NOT ONE but TWO fastball highlights in Waterloo next week..
Remember when the Owen Sound King Farms or the CanadianTiremen or Selects came to Hillside to play the Waterloo CHYMrs or the Hallman Twins, remember when Brad Underwood and Dan Yantzi would toe the rubber in those mid week games?
Well next Wednesday evening July 28th, at Hillside you can recall those days when the Owen Sound Verge Selects will be in town to play the Hallman Rivershark Twins in a double header for the Senior Men’s Ontario Fastball Championship. The winner goes to PEI as the Ontario Men’s Champion.
Two games, lower diamond, 7 and 9 pm…
Looking forward to this as I am sure many of you are
and the SECOND……
And two nights later another “in the day” memory….the OASA Men’s Championship. This time 10 teams, and a couple dozen games starting on Friday night the 30th..continuing all day Saturday and then Championship Sunday….
The winner of this tournament will be the Ontario Intermediate champion and will also receive a invitation to the ISC World Tournament in 2011…
The host club is the KW Cubs, having a great year in the South Perth League, (10 wins and 2 losses) Three other local South Perth clubs, the Kitchener Outlaws, (13 – 2) the Elmira Expos (7 – 4) and the Wellington Sox (8 – 5) are entered. >From Toronto, an old name, the Gators return to Hillside, and Jack Fireman is the sponsor…Also, Waterdown Hammer, , Ingersoll, St Thomas Storm, and Palermo Athletics. The A’s have Darren Zack on the lineup,and the Cobourg Force have former Bridgeport Braves Terry Eaton, Sam Forbes, Jodie and Jay Schnarr.
On Friday nite the opening games include Ingersoll Crush, vs Elmira Expos, and The Cubs open up against the Palermo A’s. At 9 the Outlaws face the St Thomas Storm, while Waterdown play the Wellington Sox.
The final two teams get their start on Saturday morning. The Gators draw the winners of the Cubs vs Palermo, and Cobourg Force will take on the Ingersoll vs Elmira winner. 22 games in total…for this one..three games guaranteed….and just before these teams head to the ISCs in Midland.
This will be a good one, some great teams, OASA champs, ISC finalists, teams that play well in tournaments, teams that have some serious depth, and lots of friends on the diamond and when the fans get settled in for the weekend, a lot of old friends in the bleachers.
LAST WEEKEND
Last weekend in Tavistock the fastball fans were shown some great ball teams who put on quite a show. The Rivershark Twins beat Midland in the final 7 – 0…on a four run blast by the R Twins centre fielder Ryan Wolfe…what a shot…grand slam in the second…to put it away early….Midland ran thru 3 pitchers before the game was over in 5 innings giving;
Maz mentioned that the US Customs will think something is up with the Explorers heading home so late on Sunday…they usually make the trip a little earlier Sunday morning…Clint Beane said that playing this late on Sunday afternoon doesn’t give him and Mrs Beane much time to spend at the casino in Sarnia…
Ball Park Radio was on hand, the weather was beautiful except for a short storm Saturday afternoon right before the Bantam All Star Game…which was a great game…lots of talent in the North Waterloo Minor Softball League..
Here are some scores from Al’s Fastball web site
The Rivershark Twins got off to a good start with a 5 – 2 win over the St Thomas Storm The Storm scored 2 in the second and the RTwins picked up 3 in the 6th and 2 more in the 7th…..Don Scott picked up the win with Patterson in releif…Ian Knott and Luke Leahy for St Thomas.
Kitchener then went 5 – 4 over Owen Sound.RTwins got 3 in the 3rd and 2 in the 5th….the Selects picked up 4 runs in the 6th to make it tight. Todd Martin the win, with Chris Shewfelt catching…Andy Skelton and Jamie Simpson shared the pitching for the Selects. Jackson picked up two hits and 3 RBIs…Jeff Goolagong had two homers for the RTwins
and the Riversharks beat the Jarvis Travellers 9 – 7 in a slug fest, lots of base runners and lots of hits…11 for each team….Grant Patterson the win, with Don Scott coming in with one out in the 7th…
Andrew Phibbs the loss, with Trevor Ethier fininshing…Pat Shannon had 3 RBIs..Blair Ezekiel picked up 2 RBIs with single RBIs by 4 RTWins
The Expos opened with a 3 – 0 loss to Jarvis Adam Folkard the win and Dan Martin LP
Then Elmira beat St Thomas 7 – 6 Casey Halstead the win and Dan Martin contributed with a homer and a double..and won in releif of Casey…
Elmira then lost to Midland 1 – 0 with Bryant Urquardt picking up a no hitter, got 12 Expos on Ks…lots of looking only 2 were swinging at the 3rd strike….Kyle Beane the Explorers RBI in the 3rd…
Expos beat St Thomas in the quarter final 2 – 1 Halstead went 7 for the win, allowed one earned run, on 5 hits, and 3 strike outs and one walk….Luke Leahy for St Thomas allowed the 2 runs in the losing cause, 5 hits, 7 Ks and 4 walks..Josh Brohman and Kevin Guthers picked up the 2 RBIs for the Expos…
and lost to Midland in the semi final 4 – 0 Frank Cox got the win for the Explorers, a 4 hitter, but zero runs on 7 Ks and zero walks…Dan Skillings and Todd Moore for Midland both had homers…Skillings with a man on base..
In the other quarter-final…Owen Sound and Jarvis were in a thriller..scoreless to the 6th. the Selects opened the top of the 7th with 4 runs….but the Travellers came back with 5 runs in the bottom of the inning to take the semi and meet Kitchener again. Adam Folkard went 7 for Jarvis, allowed the 4 runs, and 7 hits but struck out 15…he was smoking.
Matt Leahy went 6 2/3 allowe the 4 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks…Jamie Simpson threw one pitch, a hit to score the winning Jarvis run…Andy Skelton of the Selects hosted a second base clinic during the game….2 double plays, 6 unassisted outs, 2 additional assists, and as the official scorekeeper Colleen Lowes said, a golden glove day in the infield.
In this semi final Kitchener beat Jarvis for the second time with a 3 – 2 win…Don Scott the win for the RTwins, allowed 2 runs on 9 hits, and 7 Ks…no walks…Rob O’Brien went 4 1/3 allowed 3 runs, on 5 hits, and 4 ks…Trevor Ethier finished for Jarvis…..R Twin Blair Ezekiel scored 2 runs…and a Home Run…
then went to meet and defeat Michigan in the final..Todd Martin picked up the win with 5 complete innings,and one hit…with 6 Ks….Frank Cox 3 innings, 4 earned runs…(to Ryan Wolfe), 3 hits, Brian Urquhard went 1 inning as did Mike Joseph who allowed 3 runs in the 5th….
Good tournament win for the Kitchener R Twins with wins over St Thomas and Owen Sound and.two wins over Jarvis ..beating some tough oppostion just prior to the ISCs…
MIDLAND ISC UPDATE….
Everyone is getting ready for Midland and the ISCs…..local teams making the August trip to Michigan include Shakespeare Falcons, Waterdown Hammer, Hickson Reds, Toronto Gators, Palermo Athletics, Cobourg Force, Port Elgin Blue Devils, Jarvis Travellers, Owen Sound Selects, Kitchener Hallman Rivershark Twins, KW Cubs, Wellington Sox, Kitchener Outlaws.
The under 19 tournament clubs include the Waterloo Hallman Twins, the Stratford Memorials, and Oshawa BBs.
The under 19 (midget age group) gets underway August 19th.
And in the Legends (over 50) Sam Forbes tells me that his club is getting ready for the trip as well. No 50+ schedule as yet.
NATIONAL WOMEN”S CHAMPIONSHIPS
Speaking of tournaments….over at Peter Hallman the week prior to the ISCs we have the Women’s National championships…and Jeanne Turner is looking for some volunteers.. Jeanne is in need of security, both Smart Serve and not, as well as ticket/gate greeters…Many of you know our good pal Matt Allen. Matt is one of the chairs of this tournament and he seconded Jeanne’s request for assistance..
Get in touch with Jeanne at turnerjeanne (at) hotmail.com or mention it to Matt if you see him around the parks the next couple of weeks.
Hope to see all of you this week at Hillside for the OASA senior and OASA Great Lakes …
Dennis