The California LumberKings and Taylor Farms have joined forces for the upcoming ISCII season. LumberKings Manager, Dave Weldin and Taylor Skipper, Ron Guzman has concluded talks that were started some years ago.

To continue to play at the ISC-ISCII level, we felt it was in the best interest for both the California LumberKings and Taylor Farms to combine. Without this fusion of the two teams it was doubtful that either team would be able to compete at this level.

The LumberKings looked hard into competing at the ISC level and fell short of the funding goal needed to compete. In addition to finances, both teams are losing players from their 2007 rosters for a variety of reasons.

The newly formed Taylor Farms LumberKings have finalized their roster for the upcoming 2008 season. The roster will consist of one of the top pitching staffs at the ISCII level. In addition to pitching we feel that our offense and defense has improved from the 2007. All of the players on this year’s roster come from two of the top three teams from last years ToC. Again, we would like to thank all of our players that played with us the past few seasons. Each and every one made our team a success!

Here is the 2008 roster for the Taylor Farms LumberKings:

P-Mike Egerdeen
P-Darren Strang
P-Dave Drotzman
C-Jeff Twist
INF-Eddie Martin
INF-Greg Hicks
INF-Pat Fuentes
INF-Shawn Ching
INF-Greg Oliver
INF/C-Troy Parker
INF/OF-Chris Baker
INF/OF-Ron Guzman
OF/C-Jon Nimmo
OF-Shawn Mandolesi
OF-Brian Teeters

Reprinted with permission from the Woodstock Sentinel Review.

By Cory Smith
Sports reporter

TAVISTOCK — If the St. Marys/Tavistock Merchants have any hope of defending their ISC II world fastball championship, they’ll have to find the missing ingredients they used to win last year. The Merchants started 2007 ranked No. 1 among ISC II teams, but a slow start in the South Perth Men’s Fastball League and a disappointing finish at the Ontario eliminations last weekend dropped the club to a top-five world ranking. Hardly anything to be ashamed of, but the Merchants will have a bull’s-eye on them all week. “We expect to be able to compete. With a little luck anything can happen,” Merchants manager Steve Kaufman said. “I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of teams gunning for us.”

First on that list will be the Kitchener Outlaws, who host the Merchants Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.
“I don’t think expectations are going to be a problem,” Kaufman said. “We’ve had a lot of expectations for many years, going back to Fargo in 2004 when we got second. It was like a relief to win last year.”

Nearly everything went the Merchants’ way in Kitchener last August. Tavistock — before adding St. Marys to its name this season — went 7-1 over eight games and outscored its opposition 34-7. The pitching staff — which hurled five shutouts, including a Ryan Cummings no-hitter — is back this year. There are some holes, such as the departure of shortstop Mark McKay, who scored the winning run in the eighth inning of last year’s championship, but Kaufman is confident that players brought in from St. Marys will mix with the returnees to form another formidable mix.

“We need good pitching and good hitting and timely hitting, that’s what it takes,” he said. “We have the ability to score lots of runs, but when it comes to playoffs and good teams it’s pitching and defence that comes through.”

Reprinted with permission from the Woodstock Sent.

By Darryl G. Smart
Sports Editor

INGERSOLL — The rankings have them at the bottom but that’s not going to bother the Ingersoll Crush when they go to Kitchener for the Intarnational Softball Congress II Tournament of Champions. The Crush, who have qualified for the ISC II ToC for the first time, will have a good mix of youth and veterans. “I think our team chemistry is our biggest strength by far,” Crush manager Rob Deakin said. “We all eat, drink and hang out with each other. This is a real close-knit team and I think that will help us in a tournament like this.” Having umpired in the ISC worlds several times, Deakin knows about the magnitude of the ToC, which is something he said the younger players will learn in a hurry. “We have the veterans to calm the young guys’ nerves down. I know we’ve played a lot of these teams before and have done well against them. But this is the Tournament of Champions. The level of ball is raised, which something I want them to experience.”

The Crush have had a solid season thus far in the Tri-County Men’s Fastball League, but consistency has plagued them at times. “I think if we play error-free ball and get rid of the mental errors, I think we could make it to the playoffs, where anything can happen,” he said.
And the Crush just have to look at the Tavistock Merchants for inspiration. Ranked 22nd heading into last year’s ToC, the Merchants got on a roll and beat the 32nd-ranked Palermo Athletics in the final. The 35th-ranked Crush will begin their quest to climb the ladder Tuesday against the Kingston Cowboys at 7:30 p.m. On Wednesday at 11 a.m., they will take on the Hoffman Rise and then the Elora Brewers at 5:30 p.m.The Crush will round out the round-robin with the Rockwood Rush Thursday at 11:30 a.m.

“It doesn’t matter who we’re going to play, every game’s going to be tough,” Deakin said. “But I really think we can have a 2-2 record and maybe get into the playoffs. But the main thing is that our guys enjoy the tournament and take in the experience.” Deakin said not only has the team been committed to doing well at the ToC, sponsors like Elgie Trucking have been important.

(click logo to visit their team website)

REDS receive invite to 2007 ISC II Tournament of Champions

Jul 7, 2007 – The Hickson Reds have received and accepted an invitation to attend the 2007 ISC II Tournament of Champions in Kitchener. The currently ranked 29th team recieved an invite after going 3-2 in the Innerkip qualifier tournament.

Results:

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