Kevin Castillo’s dad Paul provided an update to let us know that Kevin had surgery on the broken fibula and torn ligatments on Sunday, and that it went as well as could be expected, considering the injury, which the doctor’s described as “significant”.
We were told that Kevin was back at the ballpark Sunday, after surgery, to root for his Lumberkings teammates. The Lumberkings responded by winning the tournament.
En Espanol:
(click for schedule of games and more info)
We are assembling the info for a full report, but in the meantime:
Finals
Team Rainey/IAC 11
Grillos, Santa Cecilia MX 1
5 innings
WP-Sebastian Gervasutti
LP-Panfilo Valdez
Semifinals
Team Rainey/IAC 3
Portland DeMarini 2
WP-Bricklen Anderson
LP- Matias Tessore
Grillos, Santa Cecilia, MX over
Innovative Communications
WP – Panfilo Valdez
LP – Steve Black
Quarterfinals
Team Rainey/IAC 2
A1 Bombers 1
WP-Sebastian Gervasutti
LP-Lucas Mata
(Sebastian Gervasutti of Team Rainey/IAC, Best of the West MVPitcher)
(photo by Maddy Flanagan)
Most Valuable Pitcher
Sebastian Gervasutti
Most Valuable Player
Chase Turner
ISC Berths
Rainey/IAC and Portland win ISC berths
ISC II Berths:
Innovative Communications and Rude Pac earn ISC II berths
News and notes:
Team Rainey/IAC turned an 0-3 Saturday into a 4-0 Sunday, including a quarterfinal win over the then-unbeaten A1 So Cal Bombers. Rainey/IAC played well enough on Saturday, but had nothing to show for it at the end of the day. Their Saturday included an extra inning, 2-1 loss to the same Bomber team, with the same pitching match-up – as Sunday, Argentines Sebastian Gervasutti for Rainey and Lucas Mata for the Bombers.
The Bombers came into the tournament as the # 5 ranked team in the World, while Rainey was the next highest ranked team, at # 16. It was Rainey’s 0-3 Saturday that produced an unlikely match-up of the two powerhouses in a Sunday morning quarterfinal — the 3-0 Bombers as the top seed, and Rainey as an 0-3 low seed. As the # 5 seed from Pool A actually had to play and win an 8:30am Sunday morning game just to get to play the Bombers in the quarter final.
The rematch Sunday was equal to Saturday’s game, with Rainey coming away the winner, 2-1, scoring the game winner in the bottom of the 7th inning, on a double-throwing error. Coming home with the winning run was Rainey/IAC’s Chase Turner, who was 3-for-3 in the game, with two hits off Robbie O’Brien and a third against Lucas Mata, who came on in relief. Turner had an outstanding weekend, and was named as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
The Best of the West victory was the fourth for Team Rainey, which won the tournament three consecutive years in 2002-2004. It was the Bombers in 2005 which broke the string, followed by Innovative Communications’ back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007.
Innovative Communications of Utah turned in yet another strong performance for the third year in a row, having won the Best of the West back-to-back in 2006 and 2007. They wound up tied for third this year, with Portland DeMarini, winning a dramatic come-from-behind-last inning game against Rude Pac, 5-3, to get into the semi-finals against the hitting machine that was Santa Ceclia, Mexico.
Mark Summers of the River City Rockers hit five (count ’em, 5) home runs on the weekend, while Esteban Solano of the Grillos of Santa Cecelia Mexico, had four.
Portland DeMarini: Matias Tessore pitched 22 innings, surrendering only 3 earned runs, while Matt Barnes pitched 8 innings and gave up 2 earned runs. The leading hitters for Portland on the weekend were: Todd Garcia – .364, Paul Reyes – .364, Rob Gehrke – .357 and Cullam Ryan – .308. Chris Wright, Ryan Daly, and Todd Garcia led the team in RBIs with 3 each. Jeff Reich hit a game winning home run against Long Beach Black Sox and Todd Garcia also hit a home run against Long Beach Black Sox.
The Grillos of Santa Cecila, Mexico hit 15 home runs as a team. (In case you were wondering, the ball was a standard issue, new model K-Master as used by the ISC, and the portable fencing was set at championship distances)
River City Rockers: Mark Summers was 10 of 13 at bat with 5 home runs and 2 doubles. Mike Abernathy was was 8 for 13 in his first tournament of the year. Zack Abernathy was 7 for 14 and Mario Pereira was 7 for 15 with two home runs. Summers and Pereira both hit home runs off of L. Mata of the Bombers. Summers hit a home run in 4 of the 5 games the Rockers played.
(click for schedule of games and more info)
Teams:
1. Casa Trejo – A1 Bombers (Palm Springs, CA) – 3-0
2. DeMarini (Portland, OR) – 2-1
3. Innovative Communications (Lehi, UT) 1-1-1
4. River City Rockers (Citrus Heights, CA) 0-2-1
5. Team Rainey / IAC (Whittier / Stockton, CA) – 0-3
Group B
1. Grillo’s (Santa Cecelia, MX) – 3-0
2. Black Sox (Long Beach, CA) 2-1
3. Rude Pac (Sun Valley, CA) – 1-2
4. Manor Dirtbags (Manor, TX) 1-2
5. Young Bucks (Santa Barbara, CA) – 0-3
Sunday June 8 Elimination Scores
Game #16 A5 Vs B4
8:30 AM Pershing Park – Field #1
(A5) Team Rainey/IAC – 5
(B4) Manor Dirtbags, TX – 0
WP- n/a yet
LP- n/a yet
Game #17 A4 Vs B5
8:30 AM Cabrillo Park
(A4) River City Rockers – 17
(B5) Young Bucks – 9
WP – n/a yet
LP – n/a yet
River City led 11-9 going into the 6th inning and scored 6 runs for the final 17-9 score.
Game #18 A3 Vs B2
8:30 AM Pershing Park – Field #2
(A3) Portland De Marini – 4
(B2) Long Beach Black Sox – 3
WP – Matias Tessore
LP – Ron Rupp
HR – Jeff Reich (Portland) – the game winner
Quarterfinals
Game #19 A1 Vs Winner of Game #16
10:15 AM Pershing Park – Field #1
Team Rainey/IAC – 2
(A1) A-1 So Cal Bombers -1
WP – Sebastian Gervasutti
LP – Lucas Mata (in relief of Robbie O’Brien)
Game #20 A2 Vs B3
10:15 AM Cabrillo Park
(A2) Innovative Communications, UT – 5
(B3) Rude Pac – 3
WP – Russ Chadwick
LP – Mark Bennett
Game #21 B1 Vs Winner of Game #17
10:15 AM Pershing Park – Field #2
Grillos, Santa Cecelia MX – 4
River City Rockers – 0
WP –
LP –
Final Four
Game #22 – Winner of Game #18 Vs Winner of Game #19
12:00 Noon Pershing Park – Field #1
Semifinals
Team Rainey/IAC 3
Portland DeMarini 2
WP-Bricklen Anderson
LP-Matias Tossore
Grillos, Santa Cecilia, MX over
Innovative Communications
WP – Panfilo Valdez
LP – Steve Black
Game #23 – Winner of Game #20 Vs Winner of Game #21
12:00 Noon Pershing Park – Field #2
Team Rainey/IAC – 3
Portland De Marini – 2
WP – Bricklen Anderson
LP – Matias Tessore
Jesse Duncan drove in the game winning run in the bottom of the 7th inning , with the bases loaded.
Championship Game
Game #24 –
Winner of Game #22 Vs Winner of Game #23
1:45 PM Pershing Park – Field #1
Finals
Team Rainey/IAC 11
Grillos, Santa Cecilia MX 1
5 innings
WP-Sebastian Gervasutti
LP-Panfilo Valdez
(click for schedule of games and more info)
Teams:
Final Round Robin Standings After Three Games Saturday
1. Casa Trejo – A1 Bombers (Palm Springs, CA) – 3-0
2. DeMarini (Portland, OR) – 2-1
3. Innovative Communications (Lehi, UT) 1-1-1
4. River City Rockers (Citrus Heights, CA) 0-2-1
5. Team Rainey / IAC (Whittier / Stockton, CA) – 0-3
Group B
1. Grillo’s (Santa Cecelia, MX) – 3-0
2. Black Sox (Long Beach, CA) 2-1
3. Rude Pac (Sun Valley, CA) – 1-2
4. Manor Dirtbags (Manor, TX) 1-2
5. Young Bucks (Santa Barbara, CA) – 0-3
(click for schedule of games and more info)
Tournament director David Blackburn will be phoning in scores to Fastpitchwest from the Best of the West Tournament in Santa Barbara, California, after each set of games on Saturday. We will be posting them up here at the Morning Brief.
The ISC II’s # 1 ranked team, the California Lumberkings play CPI, from Oswego, New York today at 1pm EDT, 10:00 am. West coast time. CPI is one of the top teams in the ISC II, currently ranked # 6. In January of this year, CPI tied for third in the very tough AAU tournament, becoming the first ISC II team to finish that high. Shaun Winship, a hard throwing Canadian pitcher joined CPI last year, giving them a potent weapon on the mound and at the plate, as Winship has home run power.
See the links on the left hand side of this page for the Shootout.
Here is the Scoreboard page.
(ISC All-World Team Pitcher Lucas Mata of the So Cal Bombers)
(photo by Maddy Flanagan)
Last Year’s ISC World Tournament Runner-Up So Cal Bombers the Team to Beat
(Santa Barbara, California) – The 18th Annual Best of the West Men’s fastball Tournament will be held June 7 – 8 in Santa Barbara, CA. The Tournament is the longest running open tournament, held annually in California. Ten teams will vie for the 2008 Championship, with a berth in the 2008 ISC World Tournament, and a berth in the 2008 ISC II Tournament of Champions will be awarded, to the highest finishing teams in each category.
Heading the field will be the 2007 ISC World Tournament Runner Up, the Casa Trejo Bombers of Palm Springs. The Bombers pitching staff includes two of the best pitchers in the world, Lucas Mata of Argentina, (pictured above) and New Zealander Marty Grant. On Offense, the Bombers are lead by the 2001 ISC World Tournament Most Valuable Player, Darren Box of Canada. This will be the Bombers debut for the 2008 season.
Click here for a look at Maddy’s Photos from last year’s Best of the West.
For So Cal fans, Santa Barbara is a couple hours drive up the coast, and the scenery along the beach can’t be beat. Don’t want to make the drive? Rooms in Santa Barabara too expensive? Catch the Amtrak. train, which runs right along the water. It leaves Union Station in L.A. at 7:30am and will get you to Santa Barbara by 10am or so. Put your feet up and enjoy a cup of coffee on the way. The trains home leave Santa Barbara at 4:30pm and 7pm daily. The Sunday morning trains will get you there in time for the semis and finals. We’ll look for you on Sunday’s train.
The ballpark is a few blocks from the ocean. . The train station is just 7/10ths of a mile from the fields. .
Click here to see an aerial view of the ballpark.
DRIVING DIRECTIONS
Coming South on Hwy 101, from Northern California, exit at Castillo. Go right on Castillo two blocks. The two fields at Pershing Park are on the right.
Coming North on Hwy 101, from Southern California, exit at the Garden Street off ramp. Go left to Cabrillo. Go right on Cabrillo about a half mile. At Castillo, go right, about 1 block, and the two fields at Pershing Park are on the left.
(click for schedule of games and more info)
Familiar Faces Back on the Mound for Team Rainey This Weekend at Best of the West
Sebastian Gervasutti (shown above) is back. Back in Black. Back from a winter season in Guatemala and his home country of Argentina, and back with his former team, Team Rainey. And from colder regions north, hard-throwing Bricklen Anderson is back. And, of course, Team Rainey is back, after a one-year hiatus.
“Seba”, “Brick” and Team Rainey will be back together again this weekend in beautiful, sunny Santa Barbara, for the 18th Annual Best of the West Tournament. They will be among the favorites in the tournament, along with fellow ISC teams, the So Cal Bombers and Portland DeMarini. The last time we saw Sebastian with Team Rainey, it was in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, in the 2006 ISC World Tournament, where he/they played very well, knocking off two higher ranked teams, and nearly making it to the Top 10, falling to a powerful Heflin Gremlin team.
Sebastian figures to be in mid-season form, having spent the winter pitching at the AAU (where his team Mac’s Sprayers won the title), and in Guatemala. We caught up with him last weekend as he was making his way through the airport, enroute to California. He was excited to be here, and excited to be pitching with his old teammates.
Team Rainey is a local success story. Founded by its namesake, Rod Rainey in 1998, the squad began playing at the “C” level, and worked their way up, the old fashioned way, through hard work, and adding talent as they went, one piece at a time. Starting with the core nucleus of Rod Rainey, Jesse Duncan, Tony Acedo, Ralph Salcido, Dee Nieblas, who played together locally, they added the Hunt brothers, Chris and Tim (both Team USA players), then Nate Devine (also Team USA member) and Mike Butler.
They arrived on the game’s biggest stage, the ISC World Tournament, in 2003, with pitcher Travis Price as the centerpiece. They upset a # 6 ranked Owen Sound, Ontario team that year, and nearly made it to the Sweet Sixteen, falling in a first-ever round-robin playoff game for the final slot, at Kimberly, Wisconsin. The team continued to build and grow in 2005 and 2006, adding pitcher Tony Peeples (who is now with Rainey rival So Cal Bombers). Along the way, the team notched some big wins against some big teams and pitchers, including a 2005 Rose Cup victory over Korrey Garreau, last year’s ISC Outstanding Pitcher at the Rose Cup tournament.
The 2006 season brought two top pitchers to the fold, Bricklen Anderson from British Columbia, and Sebastian Gervasutti, from Argentina. But with fewer teams and tournaments out west, the team found itself traveling to the midwest and parts east so they could continue to play the top level teams, in preparation for the ISC World Tournament. Three hour time zone differences and jet lag take their toll, as does the cost of operating an ISC World Tournament level team. So in 2007, Rod Rainey decided to shutter operations. But his love of the game and top level competition kept him around the diamond, as he and a few of his players wound up playing up north for Portland in 2007. But after securing commitments from his two pitchers, Sebastian Gervasutti and Bricklen Anderson, and adding players from Team USA Manager Pete Turner’s IAC squad, Team Rainey is again a team. And once again, they have their sites set on the Best of the West title, which they held for three years running (2002-2004). The competion for this year’s trophy will be stiff. Standing in their way is last year’s ISC World Tournament runner-up, the So Cal Bombers, with All-World pitcher Lucas Mata. The Bombers were the team that finally dethroned Rainey as Best of the West champion in 2005 after Rainey’s three consecutive titles, and are currently ranked # 5 in the world. Team Rainey enters the 2008 season at # 16. Defending Best of the West champions Innovative Communications of Utah will be back in Santa Barbara as well. They have won back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007 and looking to match Rainey’s three-in-a-row record. Portland De Marini will be there as well, and a host of others. This one figures to be the strongest field of teams in the 18 year history of the tournament — and one that So Cal fastpitch fans don’t want to miss.
The ISC II # 1 ranked team, the California Lumberkings open the Snapper Shootout in Niagara Falls, Ontario Friday night at 9pm EDT (6pm PDT), against the Ohsweken Redmen. They will play two more round games on Saturday, a 1pm EDT game against CPI of Oswego, New York, and a 7pm EDT game against Wyevale. Rankings of teams shown in parentheses.
Game #4 – Friday night, 9pm EDT (6pm PDT)
(#1) California Lumberkings
(#37) Ohsweken Redmen
Game #15 – Saturday, 1pm EDT (10am PDT)
(#1) California Lumberkings
(#6) CPI Fastpitch
Game #23 – Saturday, 7pm EDT (4pm PDT)
(#1) California Lumberkings
(#17) Wyevale Tribe
The California Lumberkings split an exhibition doubleheader Thursday night in St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada, dropping the opener to the host Niagara Snappers, then winning the nightcap, 4-2 over the GHFL All-Stars. The games were charity fundraisers for Melissa Brideau, (Click here for details).
Click here to listen to an interview with Jason Paylove about the fund raiser.
The Lumberkings traveled east this week to the Niagara Falls area for the “Snapper Shootout”, arriving early Thursday, so they could participate in the exhibition games, organized by Dan Bernard of the Snappers, with a big assist from ISC II commish Blair Setford. who arranged the broadcasts on Ballparkradio, and publicized the event on his website, GHFL.ca. Blair enlisted lead announcer Kyle Smith and Snapper Matt Bedrosian to do color. (Blair broadcast the first game, then played third base in the second game for the GHFL squad, notching a base hit for good measure).
In the opener, the Snappers shut down the potent Lumberking offense, in a game that could easily have been the ISC II championship last summer in Kitchener. The Snappers lost a heartbreaking, extra-inning game to eventual winner TNT of Pennsylvania in the semis, or they would have met the Lumberkings in the finals. The Lumberkings went on to finish second, while the Snappers tied for third with A-1 Taylor Farms, of California. Thursday night’s game saw different rosters for both clubs than those which played in the 2007 ISC II, but a well matched game nonetheless. In the end, it was the Snapper pitching that made the difference, shutting out the Lumberkings, no easy feat.
In the nightcap, an all-star cast from the Golden Horseshoe Fastball League played the Lumberkings dead even into the top of the 7th inning, until Gerry Kennedy hit a three run homer to break the 1-1 tie, enroute to a 4-2 win. Kennedy was brought in by the Lumberkings to fill the big shoes of All-World DH, Jon Nimmo, (who hit several big home runs in last year’s T of C). Gerry Kennedy, or “GK” as his teammates call him, showed Thursday night that the shoes were a perfect fit. Kennedy was named the game’s most valuable player.
The Lumberkings will head down the road from St. Catherines, Ontario to Niagara Falls, Ontario, for this weekend’s Snapper Shootout. Watch this blog for scores this weekend.