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Archive for the ‘ISF’ Category
Drotzmann, Tan, McKinney & Kelly get invites to USA camp
Thursday, September 11th, 2008Softball Canada Announces Senior Men’s National Team Athlete Pool
Monday, September 8th, 2008
(click icon to see original post at Al’s Fastball)
Softball Canada Announces Senior Men’s National Team Athlete Pool
Monday, September 8, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September8th, 2008SoftballCanada Announces Senior Men’s National Team Athlete Pool
(Ottawa,ON) – Softball Canada is pleased to release the list of players who have been selected to the Senior Men’s National Team Athlete Pool for the 2009 season. From this list, 17 will be chosen to represent Canada at the 2009 ISF SeniorMen’s World Championships, which will be held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan from July 17-26, 2009. Final selection will be made later this fall.
ATHLETE Hometown1. Colin Abbott Portugal’s Cove, NL
2. Frank Cox Charlottetown, PEI
3. Craig Crawford Markham, ON
4. Jody Eidt Mitchell, ON
5. Jeff Ellsworth St. Lawrence, PEI
6. Trevor Ethier Saskatoon, SK
7. Blair Ezekiel Harbour Main, NL
8. Brad Ezekiel Harbour Main, NL
9. Ian Fehrman Townsend, ON
10. Korrey Gareau Campbell River, BC
11. Chad Ghostkeeper Prince George, BC
12. Rob Giesbrecht Landmark, MB
13. Pat Graham Paris, ON
14. Jason Hill St. John’s, NL
15. Dean Holoien Melfort, SK
16. Darrell Joy Calgary, AB
17. Dale Levy St. Mary’s, ON
18. Keith Mackintosh Melfort, SK
19. Pat Mackintosh Melfort, SK
20. Todd Martin Bracebridge, ON
21. Derek Mayson North Vancouver, BC
22. Steve Mullaley Freshwater, NL
23. Rob O’Brien Elora, ON
24. Sean O’Brien Ottawa, ON
25. Grant Patterson Penetanguishene, ON
26. Andrew Phibbs Jarvis, ON
27. Mike Piechnik Victoria, BC
28. Evan Potskin Prince George, BC
29. Paul Rosebush Bakersfield, California
30. Jason Sanford Durham, NS
31. Kevin Schellenberg Squamish, BC
32. Don Scott Sebringville, ON
33. Darrell Tilley Camrose, Alberta
34. Nick Underhill Campbell River, BC
35. Sean Whitten Calgary, AB
36. Ryan Wolfe Melbourne, ONThe Canadian Senior Men’s National Team recently won the 3 Nations Challenge inSaskatoon, SK in July, and is currently ranked 2nd in the World.
Formore information, please contact:
GillesLeBlanc
Manager– Marketing and Communications
SoftballCanada
(613)523-3386 x. 3105
gleblanc@softball.ca
Great Britain Invites Players for 2009 ISF
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008Our good friend Russ Snow, head coach for Great Britain’s 2009 ISF team, is looking for players to add to their World Championships ’09 roster. Russ, as many of our readers know, was a teammate of mine on the Vista Bombers in the early 1990’s, then played for Larry Miller Toyota, SLC, UT and Long Beach Painters in the later 1990’s, and has been a standout pitcher on a number of Master’s teams, including several National Championship squads. Russ was named the Outstanding Pitcher at last year’s NAFA Masters East. Russ spends part of his time in Great Britain, and part here in California, in the Escondido area, where he (though not his ranch) survived the San Diego fires of 2007.
[London, September 3rd 2008,] – After qualifying for the World Championships ’09 in Saskatoon a few weeks ago in Copenhagen, Denmark, Great Britain’s Mens Fastpitch team is inviting all players with a British passport, or able to get one to get in touch with the GB staff.
The 2009 ISF World Championships will be held from 17-26 July in Saskatoon, Canada. For those that want to apply for a British passport, you can only get one if one of your parents has a British passport as well.
Please contact us asap should you be interested
Great Britain staff:
Russ Snow, Head Coach, rjsnow(at) yahoo.com
Norman Ames, Assistant Coach, norman.ames(at) gielissen.nl
Stephen Fullan, Team Manager sfullan(at) ntlworld.com
2008 ISF European Championship Gets Underway
Monday, July 28th, 2008
(click banner for official tournament website)
PRESS RELEASES FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SPORTS MOVEMENT
July 28, 2008
SOFTBALL EURO EVENT STARTS TODAY IN DENMARK
(July 28-Aug 2)
The 2008 European Championship Men “A†gets underway today in Copenhagen, Denmark. The six-day fast pitch tournament will see the following eight countries participating:
Belgium
Croatia
the Czech Republic
Denmark
Great Britain
Israel
the Netherlands
Slovakia
The Czech Republic is the defending champion. This event will qualify the European participants for next year’s ISF XII Men’s World Championship. For more information visit www.eurofastpitch2008.dk.
Bruce R. Wawrzyniak, Director of Communications
International Softball Federation (ISF)
1900 So. Park Road
Plant City, FL 33563
USA
p. (1-813) 864-0100, ext. 229
c. (1-813) 453-8762
f. (1-813) 864-0105
www.internationalsoftball.com
Reder gets chance to play with USA Jr. Men
Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
(click banner logo for story at official site)
July 4, 2008
By Paul Johnson Special to the Beacon News
It’s been quite a whirlwind for recent Marmion graduate Robert Reder in the world of fastpitch softball.
His grandfather, Bob, and father, Robin, are a part of the long-time tradition of the sport in Aurora. And after an appearance with Team USA at the International Softball Federation Junior Men’s World Fast Pitch Championship, Robert has joined that tradition as well.
Reder caught every other game for Team USA — which finished 5-6 at the tournament — which was held at Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada, from June 20-29.
Two years ago, Robert Reder was discovered subbing for his father’s team and suddenly found himself playing for the 19U national team.
“I was surprised I made the team,” Reder said. “Usually there is a national tournament that the kids play in, and I never went to one. I just filled in for a team and someone there knew (national team coach Tim Lyon) and told him about me. It was really cool.”
Twelve countries were represented at the tournament, which was won by Australia. For Reder, it was the first time that he had ever left the country and had the chance to interact with so many people from such diverse backgrounds, one of the highlights of the trip.
“I hung out with a lot of kids from New Zealand and Argentina,” Reder said. “Argentina had a couple of translators with them. It was kind of funny. The New Zealanders have that cool accent, and they were all big boys. It was fun off the field getting to know everyone. They’re just teenagers like us.”
Prior to heading up to the Yukon Territory, the team played some games in Utah to prepare for the world championships. From Salt Lake City, the team flew 2½ hours to Vancouver and had a layover before flying another 2½ hours to Whitehorse.
“The travel was kind of frustrating,” Reder said. “It took a whole day to get up there. The airport in Whitehorse is a lot smaller than Chicago. That was weird. And I didn’t expect it to be that much colder up there. It was about 60 the whole time.”
Reder will still play softball “here and there, whenever I can” the rest of the summer. He has not closed the door on his baseball career either. He is headed to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville in the fall and will try to walk on to the baseball team.
But softball is suddenly on Reder’s radar for years to come.
“I still like baseball,” Reder said. “I don’t really have a preference. After college, hopefully I get to play baseball, but after that, I’m sure I’ll be coming back and playing for my dad’s team (Dolan & Murphy). It’s a family thing.”
USA Finishes 3 Nations Challenge at 0-5
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008From:
Posted: 7/7/2008
USA Men’s National Team Concludes 3 Nations Challenge with loss to Japan
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan — The USA Men’s National Team closed the 3 Nations Challenge in Saskatoon, SK on Sunday afternoon with a 9-3 loss to Japan. Team USA played well holding a lead for the first four innings of the game. The game was played in cool rainy conditions and included two rain delays of over one hour. Team USA finished the tournament at 0-5.
“Even though our won loss record does not show it, this was a highly successful trip for the team,†said USA head coach Pete Turner. “We brought a developmental team to Canada with a lot of young hitters and pitchers. We were competitive with the Japanese and Canadian teams that will be participating in next years World Championships.”
The U.S. opened the game with three runs in the first on walks to Chase Turner Stockton, Calif.) and Kyle Magnusson (Salt Lake City, Utah), and then a three-run line drive off the scoreboard by Frank DeGroat, Jr. (Ringwood, N.J.).
Starting pitcher Travis Price (Corona, Calif.) held the Japanese through the first three innings giving up only a solo home run in the bottom of the third. The Japanese tied the game in the fourth on two singles and a walk combined with a throwing error by the Americans.
Price gave up two more runs in the fifth before giving way to relief pitcher Cody Thomson (Herriman, Utah). Team USA had great scoring chances in the third and sixth inning, but a lack of timely hitting and great defense by the Japanese held the Americans scoreless. Magnusson led the Americans again going 2-for-2 and ended the tournament hitting .510. Catcher DeGroat Jr. also went 2-for-3 with all three USA RBI.
The Americans will conduct a try out camp this fall for the 2009 National Team that will compete in next years ISF Men’s World Championships to be held in Saskatoon, SK..
Team Canada won the 3 Nations Challenge with a 1-0 win over Japan on Sunday evening.
United States 300 000 0 3 5 4
Japan 001 224x 9 10 0
Winning Pitcher – Kazutaka Muros
Losing Pitcher – Travis Price
USA at Tri Nation Challenge
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008
Posted: 7/6/2008
USA Men continue to struggle at 3 Nations Challenge
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan — The USA Softball Men’s National team will conclude play today in the 3 Nations Challenge after the Americans finished pool play at 0-4. The U.S. will battle Japan for its third time in as many days looking to muster its first win of thetournament. The game will begin at 1 p.m. MST with the winner moving on to play Canada at 3:30 p.m. MST for the championship title.
The Japanese finished 3-1 while Canada finished at 3-1 and earned the No. 1 seed with a Saturday evening 9-2 win over Japan.
See below for recaps from Friday and Saturday.
Saturday, July 5 – Japan 13 USA 6
Team USA closed the pool play portion of the 3 Nations Challenge, with a loss to Japan on Saturday night, 13-6 in five innings. Team USA pitching struggled with the powerful Japanese bats giving up four home runs. The Japanese have hit seven home runs in twelve innings against Team USA in this tournament. The U.S. grabbed its first lead of the tournament in the top of the first when Kyle Magnusson (Salt Lake City, Utah) hit a solo home run.
The lead moved to 2-0 in the top of the second when Eddie Ketelhut (Canton, Mich.) got on base on a Japanese error, and stole second base. He then scored on a Bryan Hansen (Denmark, Wis.) single.
The Japanese responded with nine runs in the bottom of the inning off American starter Paul Algar (Lexington, Ill.) and reliever Sean Kelly (Homer, Mich.). Algar went one and a third inning giving up eight runs (five earned) while walking four. Kelly relieved going one and two thirds of an inning giving up four earned runs. Travis Price (Corona, Calif.) closed out the game going one and a third inning allowing one run.
Magnusson led the American hitters going 2-for-3. Chase Turner (Stockton, Calif.) went 1-for-3 and Steve Pinocchio (Merced, Calif.) went 1-for-1 hitting a pinch hit grand slam in a four-run fourth inning for the Americans. Takuto Tsutsui hit two home runs for the Japanese, while Youhei Ono went 1-2 with a grand slam in the second inning.
USA 110 40 6 6 0
Japan 090 31 13 10 3
Winning Pitcher: Kunihiko Iida Losing Pitcher: Paul Algar
Friday, July 4 – Canada 9 USA 5
The USA Men’s National Team continued to struggle to find a break in a tough luck loss to Canada on Independence Day in Saskatoon, SK. The Canadians beat the Americans 9-5 before 1,231 fans at Bob Van Impe Stadium. The Americans continued to hit well, out hitting the Canadians nine to five, but left five runners stranded while playing the Canadians close through five innings.
Starter Gerald Pyle (Simi Valley, Calif.) went four and one third innings giving up three hits andtwo earned runs. Cody Thomson (Herriman, Utah) relieved for Team USA going an inning and two thirds. Canada’s Trevior Either was the winning pitcher throwing four innings and was relieved by Frank Cox.
The Canadians opened up a three-run lead in the first, scoring three runs, two of which were unearned. The Americans began their scoring in the third inning with three runs, all with two outs. A Nate Devine (Merced, Calif.) double scored Chase Turner (Stockton, Calif.) for Team USA’s first run, and then Devine scored when Frank DeGroat, Jr. (Ringwood, N.J.) hit a long home run to right field. The Americans scored a single run in the sixth when Kyle Magnusson (Salt Lake City, Utah) led off the inning with a single and then scored on a Matt Palazzo (Pleasant Hill, Iowa) double. Nate Devine (Merced, Calif.) closed out the American scoring in the seventh with a towering home run estimated at over 370 feet that drew a loud ovation from the Canadian crowd.
USA 003 001 1 5 9 2
Canada 310 032 x 9 5 1
Winning Pitcher: Trevior Either Losing Pitcher: Gerald Pyle
Al’s Fastball Coverage of Tri-Nation Challenge
Monday, July 7th, 2008Al Doran has all the coverage of this past weekend’s Tri-Nation Challenge in Saskatoon:
Full details on the Three Nations Challenge at Alsfastball
Some individual pieces on Al’s News Page as well.
Mackintosh rounds third, now heading for home
Monday, July 7th, 2008
From the The StarPhoenix:
Dustin Munroe
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Canada’s Craig Crawford is out on second, with Japan’s Yu Nishimori gunning for a double play in the 3 Nations Challenge on Friday at Bob Van Impe Stadium. Photo Credit: –SP Photo by Richard Marjan
Before the music is cued for Keith Mackintosh, he is looking forward to one more dance.
Mackintosh is competing in the 3 Nations Challenge tournament this weekend at Bob Van Impe Stadium, what he calls the dress rehearsal for the International Softball Federation world men’s championship next summer in Saskatoon.
For the first time in his 13-year career with the Canadian team, Mackintosh got to play with the national team in Melfort, where he was born and raised. The Canadians had an exhibition doubleheader against the U.S. there on Wednesday, winning twice.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling to be introduced in your hometown as part of a national team,” said Mackintosh. “I’m nearing the end of my career, so it’s pretty special for me to experience those moments.
“I played all my minor ball in Melfort, we had a good core of players who lived and breathed the game. Our team, coming from a community of 5000 people, won the bantam western championships, bantam national championships and the junior national championships before we all moved on.”
Canada defeated the U.S. 4-2 in the opening game of the Challenge on Thursday. In the late game Japan defeated the U.S. 8-3. Canada played Japan and the U.S. on Friday. Action continues today, with Japan playing Canada at 6:30 p.m. and Japan against the United States at 8:30 p.m. Playoffs are on Sunday.
Mackintosh lives in Saskatoon with his wife, Kim, and sons Riley, 10, and Matthew, 4, and plays club ball with the Aspen Interiors Black Sox.
“They’ve all been involved in the game, Kim played when she was younger,” said Mackintosh. “They’ve all been really supportive of me travelling around.
“I’ve made a deal with my wife and kids that if I don’t make the ’09 team that will play here, I’m retiring this year. I’m not ready to retire this year, but if the Canadian championships (in Saskatoon in late August this year) is my last tournament, then I’ll be good with that.
“This year will be my 19th senior men’s nationals. It would be nice to make the ’09 national team, finish up 20 years (of senior national play), and call it a career.”
He is one of 20 players vying for spots on the 2009 national team.
Mackintosh’s playing career may be in the twilight, but he looks forward to getting a new generation excited about the sport.
“Both of my kids will be playing and I’ll give them the same kind of support my parents did for me,” he said. “There will also be a few more weekends at the lake in the summer.”
Mackintosh’s favourite softball moment is winning gold at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. You get the feeling playing in the 2009 world championship in front of the home crowd would be even sweeter.
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2008
USA Men Drop 2 at 3 Nations Challenge
Saturday, July 5th, 2008Thanks to Julie Bartel/ASA/USA Softball for this information.
For Immediate Release: 7/5/08
USA Men’s National Team UPDATE from 3 Nations Challenge
Game 1- Thursday, July 3
Canada 4 USA 2
In the Opening game of the 3 Nations Challenge in Saskatoon, the USA Men’s National team pitching kept the powerful Canadian Men’s Team off balance. The Canadian hitters managed only four hits off of pitchers Sean Kelly (Homer, Mich.) and Cody Thomson (Herriman, Utah). Kelly, the starter went five strong innings giving up four runs and four hits in five innings, walking three and striking out one. Kelly dropped to 0-1 in the tournament. The crowd of 1,950 was treated to early action as the Canadians led off the game with a solo home run by Ryan Wolfe. Wolfe had a three- run homer in the fifth and accounted for three of the four Canadian runs.
The American bats have struggled to get key hits. The USA outhit Canada five to four. Leadoff hitter Blake Miller (Kingsville, Texas) went 2-for-3 and was the catalyst for the American offense. In the fourth, Miller led off the inning with being hit by a pitch and was advanced to third by a Steve Pinnochio (Merced, Calif.) bunt and a Canadian error. Matt Palazzo (Pleasant Hill, Iowa) then scored Miller with an infield out. In the fifth inning, right fielder Eddie Ketelhut (Canton, Mich.) led off with a single and scored on a single by Blake Miller.
The Americans moved to 0-1 in the Challenge while Canada moved to 1-0.
Canada.1.0.0.0.3.0.0-4.4.1
USA………..0.0.0.1.1.0.0-2.5.0
Winning Pitcher: Frank Cox Losing Pitcher: Sean Kelly
Game 2 – Thursday, July 3
Japan 8 USA 3
The second game of the night was a slugfest as Japan and the United States combined for 20 hits in a three hour and twenty minute marathon. Japanese shortstop Ryuji Hazeyama led the Japanese with a home run and two singles. The Americans were led by right fielder Chase Turner (Stockton, Calif.) who had a single and a home run. Nate Devine (Merced, Calif.) also went 2-for-3 after replacing USA centerfielder Chad Seeman (Chenoa, Ill.) who was lost for the tournament with a fractured finger that happened on a bunt attempt in the third inning. The game was close until the fifth when the Japanese scored five, keyed by a Masateru Matsuoka grand slam. The Americans continued to hit well, but left nine runners on base.
Losing pitcher Travis Price (Corona, Calif.) went 5 2/3 innings giving up nine hits and eight runs. The Japanese threw four pitchers led by starter Tatsuya Hamag who went four innings and struck out nine. The Americans dropped to 0-2 in the tournament. Japan is now 1-0.
Japan 020 105 0 8 10 0
USA 000 002 1 3 10 0