(click link to visit official site)

Rival California Teams Nab Two of Top Three Spots in Prestigious Thirty-Five Team Tournament at Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, Squaring Off in Semi-Final

The golden state nabbed second and third place in the 2007 ISC II Tournament of Champions, with the Bakersfield Lumberkings edging A-1/Taylor Farms of Castro Valley 5-4 in a hard fought, extra inning battle. The Lumberkings dropped the final to South Lebanon TNT of Pennsylvania. Jon Nimmo was named as the All Tournament Designated hitter, entering the final day of the tournament 9 for 14, with three tape measure home runs in the tournament, including the game winning homer in the semi-final that cleared the perimeter fence and another moon shot in the title game against Pennsylvania that left the stadium, clearing the bleachers in left field. .

A-1 Taylor Farms’ pitcher Dave Drotzman was named to the All Tournament team, pitching the lion’s share of innings, going 4-1 in the tournament, including an opening day no-hitter, as well as batterymate Jeff Twist, who was named as the tournament’s outstanding catcher. Twist was among the top hitters heading into the final day, and among candidates for tourney MVP.

In the semi-final game between the two California squads, A-1/Taylor Farms scored three runs early, and Drotzman held the Lumberkings to just one run through six innings, needing three outs to advance to the title game. But the Lumberkings rallied for the come from behind victory, tying the game in the seventh on a bases-loaded walk, and clutch hit by Brian Teeters, and winning it in the eighth scoring the tie breaker run, followed by the booming home run into the trees beyond the perimeter fence in left by Jon Nimmo which proved to be the game winner. A-1/Taylor Farms did not go quietly though, coming back to score a run of their own in the bottom of the eighth inning, scoring their tie breaker run with no outs, then loading the bases with one out. The game ended on a somewhat controversial call, on a grounder to second that turned into a double play ball to end the game. The controversy arose from the attempted tag by Lumberking second baseman Greg Hicks of A-1’s Greg Oliver, who was running from first to second and called for being out of the baseline.

The Lumberkings were a perfect 4-0 in pool play, going on to win three consecutive playoff games, before falling in the final, finishing with a 7-1 record in the tournament, while A-1 Taylor/Farms also won their pool, going 3-1 including a win over defending champions Tavistock Ontario, and won two playoff games, finishing 5-2 in the tournament.

The All-California match-up in the semi-final game guaranteed a California team in the final.

Ontario Canada teams have dominated the ISC II division, with only one American team reaching the finals before 2007, Zeeland MI, a runner-up in the inaugural year. 2005 saw an all-Ontario final four, while three of the final four in 2006 were from the talent-rich province, with Rise Fastpitch of Pennsylvania breaking through.

California’s two teams, the Lumberkings and A-1/Taylor Farms, and South Lebanon PA’s victory in the title game marks a milestone, and erased the notion that American teams could not compete in the division. Ontario remains a hot-bed of top drawer talent and high caliber competition in the division, sending more than two dozen teams to the 2007 tournament — something that proved to be a draw rather than deterrent to the American teams in 2007.

The 2007 ISC II Tournament of Champions tournament was the second year in a row that Kitchener, Ontario, Canada hosted the tournament, with Decatur IL withdrawing as host of the 2007 tournament. Kitchener drew rave reviews from teams and fans alike for their community-based organization and supportive fans. The 2007 tournament drew even larger crowds than 2006, providing a “big game” atmosphere during the tournament’s games, culminating in a first-ever video telecast, on local Rogers Canadian television, as well as video streaming to a world wide audience thanks to a big assist from streaming media maven David Blackburn. Blackburn, from Southern California, introduced streaming audio to men’s fastpitch in 2001, producing audio broadcasts of the ISC World Tournament each year since, and adding video streaming the last couple years, with a record twenty telecasts produced in 2007.

The 2008 ISC II Tournament of Champions will be in Appleton, Wisconsin.

(more…)

Here is Blair Setford’s Recap of Day Four of the ISC II Tournament of Champions:

American Invasion (aka Damn Yankees!)
August 17th, 2007

The days of Ontario domination at the ISC II Tournament of Champions has ended (for this year, at least) as five of the seven pools were won by American teams, six of the Elite Eight were from south of the border and three of the Final Four come from below the 49th.

A howling wind seems to have blown in a changing of the guard at the ToC as the eight American teams in the tournament flexed their collective muscles and pushed most of the Ontario teams to the sidelines.

The upsets started in the first playoff game as wildcard Port Elgin Blue Devils finally woke up their slumbering bats and mercied the Harriston Mercury’s 9-1 before falling to A-1/Taylor Farms from California. It took A-1/Taylor nine innings to outlast the scrappy Ashland Merchants team 5-3 after Ashland eliminated the upstart Rockwood Rush. Rockwood had earlier turned out the lights on Pennsylvania Power 3-2.

Another wildcard, Jarvis Rock, ended the hopes of the Elora Wellington Brewers with a walk-off two-run HR by Brian Auld and were then knocked out by South Lebanon T.N.T. The final wildcard, Keating’s Fitness, eliminated Wyevale Tribe and Shakespeare Falcons, before getting dumped by T.N.T. in the the last quarter-final of the night.

Cutro Professional Inspections got a walk-off HR from Shaun Winship to eliminate the Bridgeport Braves before getting raked by the Niagara Snappers in the second round. The Snappers, in an all-GHFL quarter-final, triumphed in a 1-0 nailbiter to end the hopes of last year’s finalist Palermo Athletics. The last Ontario hope, Niagara Snappers, will play T.N.T. in the first semi-final.

California Lumberkings woke up their slumbering bats late in the game to eliminate Glencoe Astros 3-1 after Glencoe had disposed of Alvinston Indians 2-0. The Lumberkings would go on to eliminate Hoffman Rise 3-0, setting up an all-California semi-final matchup against A-1/Taylor.

Possible MVP candidates include Jeremy Tracy of T.N.T., Trevor Falk of Niagara and Jeff Twist of A-1/Taylor while Top Pitchers include Tracy, Jeff Van Hooser of Ashland, Corey Costello of Niagara, A-1/Taylor’s Dave Drotzman and Mike Egerdeen of the Lumberkings.

All three of the ISC II games on Championship Saturday can be heard at www.ballparkradio.com with both semi-finals starting at 9 am.

Lumberkings Run Record to 5-0 in T of C

The California Lumberkings of Bakersfield, California rallied for 3 runs late against the Glencoe Astros of Ontario Canada, escaping with a 3-1 second round playoff win. The Lumberkings trailed 1-0 in the 6th, tied the game and then scored two in the 7th for the win.

The Lumberkings drew a bye in the first round on the strength of their4-0 record in pool play.

Their next game will be a third round playoff slot at 5:30pm EST / 2:30PST on the back diamond at Budd Park, against a strong Hoffman Rise team from Pennsylvania. The Rise was a final four team at last year’s Tournament of Champions, finishing third.

A-1 Advances to Third Round of Playoffs at ISC II T of C

A-1/Taylor Farms of Castro Valley California won their first playoff game at the ISC II Tournament of Champions, 2-0 against the Port Elgin Blue Devils of Ontario Canada. the score was tied 0-0 into the 6th inning. Rick Moore was hit by a pitch and came around to score on a clutch hit by Greg Oliver. Dave Kimura added a solo home run in the 7th for an insurance run, giving winning pitcher Dave Drotzman some breathing room. Drotman went the distance in the game to pick up the win, surrendering just three hits, and getting 14 ground outs. Port Elgin pitcher Steve Ketchell struck out 14.

Port Elgin won their earlier playoff game, 9-1 over Harriston, ON, while A-1 earned a first round bye by winning their pool.

A-1/Taylor Farms will play the winner of Ashland Ohio/Rockwood Ontario at 5pm EST, 2pm California time, a game that will be broadcast on Ballparkradio.com.

(click link to visit official site)

Click here for the SINGLE ELIMINATION playoff bracket for the 2007 ISC II Tournament of Champions.