Archive for the ‘ToC’ Category

ISC Release on 2010 Format Change

Monday, December 7th, 2009

ISC Release on 2010 Format Change

December 7, 2009

For immediate Release

The International Softball Congress is pleased to announce that the 2010 ISC World Tournament will be a 48-team event utilizing a modified EGC format which includes an ISC II Championship bracket.

All 48 teams will compete in the opening rounds of the tournament. The ISC II Championship single elimination bracket will be comprised of the first 24 teams that are eliminated from the ISC World Tournament bracket.

This restructuring has been approved by the ISC Executive Committee, the ISC Board of Directors and the Midland Host Committee.

Classification between ISC and ISC II will be eliminated. All teams will be able to sign pitchers who were previously on the ISC II Ineligible List including PRAWNs and out-of-region players (OOR) subject to existing limitations for PRAWNs and fees for OOR players. Please note that the maximum of two OOR pitchers is still in effect. The ISC will publish a unified set of rankings rather than separate rankings for ISC and ISC II teams.

The primary purpose of these changes is to continue providing our host cities with a sufficient number of teams and economic impact to warrant their hosting efforts and to provide teams with additional opportunities and games.

A sample unified tournament bracket is now displayed on the ISC Web Site at www.iscfastpitch.com to show how the tournament will flow and how teams will enter the ISC II bracket. This is a sample only and any game days or times shown on this bracket should be disregarded as the final schedule has yet to be determined. All teams will be guaranteed at least three games (only 4-teams will have 3-games while all others are guaranteed 4-games). Those in the ISC II bracket will be guaranteed a minimum of four games.

Click here to view the bracket in html format and here to view a pdf version.

Here is some additional information about the 2010 ISC World Tournament:

• An informal poll of ISC II caliber teams drew 20-respones and shows that all respondents would consider entering a unified tournament that includes an ISC II championship bracket.
• To compensate for the reduction of total teams compared with 2009, the ISC will pursue the possibility of a 16-team Legends tournament to be run during the World Tournament. There will also be a 4-team U19 (Midget) tournament. Dates of both the Legends and U19 segments and Legends age-category will be announced later. It is also felt that a Legends division will be appreciated by many fans.
• A full complement of awards will be presented in all four segments; ISC, ISC II, Masters and U19.
• The 2010 ISC World Tournament is scheduled to start Friday August 13 with two games and the championship game on Saturday, August 21. The ISC II Championship game will likely be played on Thursday, August 19.
• The full statistical package that the ISC provides will be kept for all four tournament segments.
Streaming of both the World Tournament and ISC II segments will continue as in past years. The ISC II Championship game will likely be video streamed.
• We will soon send 2010 berth allocations to our five Regional Vice Presidents and International Director for distribution among invitational tournaments in 2010. There will be 48 total berths allocated less berths that were filled in 2009 for 2010. Berths will be designated ISC Berths and we will no longer distinguish between World Tournament and ISC II ToC berths. We currently have 16 teams qualified for 2010 berths from 2009 Qualifiers plus two Midland Host Teams.
• The pre-tournament manager meeting and team registration will be held on Friday, August 13. Opening ceremonies will be held on Saturday evening, August 14.

The ISC apologizes to the Midland Host Committee for implying that it had approved the format in our release last Monday. The Midland Host Committee did not officially approve the format until today.

For further information, please contact

Ken Hackmeister
ISC Executive Director
iscken@comcast.net

Individual team stats now available

Sunday, October 4th, 2009

Individual team stats now available from the 2009 ToC.

Click here.

Ballpark Radio interviews on You Tube

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

In case you missed one, here’s all of the You Tube links to the Ballpark Radio interviews from the 2009 ISC II Tournament of Champions.

Ty McKinney, Ashland Stock Pack, All Tournament
Aaron Whitney, Port Elgin Blue Devils, 2009 ToC MVP
Will Lake, Waterdown Hammer
Ross Herold, Bridgeport Braves, All Tournament
Corey Jones, Lloydminster Dodgers
Jay Schnarr, Bridgeport Braves, All Tournament
Dan Martin, Elmira Expos
Mike Smith, Hoffman Rise
Brian Maas, Port Elgin Blue Devils
Scott Standerfer, Decatur Pride
Trevor Urban, Ashland Stock Pack
Luke Hopkins, Ohsweken Redmen
Francis Leclair, Donnacona Blue Sox, All Tournament
Jeff Van Hooser, Ashland Stock Pack

Final batch of Maddy’s Photos

Saturday, September 5th, 2009


Click here for Maddy’s Photos Gallery, “Opening Ceremonies”


Click here for Maddy’s Photos Gallery, “Around the Ballpark”.

From Maddy’s Photos Blog:

“It is in a bittersweet mood that I finished the task of reviewing and uploading all the photos for the 2009 ISC II – Tournament of Champions. Bittwersweet because it signifies the end of the fastpitch season for me. No more standing in the field and sharing it with the very talented athletes who play this great game called fastpitch. No more smelling the sweet smell of grass as I stand too close to the foul line to get just the right shot. No more chattering with the managers and players as they return to their positions on the field. But all is not lost, as this will all repeat itself next year. Until then I hope you join me in re-visiting, through my photos, the wonderful tournament called the ISC II.

I have uploaded two more galleries: the first gallery is of the photos taken during the Opening Ceremonies (2009 ISC II – Opening Ceremonies) and the second gallery has photos taken around the ballpark of the fans, players and staff (2009 ISC II – Around the Ballpark). My thanks to everyone who each year make this tournament an unforgettable experience for me. From Blair Setford who each year gives me access so I can photograph this great tournament. To the game controllers who always happily accept the task of babysitting my equipment and keep me in stitches with their stories and jokes. To the players whose athletic prowess challenge me each and every game as I try to capture with photographs what they do so easily and with such talent. And last but not least, the umpires, for who I feel a close kinship; sort of brothers in arms you might say, sharing the field game after game but never playing in it. ”

-Maddy


(Photo of Maddy, not by Maddy)

Preliminary stats now available

Saturday, September 5th, 2009

Preliminary statistics are now available from the 2009 ISC II Tournament of Champions.

Click here for player stats and click here for team stats.

More to come in the future.

Adco falls short of goals

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009


From the Staten Island Advance

Staten Island softball notebook: Adco falls short of goals
by Bob Nestel
Tuesday September 01, 2009, 1:09 PM

Adco Electric finished up their fastpitch season with what manager Peter Quaranta calls “disappointing” — at least by their lofty standards.

“We didn’t have a great tournament,” said Quaranta, whose club went 1-3 at the ISC II Fastpitch Championship in Rock Island, Ill. “It was a tough season for us overall. We never seemed to be at full strength until last weekend.”

“This was the toughest schedule we’ve ever played,” he added. “We played in the Mid Atlantic Premier Fastpitch Travel League, we played a couple of ISC qualifiers and we played in the Summit Fastpitch League (second place).”

“Fastpitch is just a different game than modified,” he continued. “The pitching dominates. You fall behind just one or two runs and it’s tough to catch up.”

Quaranta’s club opened the ISC II leading CPI (Dundas, Canada) 4-1 early, before dropping a 10-5 decision.

They followed with a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to the Lamp Liter Inn (Iowa) and a 2-0 loss to the top ranked Bridgeport Braves (Ontario, Canada).

Not even a 5-2 tourney win over the Donnacona Blue Sox (Quebec, Canada) could get the Island entry into the elimination round.

“We got some good pitching from John Jones, Jeff Pleszewicz and Ryan Nichols,” said Quaranta. “And Dave Lohman and Jerry DeMatteo hit the ball well.”

“Overall it was a good learning experience for us, playing this type of competition almost every game,” he added.

Maddy’s Photos from 2009 ISC II ToC are up!

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009


From the Maddysphotos Blog:

ISC II Photos Posted

After a long weekend of post-production work, I finished the “action” photos of the Tournament of Champions tournament. They are posted under the “ISC II – Action” gallery. I still have photos from the Opening Ceremonies to post and some photos I took around the ballpark. Hopefully I will have those up this week. Enjoy!


Click here to view photos.


(Photo of Maddy, not by Maddy)

ToC coverage on cbcsports.ca

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Ballpark Radio’s Lance Winn, producer at cbcsports.ca, files this report on the 2009 ISC II Tournament of Champions. Click the image below to play the video.

Sharkey D’s Photos

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Stolen from Sharkey D’s Facebook Photos – Chicago – ISC II:

Another from Sharkey D’s Facebook collection:

“Big Sky Day in Rock Island”.

Ball Park radio…covering games and doing play by play.

Blackburn Transport:


Tim Norris, Randy Frame, Richie Connors and more of the guys.

Francis Leclair Interview

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Francis Leclair, Donnacona Blue Sox, is interviewed on Ballpark Radio at the 2009 ISC II Tournament of Champions on Thursday August 20 following his team’s 5-0 win. Francis pitched the shut-out and hit a home run to help his cause. You can watch in standard definition or click the HD button in the bottom right of the video to see in high definition.

Jeff Van Hooser Interview

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Jeff Van Hooser, Ashland Stock Pack, is interviewed on Ballpark Radio at the 2009 ISC II Tournament of Champions on Thursday August 20 following his team’s 9-6 come-from-behind extra innings win. You can watch in standard definition or click the HD button in the bottom right of the video to see in high definition.

First batch of Maddy’s Photos

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

The first set of Maddy’s photos from the 2009 ISC II ToC is now available on Maddy’s Photos web site here.

This initial set features team photos, including members of the All-Tournament team.

Stay tuned for more, soon!