The west coast does not (yet) have teams in the ISC II’s Top 25, with many of the top teams based in Ontario, Canada, the midwest and back east. For readers interested in seeing how the rest of of the continent’s ISC II teams stack up, over the past weekend, the Niagara Snappers hosted 12 teams, including 10 teams in the Top 35. The results give readers their first real look at how many teams who could be headed to the 2005 ISC II Tournament of Champions in Chippewa Falls are shaping up.
Top dog Tavistock was shorted-handed in the pitching department on the weekend, missing both Rob Oliver and Fred Follings, and were knocked off by the ISC II’s hottest team, the Niagara Snappers. The Snappers won the event, beating another team rising in the rankings,
Ashland, OH Merchants. ISC II commish Blair Setford had his Mississauga Arrow teams in the thick of it, knocking off two top-10 ranked teams before bowing out in the quarter finals, and provides this inside look from the tournament:
“This was a real good test for a lot of teams to see where they stand against the top competition in the ISC II,” said Setford. “Unlike in the ISC division, where the top 3 teams seem to be separated from the rest of the pack, you could throw a blanket over the top 25 or even 30 teams in ISC II and we saw that this weekend as no one managed to go 3-0 in the round robin. Only two of the 12 teams failed to win a game and one of them lost three one-run games, so that just speaks further to the closeness of the competition.”
Click here for the complete recap on the Niagara Snapper Shootout.(Editor’s note: Not only the Snappers are on the move up in the rankings. Blair Setford’s own Mississagua Arrows, currently #34 knocked off the #5 and #7 teams in the tournament.)
On June 18, 2005, California area ISC II teams will vie for a bid in the ISC II Tournament of Champions at Santa Fe Springs, CA.