Local teams hoping to rebuild interest in men’s fastpitch softball
BY STEPHEN LYNCH, Special to The CalifornianThree decades ago, men’s fastpitch softball was extremely popular in Bakersfield. Now, two local teams are hoping that bringing a world championship back to the city can help the sport thrive here once again.
The California A’s and the Bakersfield Silverhawks will be competing in the International Softball Congress world tournament in Quad Cities, Iowa, on August 14-20.
The annual event pits the top club teams in the world against each other in a double-knockout format. This year’s field is made up of 46 teams, all from either the United States or Canada. But the players on the teams come from all over the world.
That includes the A’s and Silverhawks, who have a sprinkling of locals on their rosters.
The A’s, ranked No. 2 in the world, feature Bakersfield College product Jeff Twist at catcher and former Bakersfield Condor Paul Rosebush in the outfield. California manager David Weldon also calls Kern County home, as does coach Greg Hicks.
The Silverhawks’ local connection is manager Bob McCormick and coach Jeff Graham plus infielders Carlos Flores and Chris McGehee. McGehee also serves as the team’s general manager. Flores and McGehee played baseball at BC. So did Jason Pruitt, a member of the Silverhawks from Visalia.
“For a lot of people, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be able to go back and face the best pitchers and players from around the world,” McGehee said. “There will be pitchers there from Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, who all play for their national teams.”
The bringing together of the best men’s fastpitch talent on the planet makes the event extra exciting for the players and fans alike.
“The atmosphere is unbelievable,” Hicks said. “During the week you’ll get anywhere from 500 -1,000 fans at a game. Towards the end of the tournament you’ll get upwards of 5,000 to 8,000 watching.”
To get into the world championships, teams had to win a qualifying tournament earlier in the year, or take second or third in a qualifying event behind a team or teams that had already qualified.
Both local teams earned their way in at a June tournament in San Diego in which the A’s took first place and the Silverhawks, No. 13 in the final 2011 ISC rankings, were the runner-up.
The two squads are friendly rivals, McGehee said. This year, the A’s have won both meetings between the clubs.
“When it’s off the field we’re all good friends and hang out on weekends and stuff like that,” McGehee said. “…But it’s kind of our goal to beat them and get some bragging rights locally.”
Both teams are largely self-sponsored and have to play almost all of their games out of town since there is no local men’s fast pitch softball league.
At one time the fast-paced sport that has pitchers hurling the ball towards home plate from 46-feet at nearly 90 mph was big in Kern County.
In 1979, the ISC world tournament was held at Dave Fry Field near Sam Lynn Ballpark. Three years later, the Dave Fry Plastering team took second, the highest finish ever for a local team playing in the open division. One of the team’s players, Paul Magan, was the tournament’s MVP that year.
“Back in the ’70s and ’80s it (men’s fast pitch softball) was huge here,” Hicks said. “But then the pitching died out.”
Slowly, the sport has regained some of its luster locally. Three years ago the California LumberKings won the ISC-II world tournament.
This time around, the A’s, an off-shoot of the LumberKings, hope they can win the more prestigious open division title.
Much of their hope rest on a pair of foreign pitchers, Sean Whitten of Canada and Lucas Mata of Argentina.
“We’re in a unique situation which most teams are not, where we have two of the top five (pitchers) in the world on one team,” Hicks said. “Most teams have one. We have two. Both of these guys could be No. 1 pitchers on any team.” Click here for the complete story.
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