Archive for June, 2010

Women’s ISF World Championships – Day 2

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

World Clock for Caracas, Venezuela

New Zealand Women, 8, Botswana 1

Click her for Play by Play


Australia (link to page)

Argentina 4, South Africa 3

Rough Google translation
Original news story from Martin Jorge
Head of Media and Communication
Softball Confederation Argentina

Argentina National Team earned their first victory this afternoon in the ISF Women’s World Championship, which is being played in the city of Caracas, Venezuela. At a heated and contested encounter , Argentina beat South Africa, 4-3 and thus achieved its second victory in World Cup history.

The game was completely evenly from start to finish. Was noticed throughout the game that the series of games between these two teams just a week ago in Buenos Air allowed both teams to study your opponent and know perfectly the strengths and weaknesses of his opponent.

Argentina went ahead in the opening of the first inning, by Pamela Clark’s double with two outs, to bring the dish to Florence and Carla Olheiser Villalva. However, the closure of the entrance to South Africa drew the shares. A long double to left by Novelli Bianca brought the dish to Candice Stephens, and a batter later she would step the plate thanks to a blunder of the Argentina defense.

The home team struck again on the third episode. Olheiser Florence, the great figure of the whole offensive albiceleste (April 3, two runs scored, an RBI) singled, advanced to second thanks to the sacrifice of Villalva, and stood in third after a pass ball. With the table set, Valeria Livschitz brought to the plate connecting a strong line on third base. However, the African team leveled the shares immediately. Kim Nicholson walked, got in scoring position thanks to a sacrifice, and Novelli boosted its second run of the game with a single.

From there, the game went on the side of the pitchers for two periods. Virginia Sciuto by Argentina and South Africa nicolena Jones, controlled the actions of the party. Until the end of the sixth inning, Sciuto was simple and was relieved, no outs, by Carla Villalva. A base on balls, and a third on a fielder’s choice which failed to remove the runner loaded the bases with one out and put the game on the line for both teams. Perhaps it was this the most important moment of the game and Villalva overcame the threat by striking out the next batter, and forcing a grounder to end the inning.

This gave the Argentina one extra morale boost when taking his turn at bat, that would not pass. With one out, Agustina Godoy walked, and taken to second by a touch of Nadia Heis, allowing the definition of the game in the hands of Florence Olheiser, with runners at second and two outs. And Florence is dressed heroine once more with a single to center field to drive the fourth and final race.

Villalva closed the door at the end of the seventh, striking out the last batter of the game and won the game rising, with two innings pitched, 2 hits, one walk and two strikeouts. Virginia starting pitcher went Sciuto, who allowed five hits, three runs (two clean), giving a single ticket and striking out one.

On offense, Florence Olheiser was the most prominent, with Pamela Clark (1 of 3, 2 RBI) and Valeria Livschitz (1 of 3, 1 RBI) also plays a great job.

Thus, Argentina returned to World Cup triumph after sixteen years getting a crucial victory in the aspirations of the selection. Argentina will face Canada tomorrow, to 19 pm in Caracas (20.30 Hs Argentina) for the third game of the group.

Education: Agustina Godoy 6 Nadia Heis 5, Florence Olheiser 3 Villalva JD Carla, Pamela Clark 9, Valeria Livschitz 8, Soledad Angeletti 2, Natalia Jimenez 4, Magali Frezzotti 7, Virginia Sciuto 2.

Jorge Martin
Head of Media and Communication
Softball Confederation Argentina

Legends Of Fastball Classic this weekend in Kitchener

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

Fastball Fans, here we go — the Legends opens up Friday nite with 5 games at Peter Hallman Ball Yard with ten of the top twenty teams that will be at the ISC World Championships in Midland in a few short weeks.

Click here for the first issue of Diamond Dirt with a copy of the flow chart (schedule) showing the times of almost 3 dozen fastball games including the local #1 ISC Ranked Kitchener Hallman Rivershark Twins, the KW Cubs, Elmira Expos, plus the #2 ranked Jarvis Travelers, #3NY Gremlins, #4 NY/Chicago Dominicana, #6 Midland Michigan Explorers, other strong teams such as Owen Sound, Niagara, and Port Elgin (last years ISC II champ) ….plus in the junior division a four team tournament featuring Waterloo, Linwood, Brantford and Fingal…

THIS isn’t your company picnic softball tournament….see you at the ball park.

-Dennis Dosman


(click to enlarge)

USA Women Top China 1-0

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

From Jennie Finch’s blog:

Day #3
Today we had a big win against China, we won 1-0! It felt good getting our uni’s on and competing! Venezuela has really created an Olympic style atmosphere in Caracas! The stadium is gorgeous and the stands were full of people.


Cat pitched a great game for us on the mound.

Ashley Hansen started us off getting on base and stealing 2nd in the top of the 7th.


Lappin moved her to third on a ground ball to 2nd and

Tasha came up HUGE with a line shot the pitcher barely tipped with her glove to score Hansen! It was the lone run we needed! It was a great game. Lots of action on defense, I played 1st base. It felt good to get the games started and good to get our juices flowing! The crowd was nonstop with cheers, noise makers, and lots of horns. We are so grateful for all of the support here in Caracas!

You can follow the games @ USASoftball.org! There will be live stats and updates throughout World Championships! Lots of pictures are posted too!

Tonight we are resting up getting ready for our two games tomorrow. We play New Zealand at 11am and then come back to play the home team Venezuela at 7pm! We are expecting lots of people and lots of noise for the Venezuelan game!

The food here has been delicious! Lots of fresh vegetables, chicken, salad, fresh fruit, and of course great desserts! We are enjoying the delish coffee here too! Yesterday we had Watermelon juice with lunch that was quite tasty.

Go USA!

Believing!
#27


Click here for the Team USA Women’s Media Guide

Click here for USA Softball website with live stats and schedule

Scoreboard – Women’s ISF World Championships

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

Click here for Scoreboard for Women’s ISF World Championships, in Caracas, Venezuela.

23th June 2010
(yesterday)

Dominican Republic 0 – 1 Venezuela

24th June 2010
(today)
– Botswana – China
– China – United States
– Botswana – New Zealand
– Czech Republic – Dominican Republic
– Venezuela – Australia


ISF XII Women’s World Championship
June 23-July 2, 2010
Caracas, Venezuela

5 of Top 25 Teams from West in Latest ISC Rankings

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

The Western region is well represented in the latest rankings released by the ISC today, with five of the Top 25 teams:

Ranking/Team

5 – California A’s
13 – Bakersfield Silverhawks
18 – Portland
21 – Rude Pac
22 – Pueblo
29 – Macabbi USA

The California A’s (5) held onto the number 5 spot, on the strength of going unbeaten in two big tournaments in the month of June, the Best of the West and California Classic. The A’s have dominated the competition, and are clearly the top team in California. The A’s will get their first look at top 10 ranked teams in a few weeks, when they travel to Wisconsin July 10-11 for the Boys of Summer tournament. Among the field of teams there will be five top 20 teams, including:

7. Albaugh Inc of Elkhart, IA
8. Bar of Appleton (winner of the Decatur Shootout)
12. Dolan & Murphy of Aurora, IL
14. Kegal Black Knights of Fargo, ND
16. St. Paul, MN Minnesota Angels

While the A’s will no doubt benefit from seeing pitchers they have not yet faced, and some tough competition, they will be the team with a target on their back, as the top-ranked team in the tournament, with any losses putting their number 5 ranking at risk. Regardless, the tournament will give the team a chance to size up some of the competition they’re likely to face in Midland Michigan in August at the ISC World Tournament, and test their mettle against the rigors of travel across the country. This weekend will see the number 1-2-3-4-6 ranked teams squaring off at the Legends tournament in Ontario, Canada, with the number 5 California A’s conspicuous by their absence:

1. Kitchener Rivershark Twins
2. Jarvis Travelers
3. New York Gremlins
4. Chicago New York
5. –
6. Midland Explorers


Bakersfield (13) and Portland (18)
both a struggled a bit at the California Classic last weekend, missing the six team championship bracket, winding up in the consolation bracket. The ranking committee appeared to take that into account, with Bakersfield falling from number 11 to number 13, while Portland dropped from number 15 to number 18. Still, both teams managed to hold higher spots than Rude Pac — which beat both. Bakersfield was runner-up to the #5 California A’s at Best of the West earlier this month. Despite the setbacks at the California Classic, both teams are respected for front line pitching staffs with ISC World Tournament experience, including Sebastian Gervasutti (Bakersfield) and Bricklen Anderson (Portland).

A-1 Rude Pac (21)
moved up in the rankings from number 26 to number 21, on the strength of their runner-up finish at the California Classic, which included wins over then-ranked number 11 and 15, Bakersfield and Portland. Nova Scotia pitcher, young 22 year old Cory Avery and the improvement of Gerald Pyle has elevated the play of this squad. The Pac took third place at the Best of the West tournament earlier this month, and gave the number five-ranked California A’s one of their better games in that tournament, falling 2-0, before the A’s beat Bakersfield in the final. Coupled with their third place finish at Best of the West, this is a team on the rise, and one that the ranking committee will no doubt keep an eye on.

The Pueblo Bandits (22) of Colorado dropped from number 16 to number 22, perhaps more a product of their inactivity than anything else. Pueblo qualified for the ISC World tournament in 2010 by winning their own tournament, though no other ranked teams participated, and Pueblo ran away from the field, with 10-0 wins in both the semi final and final. However, Pueblo has more ISC World Tournament experience than any other team in the term of, having qualified in 15 of the last 16 years. The loss of New Zealand ace Jeremy Manley this year is likely in the minds of the ranking committee. With the drop to number 21, Pueblo falls out of the “Sweet Sixteen” spots earning a first round bye at the ISC World Tournament.

Macabbi USA (29) held onto the number 29 spot, with a another solid performance last weekend, following its third-place finish at Best of the West earlier this month.

The Cal State Builders (NR/formerly #34) fell out of the rankings this time around, after being ranked number 34 in the June 8 rankings earlier this month. The drop in rankings is most likely a result of similarly ranked teams getting an opportunity to play each other and move up, while the Builders faced higher ranked teams ( such as those above) in tournament play thus far. The Builders did reach the championship bracket at the California Classic. Their high point in that one was a 4-4 tie with the current number 13 Bakersfield Silverhawks, showing they can stay with the best, but fell to an unranked local San Diego team in the playoff round, and will have to look to knock off a ranked opponent to climb back into the rankings.

Editor’s note: The top 16 spots in the ISC rankings are very valuable, as they carry with it, a first round bye in the ISC World Tournament, and improve a team’s chances of advancing into the final days of the tournament. At present, two California teams would fall into that category, the # 5 A’s, # 13 Bakersfield, with #18 Portland, # 21 Rude Pac and # 22 Pueblo battling to get off the bubble and into the “Sweet Sixteen”. The problem for those teams will be that they are not likely to face any or many of the teams above them before the final set of rankings next month.

Rude Pac
has arguably made the best case for belonging in the Sweet Sixteen so far:

-tied and beat # 5 California A’s at the Silverhawks tournament in May;
-tied then-#11Bakersfield at the Silverhawks tournament in May;
-beat then #11 Bakersfield at the California Classic;
-beat then #15 Portland at the California Classic.
-finished 2nd in the Silverhawks tournament, ahead of higher ranked teams.
-finished 3rd at the Best of the West, losing to the # 5 ranked team, 2-0 in the semis
-finished 2nd at California Classic, beating a #11 and #15 ranked teams

Teams on the bubble
(Top 16 get first round byes in ISC WT)

13 Bakersfield, CA Silverhawks
14 Fargo, ND Kegel Black Knights
15 Owen Sound, ON Selects
16 St. Paul, MN Minnesota Angels

————————————-
17 Alvinston, ON Indians
18 Portland, OR Columbia River Rockers
19 Elmira, ON Expos
20 Niagara, ON Snappers
21 Sun Valley, CA A-1 Rude Pac
22 Pueblo, CO Bandits


2010 June 24 ISC Rankings

Rank Team
1 Kitchener, ON Rivershark Twins
2 Jarvis, ON Travelers
3 Chicago/NY Dominicana
4 Clifton Park, NY Gremlins
5 Salinas, CA Athletics

6 Midland, MI Explorers
7 Elkhart, IA Albaugh Inc.
8 Saskatoon, SK Diamondbacks
9 Appleton, WI Bar of Appleton
10 Decatur, IL Pride
11 Port Elgin, ON Blue Devils
12 Aurora, IL Dolan & Murphy Shamrocks
13 Bakersfield, CA Silverhawks

14 Fargo, ND Kegel Black Knights
15 Owen Sound, ON Selects
16 St. Paul, MN Minnesota Angels
———————————-
17 Alvinston, ON Indians
18 Portland, OR Columbia River Rockers

19 Elmira, ON Expos
20 Niagara, ON Snappers
21 Sun Valley, CA A-1 Rude Pac

22 Pueblo, CO Bandits

23 Kitchener-Waterloo, ON Cubs
24 Cobourg, ON Force
25 Marshall, MI Lightning
26 Ashland, OH Stock Pack
27 Quyon, QC Flyers
28 Donnacona, QC Blue Sox
29 USA Maccabi

30 Toronto, ON Gators

Kitchener tops June 24 ISC Rankings as action heats up this weekend

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

Thursday, June 24 , 2010
For Immediate Release – ISC Rankings

June 24, 2010 – Heading in the first weekend when five of the top six teams will be in action in the same place at the same time, Kitchener Rivershark Twins edged provincial rival Jarvis Travelers for top spot in the ISC rankings.

While the Legends tournament in Kitchener will be the Riversharks 2010 debut, Jarvis has recently played some Canada East Travel League games with less than their full lineup.

A win in Midland was enough to bump Chicago/NYDominicana up to third in the rankings, ahead of New York Gremlins while another tournament victory out west keeps the California A`s in fifth.

The top 10 (with June 8 ranking in brackets) is as follows:

1 Kitchener, ON Rivershark Twins (1)
2 Jarvis, ON Travelers (1)
3 Chicago/NY Dominicana (4)
4 Clifton Park, NY Gremlins (3)
5 Salinas, CA Athletics (5)
6 Midland, MI Explorers (6)
7 Elkhart, IA Albaugh Inc. (7)
8 Saskatoon, SK Diamondbacks (8)
9 Appleton, WI Bar of Appleton (10)
10 Decatur, IL Pride (9)

For the full list, please see the ISC web site at www.iscfastpitch.com.

The rankings will be used to determine seeding for the 2010 ISC World Tournament in Midland, MI August 13-21.

For additional information, contact:

Ken Hackmeister
ISC Executive Director
iscken (at) comcast.net

or

Blair Setford
ISC Canada East VP
blairjs (at) rogers.com

2010 Shaw Chiropractic Port Huron tournament

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

Editor’s Note: This is an ISC qualifier tournament with the highest finishing Canada East team receiving a berth in the 2010 ISC World Tournament.

2010 Shaw Chiropractic Schedule
Friday
8:00 #40 Port Huron Shaw Chiropractic vs Ingersoll Crush
9:30 Midland Mickeys vs #22 Alvinston Indians

Saturday
8:00 #34 St. Thomas Storm vs Oshawa
8:00 Memorial Major Duncan Outlaws vs #41 Shakespeare Falcons

9:45 #23 Ashland Stock Pack vs #31 Waterdown Hammer
9:45 Memorial Major Ashland ASW vs Hickson Reds

11:30 Alvinston vs Duncan
11:30 Memorial Major Ingersoll vs Oshawa

1:15 Ashland ASW vs Waterdown
1:15 Memorial Major Shakespeare vs Mickeys

3:00 Ashland vs Hickson
3:00 Memorial Major Ingersoll vs St.Thomas

4:45 Shaw vs Oshawa
4:45 Memorial Major Mickey’s vs Duncan

6:30 Alvinston vs Shakespeare
6:30 Memorial Major Waterdown vs Hickson

8:15 Shaw vs St. Thomas
8:15 Memorial Major Ashland vs Ashland ASW

Sunday
8:00 Quarterfinal
8:00 Quarterfinal 16#1
8:00 Quarterfinal 16#2

10:00 Quarterfinal
10:00 Semi Final #1 (Winners of 8:00am at 16#1)

12:00 Semi Final #2

2:00 Championship Final

Alpines, umpire lead Port City influence into softball shrine

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

SAINT JOHN – It was one of the golden ages for softball in Saint John and from 1971-80, the late Harold Armstrong and Mel Vincent built a diamond dynasty with the Saint John Alpines senior men’s squad.


Jeff Ducharme/Telegraph-Journal
Members of the Saint John Ladies Alpines softball team are celebrating these days as they prepare for their induction into the Softball New Brunswick Hall of Fame. Pictured above are Nancy Morrison, Linda Bizeau, Bev Doyle, Gayle Buckley, Debbie Cooper, Sharon Jacquard, Lima Vautour, Leanna Hickman, Sue Beaman-Folkins and Cathy Collins-Shannon.
The team wasn’t unbeatable but was pretty close to that standard during the electric era on the diamond.

And for that excellence, both Arsenault and Vincent will be inducted into the Softball New Brunswick Hall of Fame during a ceremony in Fredericton Saturday.

“This is the greatest honour that could ever be bestowed upon my father,” John Armstrong said. “The saddest that he passed away three years ago. As far as our family goes, everyone of us is overwhelmed and overjoyed he was chosen.”

Mel Vincent Jr. will join his father Mel Sr. in Fredericton on Saturday as well his mother Bette and siblings Mike, Jill and Amy (Another Elizabeth can’t make it from Pembrooke, Ont.) to celebrate the greatest days of the sport in the area.

“In our neck of the woods, it was almost legendary what those two were able to achieve,” said Vincent Jr., a bat boy for his father’s teams.

(more…)

Herald & Review Shootout Wrapup

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

The 2010 Herald and Review Decatur Pride Shootout returned to Borg Warner Field this past weekend. The Bar of Appleton came away as the tournament champion behind great pitching from Andrew Blackshaw and Josh Johnson. Blackshaw was named the MVPitcher and Johnson the MVPlayer. Congrats to the Bar of Appleton on their Shootout championship. Scores and winning pitchers for the games are listed below.

We’d like to thank the Decatur Herald & Review for their sponsorship of the tournament and Mark Tupper for his normal outstanding coverage. Plans are already underway for the 2011 Shootout but we may possibly look to move it to another weekend. Due to 2 different area festivals and an LPGA Futures Tournament being held in Decatur this same weekend; the crowds, although good, were less than anticipated.

We’d also like to that From the Ground Up Landscapers, the groundskeepers for the Decatur Pride, for their hard work on Saturday morning getting the diamonds ready after a very hard rain on Friday night.

Final Order of Finish

1. Bar of Appleton
2. Decatur Pride
3. (tie) Aurora Dolan & Murphy
3. (tie) Belleville Stallions

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New museum to showcase local history highlights

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

By Anne Ostrowski, Item Correspondent

How do you showcase the accomplishments of an innovative printer and a world-renowned softball team from Berks County?

You create a museum to display their treasures to the public.

This coming weekend, the Leesport Area Historical Society will hold the grand opening of its long-awaited restored classroom and museum in the former West Leesport Normal School at 128 Main Street in Leesport.

On Saturday, June 26, the Milton Blatt old-time printing shop exhibit will be featured from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Blatt, who was a printer and noted historian of the Centre Township area, invented a printing platen press that will remain on permanent display in the museum. It is one of only two of its kind in the world, the other being displayed in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Also available at the Leesport museum will be hundreds of genealogy research notebooks Blatt used in compiling his histories of Centre Township families.

On Sunday, June 27, the museum will open its Rising Sun Hotel Sunners softball team memorabilia display, along with a reunion of this recently-inducted Pennsylvania Hall of Fame team.

The Sunners, who built and played at the Leesport ball field, won the International Federation of Softball Men’s World Championship in 1976 in New Zealand. They also won three Amateur Softball Association Men’s National Championships in the 1970s.

The exhibit, open from noon to 5 p.m., will include the Sunners’ championship trophies, plaques, photos and newspaper clippings.

Rocky Santilli, Leesport, former manager and coach of the Sunners from 1959 through 1979 and the U.S. Men’s Softball team from 1979 to 1991, donated most of the memorabilia, which used to be on display in his home. He hopes the exhibit will renew interest in the team’s achievements.

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