also selected to the All World team. The So Cal Masters have been the top 50+ team out of California for a number of years, finishing third in this year’s ASA 50+ Masters National in Prescott. The So Cal Masters finished a disappointing 1-3 in the NAFA Masters last weekend, finishing fourth.

For the complete list of All World selections, click here.

Next year’s ASA 50+ Nationals are slated for July 8-10, 2006 in Prescott, Arizona.

Posted in NAFA, Players, Tournaments | No Comments »

So Cal ASA Announces Pitchers Bumped from Class “C” to Class “B”

Thursday, October 13th, 2005

From the So Cal ASA website:

The six teams and the pitchers that are being moved up are:

* Amigos – Anthony Martinez
* Black Sox – Randy Clay
* Primetime Fast Pitch – Danny Zupp, Billy Montana
* RAW – Jerome Clark
* Rounders – Mitch Mendenhall, Gerald Pyle
* Rude-Pac – Tommy Obergon

Do click the link above and take the time to read the entire explanation for these and the team bump-up changes noted in separate Morning Brief posts below.

Feel free to post your comments below.

Posted in ASA, Leagues, Players, So Cal, Teams | No Comments »

California ASA Region 14 Pitcher Bump-ups Pending

Wednesday, October 12th, 2005

The same October 1, 2005 Meeting Minutes for California ASA (Region 14) note pending “bump-ups” for pitchers, not yet identified officially.

The committee then discussed the need to move pitchers up to the “B” list from the teams that are being moved up in classification from “C” to “B”. However not enough information nor time was available to get into specifics. John Gouveia will send to each committee member via e-mail, a player list from each of the teams that are being moved from “C” to “B”. The committee members will review the list and make recommendations on the pitchers they think should be reclassified from “C” to “B”. Robert Hernandez has already made a determination on the majority of pitchers he wants moved up and will finalize his decisions within the week and provide that information to John Gouveia.

C. Player List: Robert Hernandez will update the player list based on the committees decisions on teams and pitcher moves in classification, and on team and pitcher drops from the current list.

Post your comments by clicking the “Comments” link below.

Posted in ASA, Players, So Cal | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »