From:
(Click logo for official SCIFL website)
SCIFL WEEK 2 – TAFT
The bracket for this weekend is now available. There will be nine teams playing this weekend with games starting at 9:00 AM on Saturday and the championship game set for 3:00 PM on Sunday.
For updated bracket and map link, click the SCIFL logo above — to visit the official site.
Men’s softball will be featured at the Women’s World Cup in Oklahoma City July 16-20, 2009.
Uh, that would be men’s slo-pitch.
The International Softball Congress is pleased to announce that Darren Zack has been granted eligibility to play in the ISC II division effective for the 2009 season.
This decision keeps a living legend active in the game. The decision was made by a specially convened panel of the ISC Regional Vice-Presidents.
Not only does this give a new set of players an opportunity to say they played with and against Darren, it also enables Darren to have the opportunity to play with his son, Darren Jr. This is a very important factor for Darren because as a young pitcher, he had the opportunity to play with his father.
Other factors that entered into this decision include Darren’s age (48) and very limited opportunities for father and son to play on the same team. Darren’s eligibility is exclusive to the Ohsweken Redmen team from Ontario and is not transferrable to another team should Ohsweken fail to qualify for the ISC II Tournament of Champions. It is also reviewable at the conclusion of the 2009 season.
Ken Hackmeister
Thanks to our good friend in Argentina, Martin Jorge for this English translation. Martin is the editor of www.softballnewsla.com (“Softball News Latin America”). Check out the new logo.
(click banner to visit site)
Don Bosco Argentine National Champion
Photo via Don Bosco team site.
Click here for original story en Espanol at the (team) Don Bosco Official Site.
Don Bosco was crowned champion for the first time in the history. Eduardo Sabate’s team took over the Championship after beat Patronato 4 runs to 1.
Sunday night, at the Panamerican Stadium of Paraná, ended the 10th edition of the softball Major National Championship. In the final game, Don Bosco overcame great way to Patronat by 4 runs to 1, which was a confrontation between two teams of Paraná City. Despite the rain in Paraná, the tournament had a great closing.
Don Bosco got the competition for the first time in its history. The event brings together every year to the best teams in country. In this issue took the name of Eduardo Jaton, who was president of the Association Paranaense de Softball.
In the definition of the Championship Round, Don Bosco made a flawless work throughout the match. Supported by a great work of his pitcher, Francisco Sabaté, Don Bosco was strong on defense. Then go right into the attack and get a well-known difference in the score (4 to 1).
The runs were scored by Francisco Sabaté, Lisandro Sabaté, Mariano Germán Juárez and Germán Sacks –solo HR- (all for Don Bosco) and Gustavo Godoy (for Patronato).
Winning pitcher was Francisco Sabate, who pitched 7 innings allowing only 1 run, and the loser was Matias Tessore, allowing 4 runs.
Individual Awards
After the final at the Panamerican Stadium, the organization chose Francisco Sabaté (Don Bosco) as the championship Best Pitcher, and the Champion Bat of the Tournament was Mariano Montero (Patronato).
Editor’s notes from Martin Jorge, Editor of Softballnewsla.com (“Softball News Latin America), based in Argentina: In the tournament pitched Lucas Mata (Sarmiento, from La Pampa), Juan Potolicchio (Estudiantes, Paraná), Max Montero (CPEF Nº5, Paraná), Francisco Sabaté, Lisandro Sabate and Mariano Juarez (Don Bosco, Parana) and Matias Tessore (Patronato, Parana). And played Fernando Petric and Nicolas Bitor (Estudiantes, Parana) -both played in Townline last year-. All these players played ISC last year.
FPW Editor’s notes: Click here to revisit our earlier story on the “Argentine Pitching Pipeline” Argentina’s National team (yet to be announced) is one of the 16 teams that will be competing in this summer’s ISF World Championships in Saskatoon. They are in Pool B, and among the favorites to move on to the medal round, along with 2004 medal winners Canada (silver) and Australia (bronze). Four teams from each pool will advance to the medal round.
ISF World Championship
Pool BCanada
Australia
Czech Republic
Argentina
Venezuela
South Africa
Puerto Rico
Indonesia
Facility to Host ASA 40-and-over Nationals in 2009
From the News-Leader, Springfield MO
Updated Killian Softball Complex dedication to be held Saturday
The Springfield-Greene County Park Board will hold a dedication ceremony at 4:15 p.m., Saturday for improvements at the Killian Sports Complex, 2141 E. Pythian St.
Project highlights consist of new site utilities, irrigation to fields, paint, new scoreboards and a public admissions facility at the entrance.
The highlight of the improvements is the Killian Softball Stadium, which also has been completed at the site. Its features include home and visitor’s locker rooms, public restrooms, coaches’ room, training and ticket sales rooms, stadium chair-back and bleacher seating, press box, dugouts, backstop, bullpens, scoreboard, field lighting, fencing, asphalt and concrete walks.
The stadium and five other fields make up the six-field complex. The stadium features an upgrade to 1,080 infield seats, 523 of which are chairback.
Killian Stadium becomes the new home for the Missouri State University softball team, with home games and practices played at the facility.
Activities during the stadium’s inaugural weekend will include the NCAA Division I All-Missouri Classic softball tournament Friday-Sunday, featuring Missouri State, Saint Louis, Southeast Missouri State, the University of Missouri and University of Missouri-Kansas City. MSU will participate during the Saturday dedication by featuring more than two dozen former alumni and a first pitch ceremony by university officials.
“We’re continuing the more than 70-year legacy of softball in our community by maintaining and updating the Killian Sports Complex, a facility that has been a part of that rich tradition since 1994, when the Park Board acquired the property†Parks Director Jodie Adams said. “Not only have the grounds been used by local players for more than 25 years, but we also currently use them to host a number of state and national tournaments. The improvements will continue and increase our likelihood of bringing in those types of games, adding to the quality of recreation and athletics in the community, and bringing a significant economic impact to the area.â€
In 2009, the facility will host the Missouri Amateur Softball Association Adult Slow Pitch State Championships, the ASA Men’s 40 & Over Fast Pitch National and ASA Women’s “C†West Slow Pitch National.
(click logo for tournament details at official ASA website)
Editor’s note: It’s great to see the town of Springfield Missouri improving their facility and hosting this year’s 40-and-over Masters National. This year’s tournament will be the first time in 3 years that the ASA has held the 40-and-over nationals, cancelling in 2007 and 2008 due to “lack of interest”. The last time it was held was in 2006 in Portland, Oregon.
From the Red Rock Tournament Committee:
2009 RED ROCK at CARSON CITY – CANCELLED
To Fastpitch Players, Teams and Fans:
We regret to announce that the 2009 Red Rock at Carson City Tournament has been cancelled.
While many teams and players expressed interest in the tournament, we did not receive a sufficient number of paid entries by the March 1, 2009 deadline to proceed. In most other years, the tournament hosted 16 teams, with 12 as the target minimum for this year.
Based on the feedback from teams and players, it appears that the state of the economy is affecting everyone personally and that includes the teams and their sponsors. The factors contributing to the cancellation of the 2009 Red Rock at Carson City tournament included:
1. Cessation of operations for 2 Canadian teams and 6 US teams from last year’s ISC World Tournament.
2. Team budget cutbacks of 30%-50% because of the economy and that they had to look to cut back this year. A number of teams advised that they chose to cutback on early season tournaments to save money.
3. Even when teams have the budget to come, some of their players are cutting back on travel weekends due to concern about their job and work attendance, mainly because of all the recent cutbacks and layoffs.
4. Many unfunded or under-funded teams, with most players paying their own expenses, have decided to cut back on travel to conserve money for a trip or two later in the season and to attend ISC World Tournament, the ISC II Tournament of Champions or other major events.
5. To give advance notice to Carson City, allowing them an opportunity to replace Red Rock this year with another tournament in a different class of play.
In addition to economic reasons, we were also informed that with the ISF World Championships in Saskatoon in July, some teams were not beginning play until after that tournament, and therefore, would not be attending early season events.
Your 2009 Red Rock at Carson City Tournament committee made the decision to cancel the 2009 tournament at the March 1st deadline so as not to cause problems with many of the teams prepared to participate and having to purchase airfares.
While we are disappointed, as teams, players and fans may be, we are optimistic that the tournament will be held in the future, so please keep us on your radar, and reserve that first weekend in May.
We will consult with all team prior to 2010, so be sure to watch for future announcements.
Have a great season!
Red Rock at Carson City
Tournament Committee
From 
(click link to visit official website for Sr. Canadians)
First Ontario Jarvis Gamblers – Roster Additions
[Jarvis, Ontario] -The First Ontario Jarvis Gamblers are pleased to announce the signing of Rob O’Brien and Jason Hill for the 2009 Senior Canadians that will be held in St Thomas, Ontario from August 30th to September 6th. O’Brien will help round out the pitching staff with left handed Paul Koert and right handed Andrew Phibbs. He will also be penciled into the middle of the First Ontario Jarvis Gamblers batting order. The addition of Jason Hill adds another young powerful bat to the Gamblers line-up. Hill, who plays for the Farm Tavern during the ISC season, is one of the top young hitters to come out of the east coast.
Stay tuned for future announcements regarding the Gamblers roster, schedule, website updates and tournament scheduled for June 26-28th
Clarke Staats
First Ontario Jarvis Gamblers
Editor’s note: As readers know, Oby is a pretty good bat to anchor that batting order.
Click here for more news on the Sr. Canadians at .
(click logo for story at SNZ website)
National Softball League Finals
28 Feb 2009
Men’s Final – Auckland 39ers 9, Wellington Lancers 0
1st inning
Donny Hale singles
Patrick Shannon Home Run!!!3rd inning
Michael Cameron, Natahn Nukunuku single
Patrick Shannon blooper to outfield scores 2
Ben Enoka single scores Shannon
Bernard Hale single
Aaron Thompson hit down 3rd base line scores 24th inning
Donny Hale single
Patrick Shannon single (3 from 3)
Heine Shannon double scores 2Bottom 4th
Thomas Makea singles
Carig Wallace double
Aaron Neemia hit to Heine Shannon, out at 1st for third outTop of 5th
Gus Leger hits to left field
Stacey McLean takes the catch and crashes through the outfield fence
Michael Cameron singles
No runsBottom of 5th
Wellington no runs
Cap tip to Al Doran of Al’s Fastball
(click logo to visit Al’s Fastball website)
New Zealand League Finals Saturday
Click here for the link to PDF file at Al’s Fastball. Some familiar names among the league leaders for pitchers and hitters, including our good friend Jason Gerbes, who plays on the same team as Brad Rona. Jason is hitting .391.
Looks like the finals were played over the weekend, so we’ll keep an eye out for the update.
At the ISC Board of Directors meeting in Kimberly, the following changes were approved for implementation in 2009. They appear below in no particular order of importance.
1. ISC II Player Reclassification Request Deadline – Appeals to have current World Tournament players reclassified for ISC II eligibility, must be submitted no later than June 1. See new process for requesting reclassification below.
2. Reclassification and Appeal Form Created – A new form and process for reclassifications and appeals has been created and is now displayed on the ISC Web Site www.iscfastpitch.com Click on Rules & Forms link in the left margin of front page.
A. The initial team request or appeal must be sent to the Regional Vice President.
Decision to be made within 5-business days.
B. Player reclassification requests from teams, denied at the Regional level, may be appealed to the ISC II Reclassification Committee jrwilliamson@foodfacility.com and blairjs@rogers.com and a decision will be made within 5-business days.
C. Player reclassification requests denied by the ISC II Reclassification Committee and all other appeals denied at the Regional level, may be appealed to the ISC Executive Committee by submitting the appeal form and a non-refundable $100 credit card fee and sending it to the ISC Executive
Director. Decision to be made within 5-business days.
D. Appeal decisions made by the ISC Executive Committee are final.
3. PRAWN Age Factor – If a non-PRAWN player makes an ISC All-World team in or after the calendar year of his 45th birthday, that player will be considered a PRAWN for only one year. PRAWN players who have made or make an ISC All-World team in the calendar year of their 41st through 44th birthday may request to be excluded from the PRAWN list in the calendar year of their 46th birthday by providing proof of age to the ISC Executive Director by May1.
The changed PRAWN rules are shown on the ISC Web Site (Rules & Forms) and the 2009 PRAWN list is also on the web site (Tournaments link and scroll down to the bottom of the page).
4. ISC II Move-up Berths – Beginning with 2009 ISC II Tournament of Champions, the top two finishing teams will be provided automatic berths in the following year’s ISC World Tournament (2010), and will not be eligible for ISC II qualifiers or the Tournament of Champions in that following year.
5. Mexico and Caribbean Return to US Regions – For 2009 ISC play, residents of Mexico and Caribbean countries will be attached to US Regions as they were in the 2007 season. Mexico is divided between US West and US Central while all Caribbean countries become part of US East. The revised Regional Definitions will appear on the ISC Web Site and in the 2009 ISC World Championship Guide.
6. South American Player Rep – Due to the number of South American players, now participating in ISC and ISC II play, a South American Player Rep has been named to serve on the ISC Player Rep Committee. Juan Potolicchio has been named to this new position and can be reached at juanpotol@hotmail.com
7. Out of Region Form Discontinued – The Out of Region – Player Letter of Intent Form will be eliminated beginning in 2009. The new process involves having the Out of Region player, send an email commitment to the ISC Executive Director iscken@comcast.net no later than May 1. The team manager is to be copied on the email. On or before May 1, the team manager completes the Out of Region Team Recap Form and mails it to the ISC Executive Director with the appropriate fee. The Team Recap form is displayed on the ISC Web Site (Rules & Forms link).
Sample email commitment from player is simply: “I intend to play the 2009 ISC season with (team name). My home region is (insert region of residence)”. Most player email addresses contain the players name so few if any problems are expected with this new, simplified process.
8. Roster Forms – Beginning in 2009, there are roster forms for both World Tournament and ISC II teams. The difference between the two are the list of email addresses the rosters are to be sent to. Those email addresses appear on the roster forms themselves. Both roster forms are available for downloading from the ISC web site (Rules and Forms). If you’re unable to download, email iscken@comcast.net and request the proper roster and we will email attach it to you. Preliminary rosters for both World Tournament (PRAWN declaration) and ISC II are due by May 1. Rosters can be changed during the season on July 15 and again on August 10.
9. Courtesy Runner Rule – While the ISC generally adopts ASA playing rules, we do have some differences. For 2009, the ISC is rejecting ASA’s new rule that allows courtesy runners for both pitchers and catchers. The ISC rule is: Courtesy runners are not allowed in ISC play.