Teams west of the Rockies didn’t fare very well in the latest set of ISC II rankings. JRW & Associates, from Yakima, WA, the 10th place finisher in last year’s Tournament of Champions at Fargo, is the top western team, at #23, moving up 2 spots from #25 in the preseason rankings. JRW has added Dean Waltier to their roster, though we hear that Dino suffered an achilles injury last week and is out for 4-6 weeks.
Next is the Colorado Rage at #29 (down from #23), River City Rockers at #31 (up from #34), Pleasant Grove UT (High Desert Dawgs #32) and Bodle Chiropractic #45 (down from #26). Bodle’s drop may be more a case of underexposure and new teams in the east turning some heads.
River City and the High Desert Dawgs both did well at last month’s Red Rock tournament, knocking off ISC ranked teams (River City over ISC #21 Pueblo, and the Dawgs over the #19 So Cal Bombers), though neither is committed to trying to qualify for the ISC II. The California area qualifier is this month, June 18-19, 2005 at Santa Fe Springs, CA. Early rumors have the Northern California Mavericks and Raymar among ISC II teams after the bid. No word on River City, though we hear that they have the ASA “B” Nationals in mind, a title they’ve come very close to in recent years.
The Mavs and Raymar were winless against a tough field of ISC caliber teams and did not make the Top 50 in the recently released ISC II rankings. The Mavs played ISC #29 Colorado Rage tough in their elimination game at Red Rock, with the score 4-3 going into the last inning, but surrendered 8 runs in the final frame to lose 12-3, something that may have hurt them with the ranking voters. Raymar gave Minnesota Vannelli’s (with ISC pitcher Darcy Byrne) a run for their money, but are new to the upper division, having been bumped up after finished 3rd in the nation among 70 teams at Hastings, NE, so not on the ranker’s radar — yet.
The rankings are important as they determine seeding at the ISC II Tournament of Champions, to be held August 14-19, 2005.
Click here to see list at the ISC II’s unofficial blog, “The Deuce”