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Geoff Mott | The Saginaw News

MIDLAND — Fastpitch softball enthusiasts from around the globe will be watching the 63rd annual International Softball Congress World Tournament when play starts Friday at Midland’s Emerson Park.

“We began audio streaming games over the Internet in 2001 and added video streaming in 2005,” ISC Executive Director Ken Hackmeister said.

“We’ve had an outstanding response to it, particularly overseas. We take e-mails from viewers and listeners and it’s amazing to see how they come from the different corners of the world. New Zealand, Argentina, Europe, Australia … they are from everywhere.

“Midland will get a tremendous amount of exposure worldwide.”

Hotels in Midland are full and spilling over into the Great Lakes Bay Region to accommodate 48 teams from all over North America. Midland is just the second Michigan city to host the ISC tournament — the first was Saginaw in 1981.

The tournament, a double-elimination format that includes the ISC II tournament for teams quickly eliminated, wraps up with championship games on Aug. 21. The inaugural Legends Tournament and ISC 19-under World Tournament also will take place in Midland.

“Midland is the perfect place to host a tournament like this,” said Kyle Beane, co-host of the tournament committee who’ll play in his 16th ISC World Tournament. “I know the Explorers will do well in front of the hometown crowd.

“There’s always been good support here. The actual number has dwindled as the sport has fallen out of the amateur sporting eye, but we sold 300 tournament passes before it started. Compared to other hosts, that’s a good number. Other tournaments haven’t sold a third of that.”

Action will be aplenty in Midland all week, including times when six softball games will be going at the same time. Two separate free clinics are available to boys up to 18 years old, a Special Olympics and ISC exhibition game takes place Wednesday night and fans can meet stars from yesteryear at the ISC Hall of Fame breakfast Sunday.

Five vendors offer all sorts of concessions at Emerson Park and Redcoats Softball Complex while a beer tent is on tap near Currie Stadium.

Throw in the Great Lakes Loons playing back-to-back home series starting at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday and the Midland County Fair running from Saturday through Aug. 21 and entertainment will be at a peak in Midland County.

“The players that are in town will have something to do,” said David Lach, co-chairman of the tournament committee and a right fielder for the Explorers. “A lot of these guys like to go golfing during these tournaments so they’ll be out on the course first thing in the morning.

“I think they’ll enjoy our selection of courses in the area.”

The Kitchener (Ont.) Rivershark Twins have won the last two ISC World titles and return as favorites to win. Four area teams will compete for the title, including the Midland Explorers, who are celebrating their 23rd straight trip to the ISC World Tournament in their 25th year of existence. The Explorers enter the tournament ranked No. 6 in the world.

Mickey’s Sled and More of Midland, featuring longtime Explorers pitcher Doug Gillis, is co-hosting the tournament while Frankenmuth’s Tiffany’s and the Munger Vols will also compete.

The first 24 teams to lose twice head to the ISC II Tournament, which is built into the World Tournament to encourage younger, inexperienced teams to compete at the highest stage.

“It’s a notch below the highest level. In baseball analogy, the ISC II is Triple A while the ISC World is the Major Leagues,” Hackmeister said. “We began the ISC II in 2002, giving an alternative to other organizations by offering a chance to compete against the top international teams.

“It gives teams an incentive to come and compete.”

Richville and Munger Fastpitch are two local teams vying for the ISC 19-under title while the Legends game will feature several Michigan players.

The fast-paced action, with pitch speeds reaching as high as 86 miles per hour from only 46 feet away, is spectacle that any sports fan would want to watch, Hackmeister said.

“Some of the scores are going to be low because the pitcher has the advantage in this sport,” Lach said. “You play a lot of ‘small ball’ by moving people around to score. They may be viewed as cheap runs, but that’s how you play it. There are great hitters, too, so it’s a good mixture.

“It’s a very interesting game. There’s a lot of strategy and trickery on being able to push runs across the plate and these are the best players in the world who know those tricks and use it to their advantage.”

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 8th, 2010 at 12:18 pm and is filed under ISC, 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.