Congratulations to Darren Zack on his nomination to the International Softball Federation Hall of Fame announced this weekend at the ISF Congress on Margarita Island in Venezuela.
Darren, who will be inducted into Softball Canada’s Hall of Fame in November and will become a member of the ISC Hall of Fame next August, won ISF gold in 1992 and two silver medals in 1996 and 2004. Darren also won Pan Am gold in 1991, 1995 and 1999.
Congratulations Darren!
UPDATED
Thanks to our friend Dave Birnie for noting that ISC II players Jason Smith, CPI, and Mike Crawford, Minesing, were members of the Cornwall Team Canada squad along with Sam Forbes. Click here for a great photo. And we should note that Nick McCurry, Ashland, was running the Ohio Battery team.
Congratulations to the ISC II’s Sam Forbes, of the Bridgeport Braves, and Gord Scott, of Palermo Athletics, who each won silver medals at the 2009 World Masters Games in Sydney, Australia. Sammy was with Cornwall Team Canada in the 35+ B Division, while Gord was in the 45+ B Division with Ohio Battery.
Click here for the final results.
Editor’s Note: From the list of Out-of-Region players published this weekend by the ISC, below is the abbreviated ISC II list. For the full list, including all WT players, click here.
2009 ISC II Out of Region Players – By Team
Team Name & ISC Region
Player Name(s) Home Region
Ashland Stock Pack – US East
Thompson, Jamie Canada East
Van Hooser, Jeff Canada East
Bridgeport Braves – Canada East
Teeters, Brian US West
Columbia River Rockers – US West
Cose, Lee Canada East
Noftall, Mike Canada East
CPI/ADS – Canada East
Lane, Jeff US East
Sirzickas, Michael US East
Walseman, Charlie US East
Hoffman Rise – US East
Cummings, Ryan Canada East
Strang, Darren Canada West
Log Cabin Fastpitch – US Central
Owl, Aaron Canada East
Minnesota Angels – US Central
Bishop, Sam International
Latasa, Leonardo International
Naranjo, Jose* International
(*will be amended)
Rude-Pac – US West
Sleep, Doug US East
Stag Boys – US Central
Jamieson, Michael International
McIlroy, Carl International
Pirie, Troy International
The International Softball Congress is pleased to announce that Michael Kelly has been appointed as a Canada East ISC II player representative.
Mike, 32, is a player/manager with the Wyevale Tribe team. He is married and is a father of three. An accountant, Mike is the owner of Ledgers Barrie, an accounting, tax and financial services firm in central Ontario.
He has played fastball since he was 8 years old and has been a member of the Wyevale Tribe since the team was founded 12 years ago. Wyevale won the southern Ontario ISC II qualifier in 2007 and joined the Canada East Travel League in 2008. They have played in the past two ISC II Tournaments of Champions.
Mike serves as the Tournament Director of the popular Wyevale Tribe Tournament held in late June. The 2009 edition will be the 10th annual for the Wyevale Tribe, keeping alive an event that’s apparently been held in the community since 1965.
“Mike has a great deal of organizational skills andis very well spoken,” said ISC Canada East Regional VP Blair Setford.“He will be an additional voice for our region, for the ISC II division and as a member of the ISC Player Rep Committee.”
Mike can bereached via email at mkelly@tribefastball.ca.
For more information on the ISC, please visit www.iscfastpitch.com
Ken Hackmeister
ISC Executive Director
iscken@comcast.net
The International Softball Congress is pleased to announce that Darren Zack has been granted eligibility to play in the ISC II division effective for the 2009 season.
This decision keeps a living legend active in the game. The decision was made by a specially convened panel of the ISC Regional Vice-Presidents.
Not only does this give a new set of players an opportunity to say they played with and against Darren, it also enables Darren to have the opportunity to play with his son, Darren Jr. This is a very important factor for Darren because as a young pitcher, he had the opportunity to play with his father.
Other factors that entered into this decision include Darren’s age (48) and very limited opportunities for father and son to play on the same team. Darren’s eligibility is exclusive to the Ohsweken Redmen team from Ontario and is not transferrable to another team should Ohsweken fail to qualify for the ISC II Tournament of Champions. It is also reviewable at the conclusion of the 2009 season.
Ken Hackmeister
Congratulations to 2008 ISC II MVP Marcus Tan and Ashland Stock Pack’s Ty McKinney on being named to Team USA.
Marcus was asked to attend the USA national team tryout camp last fall on the heels of his knockout MVP performance at the ToC in Appleton with the champion California LumberKings and was one of the final two members named to the team today.
Also named to the team was Ashland Stock Pack’s Ty McKinney. McKinney, who had been out of the game for two years, made a successful comeback in 2008, helping to lead Ashland to a 5th place finish in Appleton.
“I believe the two new additions offer us an opportunity to grow the program in a positive direction,” said USA head coach Pete Turner. “It also shows that our committee continues to lookfor new talent that can help us compete now and in the future.”
On behalf of everyone in the ISC II program, congratulations and best wishes to Marcus and Ty with Team USA at the ISF World Championship in Saskatoon this summer.
Official ISC II photographer Maddy Flanagan was on hand to capture the Team USA tryout camp action last fall as about 30 hopefuls gathered prior to the team being selected.
Marcus 1
Marcus 2
Marcus 3
Ty 1
Click here for the complete photo set.
2008 ISC II MVP Marcus Tan and 2008 ISC II Top Pitcher Dave Drotzmann attended the Team USA camp in September 2008.
Maddy Flanagan was on hand to capture the action as about 30 hopefuls gathered prior to the team being selected that will compete at the 2009 ISF World Championship in Saskatoon.
Marcus 1
Marcus 2
Marcus 3
Dave
Marcus & Dave
Click here for the complete photo set.
Editor’s Note: ISC II Player Rep Dave Drotzmann is following up his Most Outstanding Pitcher performance at the 2008 ToC with an invite to the Team USA training camp. For more on the story, see our brother blog, The Morning Brief by clicking here.
Drotzmann aims for National TeamBy DANIEL WATTENBURGER
The East OregonianHERMISTON – In the world of men’s fastpitch softball, few have had the kind of year Dr. Dave Drotzmann can boast.
Not only did the Hermiston optometrist and school board chairman help his Bakersfield, Calif. club team – the Lumber Kings – win the International Softball Congress championship over the summer, he won the Most Valuable Pitcher award at the tournament and was invited to compete for a spot on the U.S. National team.
Read the whole story at The Morning Brief by clicking here.
Being named the MVP and the Top Pitcher at the 2008 ISC II Tournament of Champions paid off for Marcus Tan and Dave Drotzmann of the California Taylor Farms LumberKings. Both were among 34 athletes invited to the Team USA selection camp in preparation for the 2009 ISF World Championship.
Joining Tan and Drotzmann will be Ashland, OH StockPack pitcher Ty McKinney and ISC II alumnus Sean Kelly of Marshall, MI Rice Creek Lightning who played in the ToC in 2006.
Congratulations to all four men!
Click the logo above for the full list of players invited to the Team USA camp.
Rich Haldane, who pitched for Perkasie, PA Hoffman Rise in the 2007 ToC, is pitching for Great Britain in the 2008 Euro Championships. Britain is looking to qualify for the 2009 ISF World Championship in Saskatoon next July.
Photos can be found here.
Drama in the Game between the Netherlands and Great Britain
Af: Caroline Damsbo HolmeEven though the Netherlands were favorites in the game against Great Britain, the underdogs from overseas came out as the winners in the end with a score of 7-5. The game was tight throughout the seven long innings and the whole event lasted more than three hours – that is three hours full of great entertainment!
With actual fights, illegal pitches, hit by pitch and intentional walks, the game between Great Britain and the Netherlands provided the growing number of spectators with great entertainment. Especially British pitcher Richard Haldane claimed a lot of the attention, when he threw three illegal pitches, after he had already had several talks with the umpires in the first innings about his pitching style.
Best batter for Great Britain was probably James Chalmers who had two great hits before he was intentionally walked twice. The Netherlands had quite a few good hits; among these was one by Joost Droog and one by Enrique Javier who hit the ball out in right field in the 2nd inning. Still it wasn’t enough, and the Dutch suffered their first defeat against the Brits in a very long time.
Great Britain Left Little Room for the Belgian Team when they Met in their First Game
Af: Nana RasmussenGreat Britain won 8-0 against Belgium and got off to a good start in this year’s European Championship. Great Britain scored their first 3 runs in the very first inning and steadily kept on going with one run in the fourth inning and two runs in the fifth and sixth innings. With Belgium unable to fight back, Great Britain won the game on mercy rule.
Great Britain did not leave much to chances when they met the Belgian team. Great Britain’s pitcher, Rich Haldane, pitched a good game, and with a well playing field behind him the British team had control over the game all the way through. The game ended in the bottom of the fifth inning with a nice play by 3rd baseman, Neil Davies.
For more on the European Championship, click here.
(click logo to visit official ISC website)
For those who like to track such things, below are the OOR (out-of-region) ISC II players registered with the ISC by the May 1 deadline.
Keep in mind that ISC II teams have a one-month window to sign a pitcher from Canada East from June 23 to July 18 – as long as they are still in compliance with the ISC II OOR restrictions.
Ashland Stockpack – US East
Van Hooser, Barry Canada East
Van Hooser, Jeff Canada East
Bar of Appleton II – US Central
Cose, Lee Canada East
Mc Cabe, Trevor Canada West
Chicago Fastpitch Club – US Central
Biscussi, Martin Jorge International
Rozenblum, Alan International
Cutro Professional Inspections (CPI) – US East
Mc Callum, Mark Canada East
Winship, Shaun Canada East
Glencoe Astros – Canada East
Eakins, Sam US Central
Herda & Sons – US Central
Bishop, Sam International
Bonaccorsi, German International
Pacheco, Cristian International
Hoffman Rise – US East
Cummings, Ryan Canada East
Haldane, Rich Canada West
Innovative Communications – US West
Frame, Randy Canada East
Keating’s Fitness – US East
Crawford, Michael Canada East
New York Knights – US East
Duemo, Dan Canada East
Pidcock, Craig Canada West
River City Rockers – US West
Newton, Bryan Canada West
South Lebanon/TNT – US East
Tracy, Jeremy Canada East
Taylor Farms Lumberkings – US West
Egerdeen, Mike Canada West
Kawaguchi, Jeff Canada West
I haven’t gotten my hands on a copy of the ISC’s 2008 Media Guide yet, but there is a thumbnail shot of it at the official ISC website. (photo of it shown above)
Fastpitchwest’s own Maddy Flanagan had a hand in this one, including those two photos that appear on the cover. At top is a shot of Jay Herr, of the 2007 ISC II T of C champions, TNT of Lebanon, PA, hitting one of his record breaking seven home runs. Below that is a shot of The Farm’s Rod Peterson accepting the 2007 ISC World championship trophy at Kitchener, Ontario Canada. Inside the media guide you will find more of “Maddy’s Photos” taken at last year’s ISC World Tournament and ISC II Tournament of Champions. We’ll post more information on how to get your copy so keep an eye out. It’s THE annual publication in the world of men’s fastball, and you’ll want to get yours.
