California Classic – June 5-6, 2010

September 28th, 2009

Update:: For those asking about the facility hosting the new “California Classic” tournament next June, we provide additional information and photos below.

CALIFORNIA CLASSIC MEN’S ISC FASTPITCH TOURNAMENT

Hosted by the California A’s & Bakersfield Silverhawks

Date: June 5th & 6th, 2010
Where: SanDiego/Poway, CA
SportsplexUSA Complex
Entry Fee: $450
Format: Round Robin Single Elimination
With a 4 Game Guarantee

For more information, please contact:

David Weldin: davidw@expressinsurance.com
Bobby McCormick: mccormickservices10@yahoo.com
Chris McGehee: garageworks@bak.rr.com


(click logo to visit official SportsplexUSA website)

Sportsplex USA, 12349 Mcivers Ct in Poway, CA 92064.

Sportsplex USA Constructed in 1994, a beautiful 15 acre facility is San Diego’s Premier Sports and Recreational complex. They have three tournament quality softball fields, two indoor soccer arenas, batting cages, children’s playground and a sports pub with draft beer and your favorite ballpark food items.

Sportsplex USA in Poway was built in the 1990’s, and is located about a half hour north east of Petco Stadium, downtown San Diego, CA. (home of the San Diego Padres)

and a half hour east of the Solano Beach Amtrak station.

and a half hour from the San Diego airport (Lindbergh International):


View Larger Map


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Posted in ISC, ISC-II, So Cal, Tournaments | No Comments »

NAFA 45+ Masters West Scores

September 27th, 2009

Scores from NAFA 45+ Masters World Series West from last weekend, courtesy of Herb Dower:

Santa Rosa 9, Savala Painting 3
QMax 8, Ladner Masters 1
The Fog 12, Tulsa Grey Sox 2
Qmax 9, Santa Rosa 0
Tulsa Grey Sox 6, Santa Rosa 3
QMax 9, The Fog 0
Ladner Masters 15, Savala Painting 13
The Fog 18. Savala Paining ?
Tulsa Grey Sox 3, Ladner Masters 2
Pool Play Records:
Pool One–The Fog 2-1, Ladner Masters 1-2, Santa Rosa 1-2
Pool Two–QMax 3-0, Tulsa Grey Sox 2-1, Savala Paining 0-3

Single-Elimination Playoffs
Savala Painting 6, Tulsa Grey Sox 2
Santa Rosa 9, Ladner Masters 6 (8)
Semifinals
The Fog def. Savala
Qmax 13, Santa Rosa 1 (4 innings)
Championship
QMax def. The Fog

Herb

Posted in General, Masters, NAFA, Tournaments | No Comments »

NAFA Masters West Results

September 25th, 2009

NAFA MASTER’S WEST WORLD SERIES
(Carson City, NV.) September 21, 2009
Perfect weather again for the West Masters and the Final Event of the Year will be the Las Vegas Battle of the East and West October 17-18. Any team that participated in the East or West Masters may attend. It is a 4-game guaranteed event starting at 9am Saturday with the final at 3pm on Sunday. Saturday night the East Champ will play the West Champ in each age group.

Special thanks to Carson City Staff Joel & Jeremiah and their concessions and field prep staff. Thanks to KC for doing a great job with the scorekeepers, Sylvia Isaac on stats, Bob Chapel for doing an excellent job as Tournament Director, Carley Parish as UIC and thanks to Pat Bucknell and Dewey Yoke for supervising the games down at Field 1, Kris Russom with souvenirs and Melissa and Mikel who handled the gates.

Final Order of Finish and All World Selections are below as we are having some issues with our website getting the info loaded.

Congratulations to the Champions of this year’s West event:
35 & over – CR Rockers, Portland in a slugfest over Taylor Farms/IAC
40 & over – Cal State Builders in a battle over Long Beach Black Sox, (Utah was upset by the Black Sox in semis)
45 & over – QMax from Calgary, Canada over Santa Barbara Fog
50 & over – Bay Area Merchants over Texas Stars/Si Senor-AZ (Texas Stars knocked off Ohio Battery in the Semis)

For the complete brackets and All-World Teams, please see the results on our web site at www.nafafastpitch.com .

The teams voted overwhelmingly to return to Carson City for the West Masters next year on the same weekend September 17-19 in 2010, two weekends after Labor Day. They also voted to keep the same four-game guarantee format with one round robin Friday night game at 5PM or later, two more round robin games on Saturday that seed all teams into a single elimination on Sunday. The championship games will be scheduled at 4:45PM or earlier and preferably at 3PM.

The teams in the 35 asked us to drop the age limit from 35 to 30 for next year and we will do that but will probably make everyone be 30 in the calendar year, no three year grace period, like we do with the 55 division. The teams wished to continue using the NAFA ball but nearly 50% want to change to a yellow ball for visibility, especially for night games which was consistent with the input we got from the East Teams. Almost half the people wanted to allow the courtesy runner be the last out like the present. They would also like a player not in the game to be able to be a designated runner once per inning. I will give other players and coaches the chance to fill out the survey for another week and post the rest of the survey results as soon as possible.

To the teams that have made NAFA the first choice in Masters play, we thank you for your support. 60 master’s teams from the U.S. and Canada are participating this year in the East and West and the growth is surely due to your participation and your willingness to give input to our NAFA Directors who guide your program and it is truly the “Players Program”.

Teams in the West pleaded for some rule to make the games stay on time which would be a time limit or an inning limit for next year. The awards, fields, field preps, ball, format, , supervision, the friendliness, openness & willingness to make things right, along with the camaraderie between the teams in the Masters program is unmatched anywhere. Overall the umpiring was very good and consistent (of course we all wanted that one call that went against us to be corrected).

From the 31 year old who is turning 32 this calendar year to the 71 year olds(there are 7 of them), the NAFA Masters program is supremely successful because of you the players. We wrote down pitching velocities for most pitchers and the new player photo ID check went well and was well received and appreciated by all coaches.
Every event is not without hiccups and we had a couple dealing with a few pitching plates and long games, but we made every attempt to make them right when they were brought to our attention.

Thanks to each and every player, coach and spectator for making this an event to remember.

ALL-WORLD AWARDS
35-Over
MVP John Bishop, CR Rockers Pitcher
Most Valuable Pitcher, Keith Fry, Taylor Farms/IAC
Brian Ree, CR Rockers
Kevin Rasmussen, CR Rockers
John Simmers, CR Rockers
Rick Martin, CR Rockers
Bobby Harris, CR Rockers
Jeff Twist, Taylor Farms/IAC
Jason Porto, Taylor Farms/IAC
Greg Glacier, Taylor Farms/IAC
Larry Michaudo, Taylor Farms, IAC
Junior Keizer, Dresslerville
Rob Lopez, Dresslerville
Dorcy Tom, Dresslerville
Jack Andreas, Oregon Masters
Mark Connolly, Oregon Masters

40-Over
MVP Paul Reyes, Cal State Builders
Most Valuable Pitcher Paul Algar, Cal State Builders
Mario Periaria, Cal State
Duey Christenson, Cal State
Craig Budrock, Cal State
Steve Garcia, Cal State
Eddie Martin, Black Sox
Dave Demaio, Black Sox
Anthony Rocha, Black Sox
Fred Hanker, Black Sox
Ronn Rupp, Black Sox Pitcher
Tony Corda, Fat City
Todd Hodge, Fat City
Marc Benjamin, Utah FP
Tommy Gray, Utah FP
Gin Barnes, Utah FP
Jay Johnson, So Cal Bandits
Dean Clark, Yard Dogs
Russ Wedmore, Tule Lake
Ray Thompson, RMC Builders

45-Over
MVP Tony Phillips, QMax
Most Valuable Pitcher, Rob Scheller, QMax
Randy Bell, QMax
Lanky Johnson, QMax
Glen Bush, QMax
Mitch Ventura, Fog
Phil Hernandez, Fog
Russ Arellanes, Fog
Tim Gerund, Santa Rosa
Tom Dower, Santa Rosa
Tony Lopez, Santa Rosa
Dennis Brownfield, Savala
Kirk Jackson, Savala
Herman Augerhole, Tulsa
Lance Day, Tulsa
Kelly Wenstrom, Ladner
Sam Aldridge, Ladner

50-Over
MVP Ray Biagina, Bay Area Merchants
Most Valuable Pitcher Ray Camacho, Bay Area Merchants
Chris Newbold, Bay Area
Larry Scheffield, Bay Area
Lonnie Brooks, Texas Stars/Si Senor
Phil Cain, Texas Stars/Si Senor
Paul Rubin, Texas Stars/Si Senor
Mike Hazel, Texas Stars/Si Senor
Kevin Engelhart, Boise Fog
Brian Stanton, Boise Fog
Greg Wertz, Yard Dogs
Dan Zupp, Yard Dogs
Greg Fleener, Nevada
Kirk Long, So Cal Relics
Terry Sporrong, Seattle FP
Ken Hall, Ladner
Jimmy Huerta, Ohio Battery

—
Benjie Hedgecock
NAFA Executive Director
Nafafastptich ( a t ) gmail.com
www.nafafastpitch.com

Posted in Masters, NAFA | No Comments »

The fastpitch pyramid

September 24th, 2009

From OttoinFocus

Written by Bob Otto on September 24th, 2009

YUCAIPA, CALIF – Back in the mid 1970s, Dennis Johnson of St. James, Minnesota told me about the importance of the pyramid. I’ve never forgot what he said.

“Fastpitch softball is like a pyramid,” said Johnson in so many words, “At the bottom (base), it brings new players into the game. Once they’re in the game, their talent will take them as far up as they can go. The best players will eventually rise to the top to form the best teams.”

A healthy, vibrant fastpitch pyramid is constantly evolving and replenishing itself. New players come in, they progress and become better. Eventually, they rise up to the utmost level of their talent and fill all the divisions of fastpitch softball that comprise the pyramid.

The most important part of the pyramid? The base.

Because the base is the open door that welcomes young, inexperienced players into fastpitch. Our raw talent, our new blood.

And without a vibrant continual flow of young players into the base, the mechanics of the pyramid begin to break down. And the talent at the top – comprising the best players, who make up the best teams that men’s fastpitch has to offer, starts depleting as veteran players retire, and teams call it quits.

TOP TEAMS FOLD

And we’re seeing that today. Just recently, announcements were made that the legendary Rod Peterson was folding his Farm Tavern team. A team that for decades resided at the top of the pyramid. And shortly after, the Grey Sox of Vancouver, BC, pulled the plug on their franchise.

Years ago in the heyday of men’s fastpitch – the 1950s through about the early ’80s – this wouldn’t have been a problem. For a healthy pyramid would have replaced the loss of such teams such as the Farm and Grey Sox.

In 1982, Darryl Craft and I formed a team called the Yucaipa Athletics. We stuck around for about 14 years. We ran an announcement in the San Bernardino County SUN that we were having open tryouts and welcomed young players to audition.

STARTING AT THE BASE

About 45 players showed up for our first tryout. We were amazed. We had all these guys from age 19 to about mid-30s eager to be a part of this brand new team. We definitely started at the base. But through time, practice, and patience we rose to about the “A and B” divisions in the pyramid.

Many of our players had little or no fastpitch experience. But they soon loved the game, worked hard and developed their skills.

But over time we made a grievous error. We abandoned the pyramid. Instead of replenishing our team with young players, we started recruiting older, talented veterans. We became like many of the teams today, who operate by this philosophy:

“It’s much easier to recruit veteran players than to develop raw talent.”
That philosophy proved fatal for the Athletics. When the guys got older and decided to retire, we had no one to replace them. And the Athletics folded.

SOME WORK THE PYRAMID

In some areas of the country, there are committed fastpitch leaders working the pyramid. In Santa Barbara, Clyde Bennett, formed an age 23-Under team several years ago. He recruits young talent and offers them an opportunity to “enter through the pyramid’s base into the sport.”

And in Lake Crystal and Vernon Center, Minnesota staunch fastpitch supporters such as Jack Norman, Steve Roth, Wayne Hohenstein, Tom Looft, and many others, have recruited and developed young boys, bringing them into and progressing them upwards through the pyramid.

And the same can be said of Al Hartman of the South Dakota Hartford Explosion. Or Eric Lewis of the Northwest Missouri Royals age 10-Under team. And Lynn and Barb Sheevel, who help run a boys and girls fastpitch league in southeastern Minnesota.

ISC WORLD TOURNEY

The International Softball Congress has had an alarming drop in teams participating in the World Tournament over the past several years. From a tournament bracket filled with 48 teams, year after year, that bracket dropped to 24 teams this year.

Of course this bothers anyone concerned about the future of men’s fastpitch. But I’m not as concerned about the loss at the top of the pyramid. It’s the base I’m worried about.

Because if we don’t make an effort to begin funneling young players in at the base of the pyramid, the top won’t be around much longer to even worry about.

Posted in General | No Comments »

Penetanguishene native Grant Patterson can throw an 80 mile an hour fastball

September 23rd, 2009

From The Midland Free Press

Posted By IAN SHANTZ

Forget about that hardball game. Grant Patterson shoots from the hip.

Fastball is the specialty for this 36-year-old monster of a hurler.

And the team he joined prior to the start of the summer specializes in victories.

For the six-foot-seven, 225-pound Penetanguishene native, it all worked out in the end.

“These past few weeks have been a dream come true,” said Patterson, who grew up playing in the Toanche Fastball League his dad helped start. “It really hasn’t hit me yet, to be honest.”

Patterson was there when the Kitchener Rivershark Twins — a morphing of the Orillia Riversharks and Kitchener Twins — captured the first Canadian senior men’s fastpitch championship in its 42-year history a few weeks ago in St. Thomas.

The Rivershark Twins edged out the Jarvis Gamblers, 3-2, in extra innings.

“It’s weird,” said Patterson, who reaches speeds of more than 80 miles an hour with his windmill delivery. “I was warming up for most of (the final) at world’s, and the guys dragged me back to the bench for the last inning. They said, ‘You have to be here to see this.’ It was absolutely incredible to be a part of.”

The Rivershark Twins scored in the ninth to win the national crown. For Patterson, who left his former Michigan-based Midland Explorers teammates in the off-season to join the all-world Kitchener-based squad, things went exactly as he’d hoped.

“We had a great bunch of guys in (Michigan), but we could never win,” said Patterson, who lives in Toronto with his wife, J. J., and young daughters, Sydney, and Avery.

“I told the guys, basically, that I want to win, that I want to experience what it feels like to win. They understood.”

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En route to the final, Patterson pitched a two-hitter, helping his team blank the Charlottetown Fawcetts.

Patterson also helped his team solidify a first-place finish in preliminary action, tossing another two-hitter, this time in a 4-0 shutout over the host St. Thomas squad.

“For me, it was amazing,” said Patterson, who works as a chief compliance officer in the investment sector. “There were 3,000 fans there watching it. Their fans.”

The heroics in St. Thomas were a dramatic follow-up to the Rivershark Twins’ 1-0 win over the Broken Bow Patsy’s of Nebraska a few weeks earlier in the final at the International Softball Congress world championship in Quad Cities, which borders Illinois and Iowa.

Patterson was one of five new players to join the all-star calibre Rivershark Twins this season.

The team features players from New Zealand, Newfoundland, Calgary, Texas and everywhere in between.

“I think for the five of us, it might take a bit more time to set in,” he said. “But when we get our rings … that’s what we all play for.”

Prior to moving to Toronto, Patterson spent several years playing for the Toanche Eagles in the Simcoe Rural Fastball League.

For the past two years, Patterson has played for Canada’s national fastball team.

He said there are a lot of talented players coming out of the Simcoe league. At the worlds in Quad Cities, the Wyevale Tribe competed in the ISC II championship, while players from Vasey and Toanche were also represented.

Posted in Canada, ISC, Players | No Comments »

Vancouver Grey Sox ceasing operations

September 23rd, 2009

Cap tip The Inside Curve and Al’s Fastball:

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Vancouver, B.C.



(click logo to visit official Vancouver Grey Sox website)

We regret to advise that the Vancouver Grey Sox Senior Men’s Fastpitch Club is ceasing operations. It has become too costly to run an open level team on the West Coast. A number of factors have led to our decision to wind up the team, but the ISC’s efforts to limit roster movement by imposition of the PRAWN rule is not one of them. In fact, we applaud the ISC for its recent efforts to regulate rosters of ISC teams and assist withcontrolling the costs of fielding a competitive club at this level.

A previous version of the Grey Sox operated for a few years in the mid 1990’s and the team was resurrected in 2000 by Doug Challoner and the South Hill Sports Association. In 2000 and 2001 the Grey Sox played in the BC Premier League and competed at the Senior B level, with a roster of young players who had graduated from BC junior teams. In 2002 the Grey Sox moved up to the Open level. Although we have always had a majority of BC- based players, in recent years we added out of province players in an effort to stay competitive with the upper echelon teams. However, we are proud to have continued to contribute to the local fastpitch community by co-hosting the Vancouver Challenge tournament every year, helping run youth clinics, and supporting all other Open level teams in our region. In 8 years as an Open level teamthe Grey Sox played in 7 Canadian Championships and 5 ISC World Tournaments.Our crowning achievement on the field was our Canadian Championship win in Newfoundland in 2007. At the Canadians we were also the silver medalists in 2004 and bronze medalists in2003. At the ISC World Tournament we consistently placed in the top 12 and were8th many times, but could not crack the top 6. We won several Vancouver Challenge Tournaments in front of large hometown crowds, including in 2008 and 2009. We enjoyed our involvement in the senior men’s fastpitch community in North America for the last decade and we are saddened that the team is coming to an end. We will miss the game at this level and are hopeful that it will be rejuvenated on the West Coast overtime, as the economics change.

We would like to thank the many volunteers of the South Hill Sports Association, the ISC, Softball Canadaand Softball BC for their contributions to the game.Special thanks as well to all of our coaches, players, Directors, Boosters,corporate contributors, wives and children, the Media and of course the fans of the Vancouver Grey Sox, for your support.

We wish all of you the best of luck in the seasons ahead.

Sincerely,

Larry Kancs, Conrad Margolis and John Stuart on behalf of the Vancouver Grey Sox Senior Men’s Fastpitch Club

Posted in ISC | No Comments »

Young Bucks Fall Fundraiser

September 23rd, 2009

Sat-Sun November 14-15 Eling Park

12 teams 4 games guarentee $350/team
3 game round robin Sat – single elimination Sun
1st 12 teams to pay are in
Clyde Bennett clydebennett13@yahoo.com 805-895-9007
6600 Stagecoach Rd Santa Barbara Ca. 93105

Posted in Youth | No Comments »

Bay Area Merchants Win NAFA 50+ World Series

September 22nd, 2009

Bay Area Merchants: 2009 Nafa Western National Champions
50 & Over.

Most Valuable Player: Ray Biagini (Shortstop) .650 3 HR
Most Valuable Pitcher: Ray Camacho 6-0 .575 4 HR
All World Players: Larry Schofield (Catcher)
Chris Newbold (3rd/Util)

Second Team: Mark Linnell
Fred Kronenberger

Posted in General, Masters, NAFA | No Comments »

The Dower Report on NAFA 45+ World Series

September 22nd, 2009

Thanks to Herb Dower for the latest edition of “The Dower Report” on the NAFA 45+ World Series:

CARSON CITY, NV — Santa Rosa Fastpitch didn’t stand a chance against the very talented QMax team of Calgary, Alberta, but despite two lopsided losses to the Canadian team, Santa Rosa captured third place in the Over-45 Division in the NAFA Masters West World Series held here Sept. 18-20 at Centennial Sports Complex.
Santa Rosa opened Friday night with a 9-3 win over Savala Painting, which recently finished second in the Over-45 Division of the Amateur Softball Association’s Masters Tournament. Matt Smith pitched the win and Tony Lopez, Tom Dower and Dana Faccini led the way offensively. Lopez collected five straight hits, Dower hit a three-run homer in the first inning and Faccini had two extra base hits.

QMax brought Santa Rosa down to earth Saturday morning as Lanky Johnson pitched a four-hitter in a 9-0 victory. Lopez held the Alberta team at bay for three innings as Santa Rosa trailed only 1-0, but QMax erupted for five runs in the fourth and three in the fifth to put the game away.

Lopez continued his hot hitting with a pair of singles, giving him seven consecutive hits to start the tournament. Dana Faccini added a double and Gary Dower had a single.

Santa Rosa then lost 6-3 to the Tulsa Gray Sox, with Gary Dower taking the loss. Lopez doubled in his first at-bat for his eighth straight hit and Tom Dower and Dana Faccini each had two hits.

In the first game of the playoffs, Santa Rosa took on the No. 4 seeded Ladner Masters of British Columbia and rallied for an eight-inning 9-6 victory behind Matt Smith (2-0).

Santa Rosa led 3-1 after three innings, but Ladner came back to take a 5-3 lead going into the seventh inning.
Gary Dower singled to start the Santa Rosa comeback, Lopez was hit by a pitch, Tom Dower singled across a run to make it 5-4, and Tim Grund tripled to right to drive in two runs to give Santa Rosa a 6-5 lead. Grund was left stranded on third.

In the bottom of the seventh, Kelly Wenstrom singled for Ladner’s, Jim Bruce lined out to left, and Sammy Aldridge walked. Troy Grow followed with an RBI single to tie the game at 6-6, but Aldridge, trying to advance to third, fell down and was eventually tagged out. Keven MacDonald flied out to left to end the inning.

In the eighth, Gary Dower ignited the game-winning rally with a two-out bunt single, Lopez doubled, and Tom Dower launched his second three-run home run of the tournament to give Santa Rosa its 9-6 victory.

QMax made short work of Santa Rosa in Sunday’s second game pounding out 13 hits in the first two innings off Matt Smith, including a three-run homer by Tony Davis. Tony Lopez, Tom Dower, Tim Grund and Rick Kane got hits for Santa Rosa. In two games, the Alberta powerhouse outscored Santa Rosa 22-1, and Santa Rosa did not have to face Alberta’s best, pitching legend Rob Scheller.

Three members of the Santa Rosa team received All-World honors. Lopez, who hit .625 (10 for 16) and scored seven runs; Tom Dower, who hit .533 (8 for 15) and had two home runs and seven RBI; and Grund, who was 5 for 14 (.357). It was the second year in a row that Dower received All-World honors, earning it last year while playing for Fat City, when he also hit two home runs.

Posted in Masters, NAFA, Tournaments | No Comments »

ASA 50+ Nationals – Sept. 25-27

September 22nd, 2009

Thanks for Sharon Mitchell for this info:

This weekend, in Prescott, AZ. Click here for bracket.

Posted in ASA, Masters, Tournaments | No Comments »

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