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The Province
Friday » July 25 » 2008

World’s best convene at Vancouver fastpitch tournament
Event hosted by the tough Grey Sox squad

Some of the top men’s softball teams in the world will be at South Memorial Park this weekend for the seventh annual Vancouver Challenge Men’s Fastpitch Tournament.

The tournament is hosted by the Vancouver Grey Sox, the defending Canadian champions and a team that’s ranked at No. 9 in the world by the International Softball Congress.

The Grey Sox, 29-6 this season, are coming off a four-game Super Series sweep of Portland DeMarini last weekend and are gearing up for the ISC World Championship Aug. 9-16 in Kimberly, Wis.

They’re headed to the Canadian Championship in Saskatoon Aug. 24-31.

This weekend’s tournament could feature a “Hall of Fame” matchup of two of the sport’s best pitchers. Victoria’s Mike Piechnik, now 47, is still dominant. He’s the owner of a 13-1 record with the Grey Sox this season, and could end up facing Darren Zack, a future Hall of Famer who’s hurling for Alberta’s Horse Lake Thunder, the 11th-ranked club by the ISC.

The eight-team tournament includes Portland DeMarini, the Bakersfield Lumberkings, Pueblo Bandits, Camrose Fury, Vernon and the Vancouver South Hill Giants.

Leading the Grey Sox at the plate are Canadian national team infielder/outfielder Rob Giesbrecht of Manitoba, national team pitcher/infielder Derek Mayson of North Vancouver, outfielder Brian Abrey of Richmond and catcher Kevin Rasmussen from Seattle.

Besides Zack, the Thunder have former Canadian national team pitcher Sean Whitten and Karl Gollan, a New Zealander pitcher who was the 2007 ISC MVP.

The tourney starts at 6:30 p.m. today. Play begins at 8 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday with the final set for 2 p.m. on Sunday.

South Memorial Park is on 41st Ave. between Fraser and Knight streets. Admission is $5 per day or $10 for a tournament pass.

The schedule is at www.vancouvergreysox.com.

© The Vancouver Province 2008. Copyright © 2008 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.

(click logo to visit official Vancouver Grey Sox website)

This entry was posted on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 4:55 am and is filed under Canada, ISC, ISC-II, Tournaments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.