If Day 1 went mostly according script with the higher ranked teams beating the lower ranked teams in their respective pools, then Day 2 will be remembered for some big upsets and shocking results with potentially terminal ramifications for a pair of highly regarded teams.

Top-ranked California LumberKings dropped a 4-2 decision to the lowest ranked team in their pool, Lloydminster Dodgers. That upset would propel the Dodgers to the top seed in Tuesday’s playoff round, giving them a double bye into the third round of the single-elimination bracket.

The LumberKings would recover to spank Memphis Posse Monday night and claim the #2 seed in Pool A and a first round bye. Memphis finishes #3 in Pool A by virtue of their win over Wyevale Tribe who finish at A4. Wyevale knocked off the Dodgers early in the day, but dropped an 8-5 decision to the Posse in the afternoon.

As shocking as the Dodgers win over the LumberKings, another western Canada team tripped up the defending champions South Lebanon TNT. Bulyea Rustlers threw the standings in Pool B into total disarray with a 3-2 win. That left TNT need a win over Sioux Falls Sox to claim the top seed and the double bye. It wasn’t to be.

Sioux Falls rallied from a 1-0 deficit with a game-tying single in the 6th and won it in the 8th on a game-ending double play with a TNT runner called out at the plate. The loss handed the division title to Bridgeport Braves, who had wins over Sioux Falls and Bulyea Monday, while TNT dropped to the #4 seed. Sioux Falls finishes #2 while Bulyea comes in at #3.

In Pool C, the New York Knights made it look relatively easy, finishing 3-0, but it wasn’t quite the cakewalk that it seemed at first glance. The Knights needed extras to put away Rude Pac and for 6 innings clung to a 1-0 lead over Elora Wellington Brewers before prevailing 3-0.

While the Knights get the double bye, it’s Rude Pac in the #2 spot as they rallied for a late 4-3 win over Elora who finished third. Earl’s Club will look to get their offence untracked in the playoff round as they went 0-3 in pool play.

John Rozich belted another pair of titanic home runs yesterday, giving him 4 for the tournament.

In Pool D, Kitchener Outlaws scored a 1-0 win over CPI, scoring the only run in the first inning and making it stand up. The Outlaws get the top seed with their 3-0 record, while CPI finishes 2nd. Pete’s Blues who edged Salt Lake City Innovative Communications, will be the #3 seed with Salt Lake finishing a hard-luck 0-3 will be #4.

In Pool E, the standings were a little cleaner as Ashland Stockpack, with a 7th inning walk-off win over Winterset A’s claimed the top seed. Palermo Athletics finished second at 2-1. Carp 14C Victory is the #3 seed at 1-2 while Winterset is the #4 seed at 0-3.

In Pool F, Elmira continued their imitation of a Mack truck, crushing the opposition. The Cubs have scored 27 runs and have yet to allow a run. Hoffman Rise, with a 2-1 nailbiter win over Black Gold secured the #2 seed and the first round bye. Black Gold comes in at #3 while The Bar of Appleton will be the #4 seed.

In Pool G, the tie-breaker rules were put to the test as Ottawa Team Easton Thunder, River City Rockers and St. Paul ASB Villard all finished with 2-1 records. Ottawa beat Villard Sunday before dropping a 2-1 decision in the bottom of the 7th to River City on Monday, but River City had earlier lost to Villard 3-1.

By virtue of allowing the fewest runs in the games involving the 3 tied teams, Ottawa finishes first and gets the double bye while the win by Villard over River City gave them the #2 seed. River City will have to play 3 games on Tuesday to advance to the Elite Eight with Kelvington PDC Comets getting the #4 seed.

Waterdown Hammer scored only 6 runs in their 3 pool games, but it was enough to win all of them and finish first in Pool H. The Hammer needed 8 innings to edge Chicago Fastpitch 1-0 while Keating’s Fitness scored 3 late runs to beat Herda & Sons 5-2 and nail down the #2 seed. Chicago finishes third in Pool H with Herda & Sons #4.

Setting up the first round of games on Tuesday morning, the best match-up is B4 vs G3 – TNT vs River City Rockers. Either the defending champions, who have struggled at the plate, or the team with one of the top 3 pitchers in the tournament will be headed home after this one. Wow.

The bottom half of the draw looks to be the toughest with the LumberKings, Ottawa, Elmira, New York and Bridgeport all on that side. Whoever comes out of that dog-fight will be battle tested, but will they have enough left for the finals on Wednesday?

Stick around to see – it’s gonna be great!

With 32 excellent teams gathering in Appleton for the 2008 ISC II Tournament of Champions, there were high expectations on the part of most for this year’s ToC to be the best ever. While it’s still too early to make that judgement, it’s certainly shaping up that way as things got off to an explosive start in the first round of games and kept going all through the day.

I didn’t get to see every game, but did get to see parts of most and here’s some standout moments from Day 1.

Bob Gillow of the Elmira, ON Cubs launching the first home run of the tournament, a 290-foot shot to right field that dinged a car in the first row of the parking lot. With all of the fences at 275 feet, many were awed by this one. A couple of innings later, teammate Shawn Detzler hit one a little further and dinged a car a little harder. Elmira would roll to a big 7-0 win over Perkasie, PA Hoffman Rise and looked very formidable in doing so as Casey Halstead tossed a tidy 1-hitter.

The Bulyea, SK Rustlers were an unknown commodity coming into the ToC. They have won the Regina Fastball League five straight years and took a 4-1 lead over the Sioux Falls, SD Sox into the 7th inning. But that’s when this game got interesting. Sioux Falls rallied for 4 runs in B7 to complete the comeback and get an important win in Pool B.

Two of the most talked about teams in the weeks leading up the ToC have been Waterdown, ON Hammer and Wilkes-Barre, PA Keating’s Fitness. Both have had recent successes as the Hammer won the Cubs Classic and Keating’s the Mid-Atlantic Fastpitch Travel League. Wayne Wells for the Hammer and David Stokes for Keating’s hooked up in a good old-fashioned pitching duel that left things knotted at 1 heading into B7 when Matt DaSilva singled through a drawn in infield to score Kyle Davis and give the Hammer the walk-off win.

Chicago, IL Fastpitch banged out 10 runs in six innings against a tough Waverly, MN Herda & Sons team as they just kept pushing runs across and served notice that they will have to be reckoned with in Pool H.

Carp, ON I4C Victory Consulting finished 0-4 at last year’s ToC but earned their first win in 2008 with a hard-fought, down-to-the-wire 1-0 victory over Winterset, IA A’s. Carp then dropped a tough 1-0 decision to Ashland, OH Stockpack, but showed that they will be much tougher this year.

Salt Lake City, UT Innovative Communications and Mascoutah, IL Pete’s Blues were scoreless for about four innings before Pete’s edged ahead 2-0. Innovative tied it at 2 before the Illinois state champs tacked on another two runs and held on the for the 4-2 win.

Bakersfield, CA Taylor Farms LumberKings were in a tight battle with Wyevale, ON Tribe, leading 2-0 into the 6th when Marcus Tan changed everything. Tan turned around a rise ball from Jason Giffen and drove it about 277 feet on a line for a Grand Slam to put the game out of reach for the top ranked LumberKings.

Bridgeport, ON Braves gave the defending champions South Lebanon, TNT all they could handle, nursing a 2-0 lead into the 6th, but four straight singles, including a controversial 2-RBI bleeder by John Lechtel that glanced off the leg of a base-runner tied the game and an RBI single by Mike Rohrer in B8 gave the champs the walkoff win.

Bill Hillhouse entered the ISC II record book with 20 strikeouts in his debut as the New York, NY Knights took 8 innings to beat Sun Valley, CA Rude Pac 6-2. John Rozitch belted a pair of home-runs, the first travelling an estimated 352 feet.

Corey Costello got the start for Ottawa, ON Team Easton Thunder against St. Paul, MN ASB Villard and the ISC II Strikeout King didn’t disappoint. Despite limited action this season, Costello tossed a no-hitter and struck out 11 in Ottawa’s 2-0 win.

Eric Steinbeck and Lee Cose hooked up in a pitcher’s duel in one of the last games of the night, combining for 27 Ks as Steinbeck’s Hermann, MO Black Gold scored 2 runs late to defeat the host squad Appleton, WI The Bar of Appleton Athletics 2-0.

Opening ceremonies went off without a hitch and featured Carrie and Kate, the Ballpark Radio girls, who were a big hit with the players and fans.

With the weather at a gorgeous mid-70s, the field in great shape, and technology cooperating all the way around, I have to say that Day 1 at the ToC certainly exceeded my expectations.

On to Day 2.

Cheers,

Blair

The 2008 ISC II Tournament of Champions is only a couple of days away. You can follow all of the action on the ISC website by clicking on the logo above as well as here at The Deuce with daily recaps from ISC II Commish Blair Setford, broadcast schedules from Jim Flanagan and links to preview photography by Maddy Flanagan.

Action gets under way at Memorial Park in Appleton, WI at 10:00 am central with Game 1 between Memphis, TN Posse and Lloydminster, AB Dodgers.

Ballpark Radio will be on hand for at least 20 webcasts starting at 10:30 am featuring Elmira, ON Cubs and Perkasie, PA Hoffman Rise.

Opening ceremonies are slated for 5:00 pm with defending champion South Lebanon, PA TNT slated to face Bridgeport, ON Braves on diamond 1 immediately following.

The 2008 ISC II Championship is scheduled for 2:00 pm on Wednesday August 13. Will TNT be able to repeat? Will top-ranked California LumberKings make another appearance in the final? Can 2005 champion Elmira regain the title? Stay tuned to find out.

Our good friend Al Doran has posted on Al’s Fastball where he will be providing ISC II fans with their updates throughout the ToC. See below for more info.

Here at The Deuce, keep an eye out for daily recaps from ISC II Commish Blair Setford as well as daily webcast schedules from Jim Flanagan.

A reminder that the ToC starts Sunday August 10 at 10 am with the first game between Memphis, TN Posse and Lloyminster, AB Dodgers.

The first Ballpark Radio webcast is Sunday at 10:30 am between Elmira, ON Cubs and Perkasie, PA Hoffman Rise.

ISC II – ToC
The ISC II Tournament of Champions kicks off at 10am in Appleton. The results from the first two games should be reported on the ISC web site by noon when I hopefully will be in place ready to go in Kimberly. For the remainder of the ToC, until the championship on Wednesday, we hope to bring you game results right after each game ends. While I will be in Kimberly working, I have been assured by ISC II staff that they will be sending me instant updates for each and every game.

The Key Page to watch for ISC II ToC results is:
http://www.iscfastpitch.com/uploads/File/2008%20ISC%20II%20Files/2008_ISC_II_ToC_ScheduleB.htm

The main page for the ISC II ToC is:
http://www.iscfastpitch.com/index.php?page=169

Book mark those links however I will be posting reminders once things are underway in Wisconsin.