From ISC II Commissioner, Blair Setford:

With the launch of GHFL.ca, in no small part due to the tremendous contributions of Jim Flanagan, I am hoping to duplicate, albeit on a smaller scale, the success of Fastpitchwest.com. Our focus will be on fastball in the hotbed of Ontario, particularly the ISC II brand of ball.

Most of the press in the game goes to the big boys – the teams and players that compete on the ISC World Tournament stage, at the Pan-Am Games and the quadrennial ISF World Series. And it should.

To borrow from the PGA – These guys are good. Nothing beats seeing the game of fastball played by the best players in the world. It’s a shame that we’ve never been able to successfully translate that poetry on grass to the television screens across North America. (More on that in a future guest column.)

But for every team competing at the ISC World Tournament, there are probably five, maybe 10, maybe 25 or even 50 teams that don’t have budgets the size of small Caribbean islands who play for the love of the game and the purity of the competition.

It was for these guys that the ISC II division was started a few years back and it’s where my passion for the game comes from. These players are the unheralded stalwarts of the game who are keeping it alive in all four corners of North America.

And, yes, these guys are good, too. They can run and hit and catch and make plays that will take your breath away. Only it’s not every play, and the imperfections in the game make one appreciate the gems sometimes a little more.

So, what can you expect at GHFL.ca? First you’ll get coverage of the Golden Horseshoe Fastball League. Beyond that, we’ll provide regular updates on the Ontario Top 10 Intermediate Teams, polls on the best hitters and pitchers, the best bats, the top parks to play in and much, much more.

Rumours and rankings are your thing? Log into the GHFL.ca forums and talk all you want about who’s the best and why. If you’ve got a hot scoop, pass it along.

We’re going to experiment with posting video and audio clips during the year along with still pix. Now, unless Maddy and Jim move to Toronto in the next three months, we’re not going to have anything along the lines of the beautiful galleries of photos that Maddy regularly graces us with, but we’ll try to post some new stuff every couple of weeks.

Lastly, tell us what you’d like to see on GHFL.ca. More polls? More rankings? More outside-Ontario material? More tournament coverage? More league coverage? GHFL.ca is literally in its infancy and the direction it takes as it grows is going to be determined by you, the readers. Please voice your opinion. We’ll be listening.

Cheers,

Blair Setford
GHFL.ca