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The Gremlins’ pitching dominates the first day of the fast-pitch Virginia Classic

Daily Press
12:01 AM EDT, May 3, 2009

Merchants lose two

The Peninsula Merchants lost their first two games at their season-opening tournament, the Virginia Classic men’s fast-pitch softball event at Francis Asbury Park in Hampton.

The Merchants dropped a 7-6 decision to Cornerstone Excavating (Pa.), though Peninsula pitcher Joe Hineline struck out eight and allowed just one earned run. The Merchants’ Justin Stock had two runs and two RBI, and teammate Dave Caitlyn was 1-for-3 with two runs.

Cornerstone’s Merlin High pitched 3 2/3 innings for the save, striking out six and yielding two hits. Travis Musser was 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI, and Justin Zimmerman was 2-for-3 with a run.

The Merchants then lost 7-0 to the New York Gremlins as Brian Newton pitched a no-hitter with 16 strikeouts, walking one. Jeremy Tracy was 2-for-2 with two walks, two runs and two RBI, and Reggie Barrou was 3-for-4 with two runs.

Amazingly, the Gremlins also pitched a perfect game, beating Cornerstone 10-0. Tracy pitched five innings without allowing a baserunner and struck out 10. Derek Puckash was 2-for-2 with two runs, and teammate Jay Herr was 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI.

In the Merchants’ third game of the day, they were trailing 4-2, with Cornerstone coming up in the bottom of the sixth, when rain forced play to be suspended for the night. That game was scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. Sunday, followed by a Gremlins-Merchants game at 9:30 and a game to be announced at 11:30 a.m.

Saturday’s results

NEW YORK GREMLINS 10, CORNERSTONE EXCAVATING 0, 5 INNINGS

Standouts — Gremlins, Tracy (pitched perfect game, 10 strikeouts), Puckash 2-2 (2 runs), Herr 2-3 (2 runs, RBI).

CORNERSTONE 7, PENINSULA MERCHANTS 6

Standouts — Cornerstone, High (pitched 3 2/3 innings, 6 strikeouts, save), Musser 2-4 (2 runs, 2 RBI), Zimmerman 2-3 (run); Merchants, Hineline (8 strikeouts, yielded 1 earned run), Caitlyn 1-3 (2 runs), Stocks 1-3 (2 runs, 2 RBI).

GREMLINS 7, MERCHANTS 0

Standouts — Gremlins, Newton (pitched no-hitter, 16 strikeouts, walked 1), Barrou 3-4 (2 runs), Tracy 2-2 (2 walks, 2 runs, 2 RBI).

–After 5 1/2 innings, Cornerstone was coming to bat with a 4-2 lead against the Merchants when rain forced a suspension of play.

ISC announces appeals process for players in ISF competition

April 7, 2009 – The International Softball Congress is announcing a modification to existing ISC II eligibility rules for players and pitchers who compete in the ISF World Championship.

The modified rule will enable players or pitchers who play in the ISF World Championship to file an appeal for ISC II eligibility. ISF pitchers and players must follow the same appeals process in place for those named on the ISC II Ineligible Pitchers List or PRAWN list or who competed in the most recent ISC World Tournament, Canadian Senior Men’s National Championship or ASA Major National Championship. Pitchers and players who have previously been classified as eligible for ISC II are exempted from having to appeal.

The rule change was approved by the ISC Executive Committee.

Under the previous eligibility rules, pitchers and players who competed in either of the most recent Pan Am championship or the ISF World Championship were not eligible to play in ISC II competition, effectively a four-year ban with no avenue to appeal. The rule change provides the ability to appeal.

The stipulation with regard to the Pan Am championship has been deleted as men’s fastpitch is no longer a part of the Pan Am Games. Pitchers and players who participate in the Pan Am qualifier will be governed by the ISC II Ineligible Pitchers List along with the requirement for all international region pitchers and players to be approved by the ISC prior to playing in ISC II.

At the time when the Pan Am/ISF rule was conceived in late 2003, it wasn’t believed that any ISC II pitchers would be members of a national team, but with the continued “internationalization” of fastpitch, there are at least three pitchers currently at the ISC II level who would have been unable to continue to play in ISC II for four years under the old rule. In addition, interest has been expressed by some international teams about playing in the ISC II Tournament of Champions, which they would not have been able to do prior to this change.

The updated Eligibility Rules are reproduced below and can be found in the ISC II section of the ISC website at www.iscfastpitch.com.

For further information on the ISC, please contact

Ken Hackmeister
ISC Executive Director
iscken@comcast.net

or

Jim Williamson
ISC II Vice-President
jrwilliamson@foodfacility.com

ISC II Eligibility Guidelines

Below are the Guidelines for ISC II eligibility for teams, position players and pitchers. Please note that all eligibility issues must be resolved prior to any team, player or pitcher participating in any ISC II Travel League, Regional Qualifying Tournament or Championship Tournament. See below for submitting appeals.

Teams:

Teams that competed in the previous year’s ISC World Tournament, the previous year’s ASA “Major” Tournament or the previous year’s Canadian Senior Men’s Championship and are returning at least 70% of their roster cannot play in the ISC II Tournament of Champions unless an appeal is granted.

Appeals will be considered through the process outlined below until June 1 of the current year.

Position Players:

Any player who participated in the most recent ISF World Championship, the previous year’s ISC World Tournament, the Canadian Senior Men’s Championship or the ASA “Major” National tournament or is an ISC “PRAWN” cannot play in the ISC II Tournament of Champions unless an appeal is granted. Appeals will be considered through the process outlined below until June 1 of the current year.

Pitchers:

Any pitcher that participated in the most recent ISF World Championship, the previous year’s ISC World Tournament, the Canadian Senior Men’s Championship or the ASA “Major” National tournament or is an ISC “PRAWN” or whose name appears on the ISC II Ineligible Pitchers list published in the ISC II section of the ISC website cannot play in the ISC II Tournament of Champions unless an appeal is granted.

Appeals will be considered through the process outlined below until June 1 of the current year. Note: Appeals for pitchers/players in the most recent ISF World Championship must be filed by June 1, but evaluation will not begin until the first day after completion of the ISF tournament.

Exceptions:

Pitchers who are currently classified as ISC II eligible are exempted from having to appeal if they pitch in the ISF World Championship.

Rosters:

All ISC II team rosters must be approved by the ISC prior to participation in any Qualifying Tournament or Championship Tournament.

No team, player or pitcher will be allowed to compete in both the ISC World Tournament and ISC II Tournament of Champions in the same season.

No player or pitcher may attempt to qualify for the ISC II Tournament of Champions from more than one region or for more than one team in any one season.

Pitchers or players who play on an ISC team which qualifies for the ISC World Tournament but does not attend are not eligible to play in the ISC II Tournament of Champions.

ISC II teams may have up to three (3) out-of-region players, including from the international region. There is a limit of two (2) out-of-region pitchers per team, including from the international region. All out-of-region players must be registered with the ISC, and the appropriate fee must be paid by May 1 of the current year.

NOTE: It is mandatory that any international region pitcher or player be submitted for approval even if he doesn’t appear on the ineligible list.

Additional details on out-of-region player registration and fees can be found on the ISC website under the Rules section.

Once teams have qualified for the ISC II Tournament of Champions, they are allowed three (3) pickups from ISC II-eligible players from within their region. Pickups must meet all ISC II eligibility guidelines and must be noted on the final roster submitted at the Tournament of Champions registration.

Returning teams must have 70% of their roster to qualify for an automatic berth for the following year.

Appeals:

All appeals must be submitted no later than June 1 of the current year to your ISC Regional Vice President (see the Contacting Us page for details) using the ISC Appeal form (available on the Rules and Forms page).

Any eligibility questions not covered above should be directed to your team’s Regional VP and copied to ISC II VP Jim Williamson (jrwilliamson@foodfacility.com) and ISC II Commissioner Blair Setford (blairjs@rogers.com).

The ISC strongly suggests resolving eligibility questions early so there are no surprises or disappointments prior to league, tournament or championship play.

Jim Williamson
ISC II Vice President
jrwilliamson@foodfacility.com

Blair Setford
ISC II Commissioner
blairjs@rogers.com