Archive for March, 2009

2009 ISC Guide cover

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

Here’s a sneak preview of the cover of the 2009 ISC Guide that will soon be available. You can order it from the ISC website or ask your regional ISC rep about getting a copy.

The ISC II shot, middle left, is of the California LumberKings’ Jeff Twist taking out Ross Herold of the Bridgeport Braves in their playoff game.

All photos on the cover were taken by the ISC II’s own Maddy Flanagan.

2009 Hoffman Rise Fastpitch

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

The 2009 Hoffman Rise Fastpitch roster is substantially complete and is detailed below.

P Ryan Cummings
P Mike Smith
C Chad Oechsle
IF Chad Walters
IF Brian Miller
IF Matt Daley
IF Steve Moore
OF Bart Fenstermacher
OF Jon Hurst
OF Andy Sabo
OF Justin Cevette
UT Lance Bauer
UT Zac Fenstermacher
UT Zach Fullman
UT Matt Daley Jr.

Mgr. Chip Savini
Coach Joe Roslin
GM Keith Hammerschmidt
Sponsor Bob Hoffman

Our tentative schedule includes the 3 MAFTL weekends, Molly Sherman Tournament (Elkland, PA), 4th of July Tournament (Allentown, PA), ToC, and Elkland Labor Day. We would like to find a tournament for the last weekend in July so if anyone has any suggestions please get in touch.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the retirement of Tom Vogel. Tom gave everything he had to the creation of The Rise; he will be sorely missed for his leadership, passion, knowledge for the game and performance on the diamond. Tom will continue as the President of the MAFTL and will undoubtedly remain involved with the game he loves so much. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him wearing a uniform at a tournament before the season is over. Tom, thanks for a lot of great years.

Sincerely,

Keith Hammerschmidt
Hoffman Rise Fastpitch
dozen12@comcast.net

Decatur Pride are back!

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009


Editor’s Note: Still some roster kinks to be worked out, but the Decatur Pride, a long-time ISC team, are reforming and bringing back many of the game’s stars of yesteryear for a crack at the ISC II division.

From Al’s Fastball:

Decatur Pride is Back!

The Pride will participate in the ISC II Tournament of Champions in Rock Island (if we qualify) and will be host for the ASA Class A Nationals in Decatur, IL this season.

Head Coach Scott Standerfer will try to gel a mix of OLD and young. The Pride consists of 8 past Pride players as well as two sets of father-son combinations.

Roster
Brent Stevenson – P
Bobby Ginger – P
TJ Dobson – P
David Scott – P
Rick Minton – IF
Drew Minton – IF
David Boys – IF
Cole Koester – IF
Todd McQuality – IF
Larry Moffett – IF
Doug Williams – IF
Dustin Curran – IF
Paul Carlton – IF
Robbie Tirpak – OF
Tyler Morganthaler – OF
Blake Martin – OF
Dean Lambert – OF
Greg Morganthaler – C
Mike Hopkins – C

The Pride has the following Saturday and Sunday open HOME dates, which are played in Decatur, Illinois

August 15 – 6pm start
August 16 – 1pm start

We are wanting to host a team that may be traveling through Decatur, IL heading to Rock Island to play in ISC II Tournament of Champions.

We may be able to work on discounts on hotels with City of Decatur Better Business Bureau. Interested teams please contact Robbie Tirpak at Robert.Tirpak@adm.com

Tirpak, Robert
Robert.Tirpak@adm.com

Midland to host ISC

Saturday, March 14th, 2009

Editor’s note: While all of this is subject to change, based on the preliminary discussions, the 2010 ToC games would be played on Diamonds 2 & 3 at Emerson Park, site of Currie Stadium, the main WT facility. Additional games would be played at nearby Redcoats Field with a handful of ISC II games played in Currie Stadium.

Midland to host ISC World Tournament
By Dan Chalk
of the Daily News
Published: Friday, March 13, 2009 11:03 PM EDT

More than $2 million of potential revenue pouring into the local economy.

Up to 80 men’s fastpitch softball teams staying in the Midland area for the course of a week, and up to 20,000 spectators visiting the city over that time.

Twenty nine jobs to be created locally.

It all adds up to one big economic ray of sunshine headed this way in August of 2010, when the Midland Explorers Booster Club is set to host the International Softball Congress World Tournament and two other concurrent tournaments at Emerson Park and Redcoats Fields.

While the contract is not yet signed, organizing committee co-chairman Kyle Beane said no other city has put in a bid for the tournament, and it’s just a matter of working out contract details with ISC officials.

“There is a mutual agreement between the Explorers Booster Club and the ISC that Midland will be the host in 2010,” said Beane, who also plays for the Midland Explorers men’s fastpitch team. “We’ve got contract details to work out that will be taken care of in the next couple of weeks.”

The ISC World Tournament will feature either 24 or 32 of the best men’s fastpitch teams from around the world. The concurrent ISC II Tournament of Champions will have about 40 fastpitch teams that are just a notch below those in the World Tournament; and the 19-and-under ISC Youth Tournament will draw eight to 12 youth teams from around the world.

Fans will come in large numbers from Ontario, Beane predicted.

“We think a lot of fans are going to come from Ontario, which is still a hotbed for fastpitch,” he said.

Beane is thrilled at the prospect of having the event in Midland, which last hosted a world fastpitch tournament in 1984 and 1996.

“It’s a great feeling, because it’s something that a lot of people have wanted to see,” he said. “We know what kind of venue we’ve got, one of the best in the country. I think a lot of people are going to be really excited that this tournament is finally going to come to Midland.”

The tentative dates for the tournaments are Aug. 14-21, 2010, Beane said. The 2009 tournament is in Quad Cities.

Beane said that after researching and consulting with Jim Peckrul of the Midland County Convention and Visitors Bureau, the organizing committee came up with a figure of $2.35 million as the economic impact of the tournaments.

Beane’s fellow committee co-chairman Dave Lach said the committee determined that the visitors and convention bureau would receive about $9,000 from the 2 percent local tax on lodging during the tournament.

A portion of any profit generated from the tournament will go to the Explorers Booster Club, but most of the profit will go to local teams, leagues, parks and other worthwhile groups as determined by the committee, Lach said.

Beane said the committee of about 25 members also includes softball notables Marty McGuire, Laura Currie, Pete Finn, Jeff Servinski, Gregg Sauve and Jack Starling, among others.

Lach said about 100 more volunteers will be needed to plan and run the tournament.

Lach said the committee is setting out to raise about $25,000 to meet expenses for the tournament, which include paying the city for the use of the fields.

Beane said the committee has already done a lot of planning over the past few months.

“We’ve got logos designed, we’re working on a website. A lot of work is already done; now it’s just time to start executing the plan,” Beane said.

Lach expects that the cost of admission to tournament games will be about $8 per fan per day, and about $20 per fan for the entire tournament.

He said that spectators will also receive coupons for area businesses with their admission tickets.

Z-man and son coming to ISC II

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009


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

Welcome

Summary of ISC Changes for 2009

Monday, March 2nd, 2009


At the ISC Board of Directors meeting in Kimberly, the following changes were approved for implementation in 2009. They appear below in no particular order of importance.

1. ISC II Player Reclassification Request Deadline – Appeals to have current World Tournament players reclassified for ISC II eligibility, must be submitted no later than June 1. See new process for requesting reclassification below.

2. Reclassification and Appeal Form Created – A new form and process for reclassifications and appeals has been created and is now displayed on the ISC Web Site www.iscfastpitch.com Click on Rules & Forms link in the left margin of front page.

A. The initial team request or appeal must be sent to the Regional Vice President.
Decision to be made within 5-business days.

B. Player reclassification requests from teams, denied at the Regional level, may be appealed to the ISC II Reclassification Committee jrwilliamson@foodfacility.com and blairjs@rogers.com and a decision will be made within 5-business days.

C. Player reclassification requests denied by the ISC II Reclassification Committee and all other appeals denied at the Regional level, may be appealed to the ISC Executive Committee by submitting the appeal form and a non-refundable $100 credit card fee and sending it to the ISC Executive
Director. Decision to be made within 5-business days.

D. Appeal decisions made by the ISC Executive Committee are final.

3. PRAWN Age Factor – If a non-PRAWN player makes an ISC All-World team in or after the calendar year of his 45th birthday, that player will be considered a PRAWN for only one year. PRAWN players who have made or make an ISC All-World team in the calendar year of their 41st through 44th birthday may request to be excluded from the PRAWN list in the calendar year of their 46th birthday by providing proof of age to the ISC Executive Director by May1.

The changed PRAWN rules are shown on the ISC Web Site (Rules & Forms) and the 2009 PRAWN list is also on the web site (Tournaments link and scroll down to the bottom of the page).

4. ISC II Move-up Berths – Beginning with 2009 ISC II Tournament of Champions, the top two finishing teams will be provided automatic berths in the following year’s ISC World Tournament (2010), and will not be eligible for ISC II qualifiers or the Tournament of Champions in that following year.

5. Mexico and Caribbean Return to US Regions – For 2009 ISC play, residents of Mexico and Caribbean countries will be attached to US Regions as they were in the 2007 season. Mexico is divided between US West and US Central while all Caribbean countries become part of US East. The revised Regional Definitions will appear on the ISC Web Site and in the 2009 ISC World Championship Guide.

6. South American Player Rep – Due to the number of South American players, now participating in ISC and ISC II play, a South American Player Rep has been named to serve on the ISC Player Rep Committee. Juan Potolicchio has been named to this new position and can be reached at juanpotol@hotmail.com

7. Out of Region Form Discontinued – The Out of Region – Player Letter of Intent Form will be eliminated beginning in 2009. The new process involves having the Out of Region player, send an email commitment to the ISC Executive Director iscken@comcast.net no later than May 1. The team manager is to be copied on the email. On or before May 1, the team manager completes the Out of Region Team Recap Form and mails it to the ISC Executive Director with the appropriate fee. The Team Recap form is displayed on the ISC Web Site (Rules & Forms link).

Sample email commitment from player is simply: “I intend to play the 2009 ISC season with (team name). My home region is (insert region of residence)”. Most player email addresses contain the players name so few if any problems are expected with this new, simplified process.

8. Roster Forms – Beginning in 2009, there are roster forms for both World Tournament and ISC II teams. The difference between the two are the list of email addresses the rosters are to be sent to. Those email addresses appear on the roster forms themselves. Both roster forms are available for downloading from the ISC web site (Rules and Forms). If you’re unable to download, email iscken@comcast.net and request the proper roster and we will email attach it to you. Preliminary rosters for both World Tournament (PRAWN declaration) and ISC II are due by May 1. Rosters can be changed during the season on July 15 and again on August 10.

9. Courtesy Runner Rule – While the ISC generally adopts ASA playing rules, we do have some differences. For 2009, the ISC is rejecting ASA’s new rule that allows courtesy runners for both pitchers and catchers. The ISC rule is: Courtesy runners are not allowed in ISC play.