By Blair Setford & Jim Flanagan
For the first time ever, a tie-breaker was held for the ISC II Tournament of Champions and Reading, PA Bob Hoffman’s Garage, lead by Scott Emerich and Art Devoe defeated the Toronto, ON Champion Indians 6-1 to secure the third and final wild card spot in the 24-team single-elimination playoff bracket … not to be outdone, Devoe and Bob Hoffman’s went on to defeat Denver, CO Colorado Rage 1-0 in a first round playoff game to set up an all-Pennsylvania second round match-up against Perkasie, PA Rise … Todd Uhrig, of Elora Wellington Brewers, pitched a perfect game against Hermann, MO Black Gold in a 7-0 first round playoff win … Black Gold was without their ace Eric Steinbeck who had to leave the tournament yesterday due to a death in the family … Bakersfield, CA California Lumberkings upset Ottawa, ON Team Easton Thunder 2-1 on a Jon Nimmo two-run HR in the 6th … Lumberkings’ pitcher Darren Strang tossed a tidy two-hitter for the win … Port Elgin, ON Blue Devils edged Oswego, NY Cutro Professional Inspections (CPI) 5-4 in 8 innings to move on to the second round … Palermo, ON Athletics got 14 strikeouts from Gord Scott and a massive home run onto Homer Watson Blvd. from Glenn Inglehart to eliminate Glencoe, ON Astros … Harriston Mercury’s knocked out Marshall, MI Rice Creek Lightning 5-1 … in the final round robin games, CPI needing to win to make the playoffs got 1-0 victory over Yakima, WA JRW & Associates … JRW gave up only five runs in four games, but never scored a run during pool play … Ashland, OH Merchants, needing to beat Mitchell, ON Mets to make the playoffs, did so with a 3-2 win … Dan Duemo got the save for winner Scott Hershey … Five of the seven pools had three-way ties for first at the conclusion of round robin play … Thomson, IL Area Merchants and Ashland got the other two wildcards with 2-2 records even tho’ that was only good enough for fourth in their respective pools.
Final pool play standings and a playoff bracket are available at www.ballparkradio.com.
Second round ISC II matchups ( all games at Budd Park):
9 am – Reading, PA Bob Hoffman’s Garage vs Perkasie, PA Rise – www.ballparkradio.com
10 am – Bakersfield, CA California Lumberkings vs Kitchener, ON Phoenix Outlaws
11 am – Elora, ON Wellington Brewers vs Tavistock, ON Merchants – www.ballparkradio.com
12 pm – Elmira, ON Cubs vs Palermo, ON Athletics
1 pm – Port Elgin, ON Blue Devils vs Bridgeport, ON PROforma Braves – www.ballparkradio.com
2 pm – Harriston, ON Mercury’s vs South Lebanon, PA TNT
3 pm – Ashland, OH Merchants or Waterdown, ON Hammer vs Mitchell, ON Mets – www.ballparkradio.com
4 pm – Micksburg, ON Twins or Thomson, IL Area Merchants vs Alvinston, ON Indians
5 pm – quarterfinal 1 www.ballparkradio.com
6 pm – quarterfinal 2
7 pm – quarterfinal 3 www.ballparkradio.com
9 pm – quarterfinal 4 www.ballparkradio.com