Archive for the ‘ASA’ Category

South Bend Newspaper Story on ASA Major

Saturday, August 4th, 2007

From the

Outlaws pick up ASA victory

MEN’S SOFTBALL

Elkhart’s Duncan Outlaws picked up the lone local win on the second day of the ASA Men’s Major Fast Pitch National Softball Tournament at Belleville Complex.

The Outlaws topped the Ashland Mets (Ashland, Ohio) 3-2 in the nightcap behind Allen Hodge with two hits including a triple and an RBI. Craig Foor added a pair of hits in the win.

Jeff Brown tried to provide enough offense by connecting for a single, double, and a home run to drive in three runs, but the Outlaws dropped a close game, 5-4, to HBC Rice Creek Lightning (Homer, Mich).

Tim Smart added a pair of singles and an RBI in the loss.

The Outlaws fell to The Farm Tavern (Madison, WI) 11-0 in the late game.

Benton Harbor’s Plangger team surrendered six runs in both of its games and was unable to make up the difference.

Plangger dropped its opener 6-4 to Dolan & Murphy (Aurora, Ill.) and 6-2 later in the afternoon to the Midland Explorers (Midland, Mich).

In other games:

Midland Explorers (Mich.) 4, Ashland Mets (Ohio) 0: Craig Crawford had a home run and two RBIs.

Thomson Area Merchants (Ill.) 10, Bloomington Stix (Ill.) 5: Steve Manson had a single and two homers to drive in four runs in the win. Marquis Cody had three hits and three RBIs, John Brandon had a pair of singles and a double with two RBIs, and Chad Seeman had a single and home run for three RBIs.

The Farm Tavern (Wis.) 7, Dolan & Murphy (Ill.) 2: Rob Gray and Colin Abbott both singled and homered in the win. Kevin Schellenberg singled and doubled, and Jason Hill had two singles and a double in the win.

Bloomington Stix (Ill.) 8, Dolan & Murphy (Ill.) 6: Chad Seeman had three hits and three RBIs and Thomas Cameron singled and homered to drive in three runs for Stix. Paul Montero had three hits and Mitch Pruemer added two doubles in the win. Dolan was led by Camden Decker with a single and a triple and Adam Perkins with two hits.

Broken Bow Gremlins (N.Y.) 5, Florida Fastpitch (Fla.) 2: Jordan Taveras had two hits, including a double.

Patsy’s (N.Y.) 3, Quad City Sox (Ia.) 0: Gerald Muizelaar had 12 strikeouts, holding the Sox to one hit. Travis Wilson homered and had two RBIs.

Quaker Riversharks (Pa.) 4, Midwest Stampede (Ia.) 0: Blair Ezekiel homered to lead Quaker. Dennis Jensen and Chris Bowman both had two hits for the Stampede.

Circle Tap (Wis.) 8, MinnDak Millers (N.D.) 6: Frankie Perez had two hits, including a home run to lead Circle Tap. Tim Jorgenson had two hits, including a triple, Tom Crouch had two hits, and Chris DeLarWelle homered. Brian Lammeng singled and homered to knock in three runs for MinnDak.

Midland Explorers (Mich.) 3, Bloomington Stix (Ill.) 2: Brant Lynch had two hits for Midland.

Florida Fastpitch (Fla.) 5, Thomson Area Merchants (Ill.) 2: Terry Luster struck out 11. Fastpitch was led at the plate by Blake Miller with a double and home run with three RBIs, and Mike Brown with a single and double. B.J. Gulick homered for Thomson.

The Farm Tavern (Wis.) 3, Midwest Stampede (Ia.) 0: Zenon Winters homered and had two RBIs. Benise Hanson had two singles for the Stampede.

MinnDak Millers (N.D.) 11, HBC Rice Creek Lightning (Mich.) 2: Ward Goose pitched a three hitter with 13 strikeouts. Gregg Cascaes had two hits and four RBIs and Goose singled and homered to drive in two runs for MinnDak.

Midland Explorers (Mich.) 3, Quad City Sox (Ia.) 2: Midland was led by Todd Schultz and Steve Horning with two hits each. Horning drove in the winning run in the seventh. Billy Kranz had two hits and Henry Schelb had a single and a double for the Sox.

ASA Major – And Then There Were Six

Saturday, August 4th, 2007

Midland Over Florida, The Farm Over Minn Dak

From

Winner’s Bracket Final:
Patsy’s vs. Riversharks (ISC # 2 vs. ISC # 3)

Loser’s Bracket Semi-finals:

11am EST – The Farm vs. Broken Bow (ISC #6 vs. ISC # 1)
11am EST – Midland vs. Circle Tap (ISC # 12 vs. ISC # 8.)

1pm EST – Loser’s Bracket final, with winners of 11am games
3pm EST – Loser’s Bracket Winner vs. Winner’s Bracket Loser

5pm EST – Championship Game
7pm EST – “if” game

Click here for the updated bracket at Al’s Fastball

ASA Major – Day 3

Saturday, August 4th, 2007

Eight Teams Left Standing As Tournament Heads into Day 3

Matchups for Saturday:

Winner’s Bracket Final:
Patsy’s vs. Riversharks

Loser’s Bracket:

9am EST – The Farm vs. MinnDak Millers
11am …….winner to face Broken Bow at 11am

9am EST – Midland vs. Florida Fastpitch
11am……….winner to face Circle Tap at 11am

1pm EST – Loser’s Bracket final, with last two standing from above 6 teams
3pm EST – Loser’s Bracket winner vs. loser of Winner’s Bracket final (Patsy’s-Riversharks)

5pm EST – Championship Game
7pm EST – “if” game

Click here for the updated bracket at Al’s Fastball

ASA Major – Day 2 Scores

Friday, August 3rd, 2007

From

Click here for the updated bracket at Al’s Fastball

As of Friday night:

Unbeaten:(4)

Broken Bow (2-0, def. The Farm, Florida)
Patsy’s (2-0, def. Duncan, Quad City)
Riversharks (2-0, def. Midland, Stampede)
Circle Tap (2-0, def. Thomson, MinnDak)

One Loss (7)

The Farm (1-1, def. Dolan & Murphy, lost to Broken Bow)
Midwest Stampede (1-1, def. Bloomington, lost to Riversharks)
Minn Dak Millers (1-1, def. Ashland, lost to Circle Tap)
HBC Rice Creek (1-1, def. Duncan, lost to Quad City)
Thomson Merchants (1-1, def. Bloomington, lost to Circle Tap)
Quad City (1-1, def. HBC Rice Creek, lost to Patsy’s)
Midland Explorers (3-1, def. Ashland, Plangger, and Bloomington, lost to Riversharks)

Eliminated (6)

Planggers (0-3, Losses: Florida, Dolan & Murphy, and Midland)
Ashland Mets (0-3, Losses: MinnDak, Midland, Duncan)
Duncan Outlaws (1-3, def. Ashland, lost to Patsy’s, HBC Rice Creek and The Farm)
Dolan & Murphy (1-2, def. Planggers, lost to Midland, Bloomington)
Bloomington (1-3, def. Dolan & Murphy, lost to Stampede, Thomson and Midland)
Florida Fastpitch (1-2, def Plangger, lost to Broken Bow and Thomson)

Friday Scores

(more…)

ASA Major – Day 2 Preview

Friday, August 3rd, 2007

ASA Major Winner’s Bracket Down to Elite Eight

After an opening round of games yesterday, the ASA Major winner’s bracket is down to eight unbeaten teams, and provides the following matchups today:

Florida Fastpitch vs. Broken Bow, 1pm EST
Quad City Sox vs. Patsy’s, 3pm EST
Midwest Stampede vs. Riversharks, 3pm EST
Minn Dak Millers vs. Circle Tap, 3pm, ESQ

The top opening night matchup was The Farm vs. Broken Bow, with the Gremlins coming out on top. That sends an awfully good team to the loser’s bracket early, no picnic for teams in their path. Dolan and Murphy & Planggers play for the privilege in a “loser’s bracket play(back) in” game today.

In the winner’s bracket, Bow, Patsy’s and the Riversharks (ISC World # 1, # 2 and # 3 ranked teams) would have to be considered favorites in their games today, with the MinnDak v. Circle Tap (ISC World # 7 and # 8.) figuring to be the closest contest of the afternoon. But of course, teams have been proving the rankers wrong all year, so we’ll let these games play out on the field. Florida Fastpitch always seems to do well in the Major, with a couple of runner-up finishes the past couple years, but faces ISC # 1 Broken Bow in their second game of the tournament.

In the Loser’s Bracket, (ISC # 13) Midland starts the long road back, winning it’s “play in” game against Dolan and Murphys before falling 3-0 in a close contest against the Riversharks. From their standpoint, at least they are at the opposite end of the bracket from ISC # 6 The Farm. The loser’s bracket alternates teams from the winner’s and loser’s bracket, meaning that advancing losers won’t see a team from the winner’s bracket until their third and fifth games.

First day surprises? The Midwest Stampede came in as the ISC #26 ranked team, and knocked off # 17 Bloomington Stix, inspiring a Butch Cassidy-Sundance Kid-like commentary from fans about the Stampede, “Who ARE those guys?”. Stampede pitcher Kim Hansen may not be a household name (yet), but he tossed a two hit shutout, striking out 12 against a solid Bloomington Stix team.

Duncan Outlaws and Rice Creek Michigan are both playing up in class, and will face each other in the loser’s bracket after opening night losses, with the winner facing the Circle Tap-Minn Dak loser.

Click here for the updated bracket at Al’s Fastball

Friday morning update: While we were posting this, the 9am games finished up, with Midland topping Ashland while Dolan and Murphy beat Planggers. That means Planggers drops to 0-2 and will have to get past Midland to avoid going 0-3 and being the first team of the tournament to be eliminated. In some odd bracketing, if Planggers had beaten Dolan, Midland and Dolan would have faced each other twice in their first three games. Dolan’s victory this morning will put them in the path of the freight train called “The Farm”, right now.

ASA Major – Day 1 Recap

Friday, August 3rd, 2007

From

Recap of Opening Day at the ASA Men’sMajor Fast Pitch National Championship

South Bend, Ind.—The 2007 Men’s Major Fast Pitch NationalChampionship is underway in South Bend Ind., at the Belleville SoftballComplex as 17 teams compete for the title of “Best of the Best”.This marks the third time that this event has been hosted at the BellevilleSoftball Complex.

Game one between Dolan & Murphy of Aurora, Ill.and the Midland Explorers of Midland, Mich., proved to be the most excitinggame of the day. Explorers Craig Crawford hit a walk-off home run in the bottomof the seventh inning to give Midland a 4-3 win. Doug Sleep was the winningpitcher while Juan Potolicchi suffered the loss for Dolan & Murphy.

Florida Fastpitch of Jacksonville, Fla., had no trouble dismantlingPlangger Furniture of Benton Harbor Mich., in game two. FloridaFastpitch scored 10 runs off 10 hits in 4 ½ innings of work. Terry Luster gotthe victory in the circle allowing just four hits in the 10-0 win. RickPlangger was tagged with the loss.

In one of the most anticipated match-ups of the day, the Broken BowGremlins of Clifton Park, N.Y., sent the Farm Tavern of Madison, Wis., to the losers’bracket with a 4-2 win. Jarred Martin led the way for the Gremlins with a3-for-3 performance that included two singles, a home run and two RBI. AndrewKirkpatrick held the Farm to just three hits to earn the win, while RobSchweyer took the loss.

Henry Schelb led the Quad City Sox of Davenport, Iowa, to a 5-3 winover HBC Rice Creek Lightning of Homer, Mich.in game four. Schelb had a single, a home run and three RBI to pace the Soxoffense. Al Rebling collected the victory in the circle while Sean Kelly wastagged with the loss.

Patsy’s of New York Citycruised past the Duncan Outlaws of Elkhart, Ind., 9-1, in just five innings tostay in the winners’ bracket. Catcher Frank DeGroat was the offensivestar for Patsy’s driving in six runs on a double and a home run. DeGroatis only the sixth player in ASA history to drive in six runs in a single game.Gerald Muizelaar held the Outlaws to just three hits in five innings of work tosecure the win. Allen Hodge suffered the loss for the Outlaws.

Kim Hansen was spectacular in the circle for the Midwest Stampede ofDes Moines, Iowa, fanning 12 to lead his squad to a 3-0 win over theBloomington Stix of Bloomington, Ill. Chris Anderson provided the run supportfor the Stampede by driving in three runs off two singles. Max Montero took theloss for the Stix.

The Midland Explorers, playing their second game of the day,didn’t fair as well in the nightcap and fell into the losers’bracket after being shut out, 3-0, by the Quaker Riversharks of Ambler, Pa. JeffEllsworth plated two runs in the victory with a single and a double. Frank Coxtook the win for the Riversharks while Grant Petterson was tagged with theloss.

The final two games of the night ended early due to the ASA run-rule.MinnDak Millers of Fargo, ND, slammed the Ashland Mets of Ashland, Ohio, 12-2,in five innings to move on in the winners’ bracket. Zach Goring led theMillers at the plate with a single, a home run and three RBI. Ward Gosseallowed just two runs off three hits to pick up with win. Ryan French was thelosing pitcher.

Circle Tap of Denmark, Wis., thedefending ASA National Champion, swept past the Thomson Area Merchants ofThomson, Ill.8-0, in five innings. USA National Team member, Chris DeLarwelle provided theoffensive highlight of the game with a solo home run. Matt Bramwell wasdominating in the circle allowing just three hits while striking out 12 in fiveinning of work. Roberto Bahler collected the loss for the Merchants.

The championship continues on Friday beginning at 9 a.m. with loserbracket games.

Brian McCall
bmccall@softball.org

ASA Major Gets Underway in South Bend, IN

Thursday, August 2nd, 2007

Florida Fastpitch, Broken Bow, Quad City, Patsy’s, Stampede and Midland Winners on Opening Night

Click here for the updated bracket at Al’s Fastball

(Al’s Bracket is updated, ASA’s is not, yet)

Click here to view the ASA Bracket for the ASA Major Tournament in South Bend, IN, August 2-5, 2007. (PDF file, Adobe Reader required — since it’s on most computers, try double click and wait for it to load)

Opening night scores From

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ASA Major Bracket

Tuesday, July 31st, 2007

August 2-5, 2007 at South Bend, Indiana


Click here to view the Bracket for the ASA Major Tournament in South Bend, IN, August 2-5, 2007. (PDF file, Adobe Reader required — since it’s on most computers, try double click and wait for it to load)


Click here for the tournament website.

Editor’s notes: Speaking of tough draws (see note on Midland below), how about this one: ISC # 1 Broken Bow vs. ISC #6 The Farm in an opening round matchup? 4pm EST Wednesday. (All game times on bracket are EST, adjust your time zone accordingly)

Note that the championship game(s) are slated for Saturday night, August 4th, not the 5th. There will only be games on August 5 in the event of inclement weather.

With the ISC and NAFA going to a cork center ball for safety’s sake, the ASA Major will use the Kmaster poly core. In the past week, a pro baseball base coach and a 12 year old girl both died after being struck by a ball. Does it have to happen in fastpitch before they stop using the poly core rocket balls?

Oh, and then there is this inviting welcome from the ASA:

“Brackets shall be updated, as time permits, throughout the tournament. PLEASE – do not call the complex for game information as none shall be provided over the telephone!

Midland Explorers Net Sweep

Tuesday, July 31st, 2007

From:

(click logo for original article)

Explorers net sweep

The Midland Explorers men’s fastpitch team swept a doubleheader from Tiffany’s of Frankenmuth Saturday night at Emerson Park, winning 9-1 and 8-0.

In the first game, Doug Sleep earned the win while Duke Vanderaark took the loss.

Kyle Beane, Eddy Ketelhut, Steve Roberts, and Todd Schultz each had two hits for Midland. Dave Lach hit a home run for Tiffany’s.

In the second game, Grant Patterson was the winning pitcher and Todd Szagesh the losing pitcher. Craig Crawford had a pair of two-run homers, and Beane, Schultz, and Steve Horning each hit a home run.

The Explorers open the 17-team ASA Major National Tournament in South Bend, Ind., on Thursday at 4 p.m. vs. Dolan & Murphy (Ill.). The tourney runs until Saturday.

©Midland Daily News 2007

Editor’s note: Took a peek at Midland’s draws for the ASA Major and the ISC World. If they manage to win their first game in either or both — they run into Orillia, which held the # 1 spot in the rankings most of the year. Tough road to hoe.

Memphis Po-Men Capture 2nd 50+ Title

Monday, July 23rd, 2007

From the Memphis TN Commercial Appeal:

Over-50 softball team wins second national title

By Nick Zaccardi
July 23, 2007

[Mobile, AL] – The Memphis Po-Men, an over-50 fastpitch softball team, won the American Softball Association Men’s Seniors national championship earlier this month in what may have been the team’s final national tournament.

The third-seeded Po-Men defeated the No. 1 seed Texas Stars twice, including in the July 8 championship game, to win their second national title in four years.

They went 5-1 at the double-elimination tournament in Mobile, Ala.

About 6-to-8 players on the 17-man roster plan to retire, which puts the future of the team in serious jeopardy.

“It’s certainly one of the most recognized teams in the country as far as fast-pitch softball,” outfielder Robert Cooper said. “Quite a few of us, including me, are going to walk away and retire as national champs. You just reach the point where your body won’t let you do it. The sliding and running just takes a toll.”

The Po-Men are named after 64-year-old manager James Pope, who created the team more than 10 years ago.

Pope remains optimistic that his players could stick around for 2008.

“It depends on if everybody wants to commit to another year,” said Pope, who created the team about 12 years ago. “We haven’t talked about that yet. Last year was supposed to be our last year, and everybody decided in the winter to play another year. This time we’re in the same situation.”

Pope expects a final decision on 2008 plans in November.

As a result of the championship, six team members earned All-America honors: first baseman Larry Hunsucker, pitcher LeRoy Jolstad, outfielders Carl Mize and Danny Setchfield and infielders Richard Edwards and Gary Nilsen.

Jolstad threw a complete game in the championship as the Po-Men won, 2-1.

Copyright 2007, commercialappeal.com – Memphis, TN. All Rights Reserved.