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BY CHRISTINE RIVET, RECORD STAFF

KITCHENER — This city should get back in the world softball game.

That sentiment comes from Dave Bailey, a player and coach with the two-time International Softball Congress’s world champion Kitchener Rivershark Twins.

Bailey’s team just returned from the ISC world tournament in Midland, Mich. where the R-Twins earned the silver medal.

“This tournament belongs in Ontario,” said Bailey who also runs his own senior men’s fastpitch tourney in his hometown, Tavistock.

“I had a lot of questions (about the new format), too,” he said. “But everything I saw said Midland was a great success.”

Back in March, a group of Kitchener-based organizers abruptly pulled out of hosting the 2011 worlds because the American-based ISC had changed the event’s format.

“We wouldn’t make the money that the groups expected to make,” Duncan Matheson, slated to be the 2011 tournament’s chair, told The Record in March.

“And I’m not about to lead a group of volunteers down a rocky road.”

The local organizing committee, comprised of ball associations and service clubs who would have split the proceeds, voted unanimously to walk away after the ISC combined the elite men’s bracket with the its second-tier tourney, thereby diluting the product, the Kitchener group said.

The Kitchener committee’s decision led to an acrimonious divorce with the ISC, leaving some to wonder if the sport’s governing body would ever return to Kitchener.

This city previously hosted some of the ISC’s most successful world tournaments, in 2002, 2006 and 2007.

Kitchener’s organizers estimated they raised close to $100,000 and drew about 50,000 fans for each of those events.

Local organizers also said the 2006 and 2007 events pumped about $7-million into the region’s economy through spinoff spending.

The Midland tournament’s co-chair David Lach said his committee’s objectives were more modest because it didn’t have the army of volunteers available in Kitchener.

“We were able to break even and meet our budget goals. All along our intent was not to make money on the event.

“The entire host committee was made up of members who were passionate about fastpitch softball and who wanted to leave a lasting memory. . .”

Bailey said differences between the Kitchener group and the ISC should be patched up for the good of the game.

He pointed out that 19 teams from Ontario competed in Midland, earning a clean sweep of all four division titles.

Bailey also said Kitchener’s Peter Hallman Ball Yard is a perfect venue for the ISC tourney’s new format.

“I’d love to see Kitchener get back in the game,” said Bailey whose R-Twins won world titles in 2008 and 2009.

The ISC’s 2011 world tournament has since been awarded to the Quad Cities area of Iowa and Illinois.

The R-Twins are in Charlottetown starting this weekend to defend their Canadian senior men’s fastpitch title.

crivet (at) therecord.com

(click logo to visit the new “Clips” section of ISC Broadcast site, another of the great features from Meridix)

Some great Canadian TV (CTV) news coverage of the Kitchener Rivershark Twins, courtesy of our friends at CTV.

Click here or thumbnail to view News coverage on Thursday, August 19, 2010

Click here or thumbnail to view News coverage on Saturday, August 21, 2010

Cap tip to Al Doran for connecting us with CTV.

(click logo for original news story)

By JACOB ROBINSON, SIMCOE REFORMER

Over the years, the Jarvis Travelers have won plenty of big name tournaments, but there was one — the ISC World Championship — that elude them. Making matters worse, the team had to sit and watch their Ontario rivals from Kitchener win each of the past two summers.

This year though, with a revamped roster, Jarvis finally climbed to the top of the mountain, winning their first ISC World Tournament Title in Midland, Michigan, Saturday night.

“It was amazing really, that’s what you live for,” said pitcher Andrew Phibbs. “That’s what you play the game for and it was really a dream come true.”
There was no shortage of storylines heading into the final game either. Three straight wins — one in extra innings — to start the week left Jarvis within shouting distance of the one-game, winner-take-all showdown.

The team hit a snag along the way though. A loss to the New York Gremlins 3-1 on Thursday in the “winner’s bracket” meant the club would have to win once on Friday, which they did, and then back-to-back contests Saturday just to have a chance at facing the undefeated Kitchener Rivershark Twins in the final.

“We knew that we had to win three games to win the championship, and we’ve beaten all three teams before, so before we left the hotel we said, ‘Let’s just take it one inning at a time, one game at a time,'” explained Travelers GM Clarke Staats.

After a 3-1 victory over Harrisburg Friday, things took what seemed like a disastrous turn in the quarter-final. The team’s ace, Aussie Adam Folkard, was taken out due to a shoulder injury and would be unable to return.

Unfazed, Jarvis turned to Trevor Ethier and Phibbs, who hadn’t been used for the entire week.

“Andrew didn’t get the ball at all…I talked to (coach) Daryl (Fehrman) during the week and said, ‘We’d better get Andrew throwing because we’re going to need him.’ He threw batting practice, and nobody likes to do that, but he did and when he got the call to come in, he was pretty excited. I know a few people that were nervous, but Andrew is such a competitor and a great athlete, and he wants the ball,” said Staats.

Phibbs held strong and the Travelers scored two on a passed ball in the eighth inning to edge Chicago/New York 6-4.

The semifinal against the Gremlins also went into extra innings, where shortstop Ian Fehrman hit a three-run home run in the 10th to give Jarvis a lead. They would hold on despite giving up two in the bottom half to win 5-4.

In the final, the powerful Rivershark Twins were waiting.

The Twins were without their ace Todd Martin, and so both teams took to the diamond looking for their depth pitchers to provide the biggest win of their careers.

Jarvis took a 2-0 lead in the second with two runs on three hits. Kitchener cut the deficit to 2-1 in the bottom half, and with the bases loaded, Jarvis took out Ethier and turned to Phibbs.

“Facing their number four batter Pat Shannon — it was a tough situation, your heart is pounding for something like that,” said Phibbs. “I just threw the ball and things worked out.”

Phibbs retired the next two batters to get out of the inning and, at that point, a world title seemed very possible.

“You got the sense right then and there that we have a good shot at winning,” said Staats.

“Andrew settled right in, hit the targets and proved that he’s a world class pitcher. We knew that Adam’s shoulder probably wasn’t going to allow him to play, and I can’t say enough about the job (Phibbs) did. He made the difference for us.”

Nick Shailes and Brad Rona hit back-to-back solo home runs in the sixth to extend the lead. In the seventh inning, with two down, Phibbs got Kitchener’s Ryan Wolfe to ground out to Ian Fehrman, who delivered a strike to Travelers veteran Pat Graham at first to end it.

“When I saw that ball go to Ian, we knew he would make the play, and Pat is always sure-handed, that’s why he was in the game,” explained Staats. “And when it hit Pat’s mitt, it was party time. It’s a pretty amazing feeling — it’s still sinking in.”

The script was something out of a movie for Phibbs, who didn’t look like he’d be called upon at the start of the week.

“It was like, I didn’t really believe I was in that predicament,” he said. “When you’ve got someone like Adam Folkard, he should be pitching in that situation, but he wasn’t able to go. For me to be in there was just awesome. We had a lot of guys that hadn’t won the ISC Championship before — we figured we had only 4 guys had won it — to be able to help them and be a big part of it was pretty special.”

Jacob Robinson
jrobinson (at) bowesnet.com