From all of us here at The Deuce and ISC II

The International Softball Congress is announcing special operating rules for the 2007 season for the ISC II division.

For the 2007 season, following the completion of the Canada East regional qualifiers on June 24, teams from outside the Canada East region may sign one (1) pitcher from the Canada East region (defined as Ontario east of Thunder Bay, Quebec and the four Atlantic Canada provinces) provided that they remain in compliance with the ISC II out-of-region (OOR) rules which limit teams to a total of three (3) OOR players, only two (2) of whom can be pitchers. The signing deadline for this special cateogry is July 16, 2007. Fees and completed OOR forms must be mailed to ISC Executive Director Ken Hackmeister with a postmark no later than that date. Filing deadline for regular OOR players is May 1, 2007.

Restrictions on pickups of Canada East region pitchers will remain in place for 2007. Qualified or invited teams that have a pitcher on a restricted list cannot pick up any other pitcher from that list, but can pick up any other eligible pitcher. Qualified and invited teams from within the Canada East region that don’t have a pitcher on the restricted list may pick up one pitcher from the list if they choose to do so.

The restricted list will be released in the first quarter of 2007 following additional consultation with Canada East teams.

Also, ISC II teams are now permitted to sign two pitchers from the international region as OOR players. Previously, they had been limited to one.

At this time, no changes are being made to the ISC II pitcher eligibility list, pending any appeals. The ISC will continue to monitor pitchers’ performance throughout 2007 and reserves the right to reclassify pitchers it deems to be above the caliber of the ISC II division.

The ISC also reminds all ISC II teams that the procedures for filing eligibility appeals are spelled out in the ISC II section of the ISC web site at www.iscfastpitch.com. The ISC II Ineligible Pitchers List can be found in the same section.

For further information, please contact:

Bob McGowan
ISC II Vice President
Canada East Vice President
jbob99@allstream.net

The International Softball Congress is pleased to announce that the 2007 ISC II Tournament of Champions (ToC) is being shortened from a 6.5-day tournament to a 4.5-day tournament and will run from Tuesday August 14 to Saturday August 18, 2007 in Kitchener and Cambridge, ON.

This condensed schedule will help make it more affordable for teams to attend the premier intermediate championship in men’s fastball.

The tournament will be contested among 35 teams split into seven pools of five. Each team will play four round robin games with the top three in each pool along with three wild cards advancing to a single elimination playoff bracket.

Games will be played at Budd Park in Kitchener and Kinsmen Park in nearby Cambridge with the semi-finals and championship game scheduled to be played Saturday morning at Peter Hallman Ballyard in Kitchener. Provided that the ToC and the ISC World Tournament are on schedule, we are working to have the ISC II championship game, for the first time, both video and audio streamed for fans across North America.

Qualifying for the ToC will be conducted regionally with berths available as follows:

U.S. East 10
U.S. Central 8
U.S.
West 4
Canada East 6
Canada West 4
2006 Champion
2006 Finalist
2007 Host Team

Unused berths from any region will be filled by Canada East teams.

As per a motion passed by the ISC Board of Directors at its 2006 meeting, the top two finishing teams in the 2007 ISC II ToC will receive automatic berths into the 2008 ISC World Tournament in Kimberly, WI.

Additional information on the ISC and the 2007 ISC II Tournament of Champions is available on the ISC web site at www.iscfastpitch.com.

For further information, please contact:

Bob McGowan
ISC II Vice President
jbob99@allstream.net

Blair Setford
ISC II Commissioner
blairjs@rogers.com

As the year winds to a close, we wanted to remind our readers that our ISC II blog, “the Deuce” has a “Feedblitz” service, which automatically emails you when a new item is posted. Never more than one email per day, and only when new items are added. It’s a great way to stay up on all the latest in the world of Men’s Fastball.

For more info and to sign up, click this link.

The Greater Ottawa Fastball League announced all-stars this year, based on 2006 league play.

First Team All-Stars
Pitcher: Dan Konkle, Team Easton (unanimous selection)
Catcher: Todd Fraser, Team Easton
First Base: John Peck, Team Easton (unanimous selection)
Second Base: Kevin Chevrier, Team Easton
Third Base: Randy Peck, Team Easton (unanimous selection)
Shortstop: Michael Cavanagh, West Carleton Electric
Left Field: Ryan Bond, Stittville 56ers
Centre Field: Dan Jessiman, Stittsville 56ers
Right Field: Matt McNish, Carp I4C Victory
Designated Player: Mike Branchaud, Manotick Lomor Printers

Second Team All-Stars
Pitcher: Dan Bradley, Stittsville 56ers (unanimous selection)
Catcher: Shawn Houle, Carp I4C Victory
First Base: Scott Jessiman, Stittsville 56ers (unanimous selection)
Second Base: Scott Herriott, Stittsville 56ers
Third Base: John Craig, Stittsville 56ers
Shortstop: Kevin McGuire, Carp I4C Victory
Left Field: Kyle Gourgon, Carp I4C Victory
Centre Field: Dave Tubman, Team Easton
Right Field: Darren Featherstone, Stittsville 56ers
Designated Player: Scott Parsons, Stittsville 56ers

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Stittsville, ON

GOFL: http://ca.geocities.com/fitzroyfastball/GOFL.htm

Team Easton won the Greater Ottawa Fastball League playoff final series with a 3-1 win the best-of-five series over the Stittsville 56ers on October 18.

This is the fourth consecutive playoff title in GOFL play for Easton, who also won the regular season title with a 12-1-2 record.

Dan Konkle had a 5-1 record in the playoffs, pitching for Team Easton. Konkle appeared in 6 games, allowed 7 earned runs in 39 innings of work, and struck out 85.

Dan Bradley (2-2) and Darren Featherstone (2-1) threw for Stittsville in the playoffs.

In the preliminary round of the playoffs, 3rd place Fitzroy Harbour WC Electric swept the 6th place Ottawa Blitz 2 games to 0. Carp I4C Victory, which finished in 5th in league place, knocked off 4th place Manotick Lomor Printers 2 games to 1.

In the semi-finals, 1st place finisher Team Easton defeated Carp three games straight, while 2nd place Stittsville also swept Fitzroy Harbour, to set up the Easton-56ers rematch of the 2005 finals, also won by Team Easton 3 games to 1.

Game Results in the finals (all games at Stittsville, ON) – box scores also available with each story.:

Game 1
Team Easton 5 Stittsville 1
WP – Konkle (three-hitter); LP – Bradley
HR: Cory Morrison, Todd Fraser (Easton)
story:

Game 2
Team Easton 6 Stittsville 1
WP – Konkle (one-hitter); LP – Bradley with relief from Featherstone
HR: Randy Peck, Scott Marion (Easton)
story:

Game 3
Stittsville 4 Team Easton 1
WP – Featherstone (two-hitter); LP – Konkle
story:

Game 4
Team Easton 2 Stittsville 1
WP – Konkle (two-hitter); LP – Featherstone
HR: Scott Herriott – inside the park (Stittsville)
Game winning RBI: Randy Peck
story: