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Softball tourney sees change
Director says fastpitch format is only way to go
By RICK JAKACKI
Times HeraldA new era of the Quay Street Brewery Blue Water Invitational gets under way Friday night at Pine Grove Park.
The event, which annually has drawn some of the best modified softball teams in the country to Port Huron, now is a fastpitch qualifier for the International Softball Congress II (ISC-II) Tournament of Champions.
Tournament director Kurt Schieman said he has commitments from five teams, including three from the Blue Water Area. Registration deadline is Tuesday, so he still might add a few teams.
“This is, without a doubt, the only move I could have made,” Schieman said of the switch to fastpitch. “Do you continually try to fix a boat when it’s sinking? Or do you buy a new boat? Modified is dead.”
Schieman said it became tougher every year to draw modified teams, many of which now are playing fastpitch.
The area teams competing — the Secory Flyers, Alexander’s Stallions and Port Huron Lanes Hurricanes — are members of the Port Huron Competitive Sports Association’s modified league. Each, however, is expected to add a top-notch fastpitch pitcher for the three-day tournament.
The other teams in the field are from Ontario: the Ohsweken Redmen and the Alvinston Indians. The Redmen are led by legendary pitcher Darren Zack, who helped Canada win gold medals in two Pan American Games and numerous other championships.
Schieman said having the Redmen and Indians alone will translate into better softball than the tournament offered a year ago.
Added St. Clair’s Todd Kulling, an ADCO Toolshed (New Jersey) outfielder who will play for the Stallions in the invitational: “Hopefully, with fastpitch, it should (equate to) better, more competitive, tight games.”
ADCO has earned a berth to the Tournament of Champions, otherwise Kulling said it also would have participated.
He added fastpitch games usually are low-scoring and consist of “a lot more” bunting, basestealing and hitting and running than its modified counterpart.
Even though the tournament is a qualifier, Schieman said he plans to have a pool-play round to seed the teams for single-elimination play.
“This (tournament) eventually is going to be a great thing,” he said. “It’s going to be real interesting this year, for sure.”
Additional Facts
SOFTBALL WATCH
WHAT: Quay Street Brewery Blue Water Invitational
WHEN: Friday to July 5
WHERE: Pine Grove Park
TEAMS: Secory Flyers, Port Huron Lanes Hurricanes, Alexander’s Stallions, Ohsweken (Ontario) Redmen, Alvinston (Ontario) Indians.
FORMAT: Round robin, followed by a single-elimination round.
AT STAKE: Berth in the International Softball Congress II Tournament of Champions