opening round of ASA Men's Major Fast Pitch National Championship

[Al's Fastball News]

Received: 8/3/06 10:00:45 PM 
From:  "Bill Plummer" <bplummer(at)softball.org> 


   
Subject:  opening round of ASA Men's Major Fast Pitch National
Championship  

  

SOUTH BEND, IN


FARM TAVERN EDGES KEATING FITNESS CENTER 2-1

IN ONE OF SIX OPENING GAMES IN MEN'S MAJOR FAST PITCH NATIONAL



SOUTH BEND, IN - Sometimes one run is the difference in an ASA
Men's
Major Fast Pitch National Championship.

It was Thursday evening at the Belleville Softball Complex as
the Farm
Tavern of Madison, WI, nipped Keating Fitness Center of Wilkes
Barre,
PA 2-1, in one of six opening round games.



Seventeen teams are entered in the annual major fast pitch championship,
which was held at this complex two years ago when The Farm Tavern
repeated as national champion after winning in 2003 and finishing
third
last year in Florida. 



In its opener, The Farm got an outstanding performance from right-hander
Korrey Gareau who fanned 12 batters and walked one before he
was
replaced after giving up a lead-off triple to Travis Wilson in
the
seventh inning.



After the triple, Farm Manager Rod Peterson replaced Gareau with
another
right-hander, Dean Holoien, who was the outstanding pitcher in
this
event in 2004. Dean, who had surgery on his right shoulder in
January,
got the next three batters in order to close out the game. Wilson
scored
the only Keating run on a passed ball as Holoein fanned two of
the three
batters he faced.



Holoien doesn't have any pain throwing but he still isn't where
he wants
to be."I still have a long ways to go with the shoulder," said
Holoien
who threw a no-hitter in the 2004 championship game, striking
out 14 as
the Farm beat Broken Bow Spirit of Broken Bow, NE, 6-0. "Korrey
threw a
good game for us. It's crunch time for us with the ASA Nationals
and the
ISC Tournament."



Besides the triple, the only other hit Gareau allowed was an
infield
single in the fourth inning by Justin Stock. 



The only run Gareau would need came in the sixth inning when
Todd Budke,
a second-team All-America last year, singled, scoring Stan Grebek.
Grebek walked to open the inning and advanced to second on a
ground out
before Budke laced an RBI single to right field. The Farm added
an
insurance run in the top of the seventh inning on second baseman
Derrick Zechman's one-out solo homer over the left field fence
off
losing pitcher Bill Hillhouse. It was the first homer of the
tournament.



Hillhouse allowed three hits and fanned three in going the distance
as
Keating dropped into the loser's bracket.



The Farm Tavern 000 001 1 - 2 4 0

Keating Fitness Center 000 000 1 - 1 2 0



Korrey Gareau, Dean Holoein (7) and Todd Twachtmann. Bill Hillhouse
and
Steve Sell.

W - Gareau. L - Hillhouse. HR: Farm Tavern - Derrick Zechman.



In the second game on the yellow diamond Thursday, MVD Sports
of
Ashland, OH rallied scoring four runs in the top of the seventh
inning
to defeat the Duncan Outlaws of Elkhart, IN, 5-3, making its
debut in
this ASA Men's National Fast Pitch Championship.



Trailing 3-1, MVD loaded the bases against losing pitcher Allen
Hodge
before outfielder Reggie Kline hit a two-out grand slam over
the left
field fence in the seventh inning to give his team the win. It
was the
first grand slam of the tournament.



MVD out-hit Duncan 6-5, which took an early 3-1 lead.Duncan's
Tim Smart
had an RBI single in the first inning and blasted a triple to
lead-off
the sixth inning and later scored on Blake Gougler's triple to
right
field. The second Duncan run came in the second inning on an
RBI single
by Smart.



MVD scored its first run in the fourth inning on a lead-off double
by
winning pitcher Ty McKinney and a two-out RBI single by Tommy
Botkins. 

McKinney hurled six innings and fanned seven batters before walking
a
batter to open the seventh. Tom Benube replaced him and fanned
the next
three batters in order to end the game.



Losing pitcher Hodge went the distance and struck out six. He
had a
single and a double in four at-bats.





MVD Sports 000 100 4 - 5 6 0

Duncan Outlaws 101 101 0 - 3 5 3



Ty McKinney, Tom Berube (7) and Luke Painter. Allen Hodge and
Blake
Borger.

W -McKinney. L - Hodge. 2B: MVD - Ty McKinney. Outlaws - Allen
Hodge.
3B: Duncan - Tim Smart, Blake Gougler.

HR: MVD - Reggie Kline (grand slam).







In other opening games Thursday, Florida Fast Pitch of Jacksonville,
FL,
runner-up a year ago, decisioned the Ashland, OH Merchants 9-2;
Circle
Tap of Green Bay, WI defeated the Thomson Area Merchants, Thomson,
IL
3-1, the Heflin Builders of Balston Lake, NY routed D.C. Current
(the
2006 Indiana class C champion) of Breman, IN 17-1 in five innings
and
the Midland, MI Explorers edged Minn Dak Millers of Fargo, ND
3-2 in
eight innings. 



Heflin, which is one of the nation's top ten teams, blasted D.C.
for 17
hits compared to four for the losers. The winners scored three
in the
first, five each in the second and third and three in the fifth
to end
the game via the mercy rule (eight after five). D.C. used three
pitchers with Mike Huppert the losing hurler the first two innings.
Nate
Fish led the winners with two singles and a homer driving in
three runs.




The Midland Explorers scored the deciding run on a wild pitch
in the
eighth inning to win the first extra inning game of the tourney.
Doug
Gillis and Dave Frick went four innings apiece for the Explorers
while
Rob Schweyer was the losing hurler. He fanned nine and allowed
six hits.
Jeff Servinski had a two-run homer in the fifth inning for Explorers.
Craig Crawford and Reid Benson had a pair of singles apiece for
the
winners. 



The tournament will resume 9 a.m. Fridayt at the Belleville Complex
with
14 games scheduled. 

bplummer(at)softball.org


 

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