from the Oswego Palladium-Times
By Mike LeBoeuf
The Palladium-Times
Mon Jun 16, 2008
Oswego, N.Y. –
The Oswego-based Cutro Professional Inspections (CPI) fast-pitch softball team on Sunday earned a qualifying spot into this year’s world tournament.CPI clinched a berth with its performance over the weekend in an International Softball Congress (ISC) II World Tournament Qualifier, held at the Legends Softball Complex in Oswego.
The 32-team world tourney is slated for Aug. 10-13 in Appleton, Wis.
Also earning a qualifying spot over the weekend was I4C Victory out of Ottawa.
Both CPI and I4C Victory won their semifinal games, thereby clinching world tournament berths. The teams mutually decided not to play a championship game, so they were declared co-champions of the qualifier.
CPI, No. 6 in the ISC II rankings, finished with a 3-1 record in the qualifier. It opened with a 3-1 win over 20th-ranked PA Power of Ephrata, Pa. In that game, Shaun Winship of London, Ontario pitched the win and blasted a two-run homer for CPI.
CPI lost its next game 6-3 to the seventh-ranked Waterdown Hammer of Toronto, Ontario. Waterdown got a bases-loaded triple from ninth-place hitter Matt DaSilva to take a 3-1 lead in the second inning. Dave Kingdon’s two-out, two-run double in the fourth made it 5-1, and Chris Smith tripled and scored in the sixth for a 6-1 Hammer lead.
Plating two runs in the bottom of the sixth, CPI drew to within 6-3. Oswego’s Mike Donovan and Winship singled and scored when Derek Stevens singled and the ball was misplayed in the outfield.
In the seventh, CPI threatened again, loading the bases before Waterdown relief pitcher Wayne Wells got a strikeout for the final out.
Oswego’s Shawn Samson pitched for CPI and struck out two. Donovan finished with three hits and an RBI.
CPI bounced back on Sunday with a tough 1-0 win over the fourth-ranked Perkasie Rise of Perkasie, Pa. Winship pitched the shutout, and Stevens drove in the game’s only run.
That put CPI in the semifinals against the ninth-ranked Easton Thunder of Ottawa, Ontario. Behind the pitching of Winship and a clutch two-run single in the first inning by Stevens, CPI picked up a 3-1 win.
Winship scattered seven hits and struck out seven. In the CPI first inning, Charlie Walseman singled and Winship walked to set the table for Stevens, who delivered a two-out, two-run single to left.
Shaun Winship delivers a pitch for Cutro Professional Inspections (CPI) during a world tournament qualifier held over the weekend at the Legends Softball Complex in Oswego. Winship pitched three victories as the Oswego-based CPI team earned a berth in the world tournament.The Thunder got its run in the sixth on an RBI single by Dave Tubman, but CPI answered with a run in the bottom of the sixth. Mike McKie singled and scored after wild pitches by the Thunder’s Dan Konkle. Konkle finished with a four-hitter and seven strikeouts.
In the other semifinal game, unranked I4C victory chalked up a 4-2 win over the Waterdown Hammer. Brian Brooks pitched the win, and Joel Lankford had a two-out, two-run double for the winners. Pat Severin and Mike Money were other hitting standouts for I4C Victory.
For the CPI team, notching a world tourney berth was the goal, and it was achieved.
“It came down to clutch hitting and good pitching,” said Mike Cutro, CPI player/manager. “Shaun Winship gave up just two runs in 21 innings.”
Other Oswego players for CPI are Mike Sorzickas and Mark Blanchard. Rounding out the CPI roster are players from other parts of New York, Florida, and Canada.
CPI has competed in the world tournament the past three years. Its best finish was ninth place last year at Kitchener, Ontario.
The eight-team qualifier tournament included six teams ranked in the top 22.
Eagle Beverage made a donation to the tournament, and the Oswego Men’s Softball Association helped to organize the tournament and maintain the fields.
