AAU 2011 – Pool E Preview & Poll

Fifth in a series of ten to be posted by the start date for the 2011 AAU international tournament, January 20, 2011.
Pool C

Pool E
1. Softball Canada (Development Team)
2. Lanzeros – Venezuela
3. Maccabi USA
4. Ohio Battery USA

Congratulations to pool E, the first pool to have rosters submitted for all four teams. These teams figure to garner plenty of interest. The Softball Canada Development Team will square off against Maccabi USA in the first audio broadcast of the tournament on Ballparkradio on Friday, January 21, 2011 at 11 AM EST. (8 AM on the West Coast).
Maddy and I will not be making the trip this year, the first time I have missed the tournament since 2004, but our lead broadcaster, young Kyle Smith will be there, and will broadcast a half-dozen games starting with the Friday 11 AM game. Keep an eye out for the Ballparkradio broadcast schedule due out shortly.

As can be seen from the roster for the Softball Canada Development Team, the squad is made up of a large number of young players who are being looked at by Softball Canada for possible inclusion on the National Team for the next ISF World Championships, which will take place in New Zealand in 2013. The team will also include several world caliber veterans in Ryan Wolfe, Jason Hill, Derek Mayson, and Brad Ezekiel.

Maccabi USA will no doubt have teammates Dave Blackburn and Ron Rupp on their minds as they take the field in Orlando. Blackburn and Rupp were injured in a car accident in August 2010. Rupp is still healing from the injuries he suffered, and also recovering from a recent surgery in his battle against cancer. Dave Blackburn was in a medically induced coma for over two months, and was recently transferred to Los Angeles where his difficult rehabilitation continues. The two were injured while traveling with teammate Larry Silfen to the ASA 40 and over tournament in Prescott Arizona. The team played their hearts out for Blackburn and Rupp following the accident and captured the national title at that tournament. (Click here for updates on Dave Blackburn). It appears that Dave will be listening in from the Hancock Park rehabilitation Center in Los Angeles when his teammates take the field.

Softball Canada will be back on BallparkRadio for another broadcast on Saturday, January 22, 2011, at a time to be determined, once pool play is concluded on Friday night. Maccabi USA may be as well.

A couple of broadcast slots are still available for Friday and Saturday, four teams interested in having their game broadcast worldwide. Sponsorship of a broadcast is $100, which can be split equally by the two participating teams, $50 each. The broadcast slots are available on a first-come first-served basis, via e-mail to jim (at) ballparkradio.com.

Ohio Battery will be headed up by one of the game’s senior statesman, Nick McCurry, who many fast pitch fans will remember from his role in the feature-length film “Fastpitch”, produced by Jeremy Spear. Spear, ironically, is a member of another Pool E team, Maccabi USA. Ohio Battery will feature AAU mainstays, pitchers Jimmy Yates and Kevin Kammueller, as well as ISC World Tournament veteran Boomer Brush, Tommy Grey and Shad Alvey ( the latter two, of course, from Salt Lake City Utah’s Larry Miller Toyota teams).

Not much is known about the Lanzeros team from Venezuela, one of 11 teams from Venezuela in the 2011 AAU International tournament. Venezuelan teams have performed well in the tournament, most notably the Los Socios squad which won the tournament in 2002 and 2004, and finished as the runner-up in 2003 and 2005. (Click here for list of past AAU champions, runner ups, and third-place finishers)

We are still looking for rosters for approximately 17 of the 40 teams who have not yet submitted one, so that we can include it in our pool preview series.

Rosters

Softball Canada
Tyson Barkman
Ryan Boland
Trevor Boutilier
Calem Gardner
Brennan Pokoyoway
Mathieu Roy
Andrew Skelton
Jeremy Tracy
Rowan Lam
Jim Climenhaga
Joran Graham

(Senior members)
Jason Hill
Derek Mayson
Ryan Wolfe
Brad Ezekiel
Ian Fehrman

Lanzeros – Venezuela
Robert Longa
Demian Escobar
Miguel Sanchez
Pedro Hernandez
Kervin Andrade
Leonardo Navarro
Pedro Contreras
Luis Suarez
Jose Alvarez
Jesus Marin
Denis Liendo
Erick Alvarez
Jesus Mujica
Giancarlos Oviedo
Kelvin La Cruz
Carlos Dolande
Douglas Mata
Marcos Bolivar Jr
Oswaldo Brito
Jorge Mujica

Maccabi USA
Paul Rubin
Dan Winters
Tony Kahan 
Jason Gluckman 
Corey Angel 
Jeremy Spear.
Steve Schucker 
Josh Persell 
Dan Winnick
Fred Cohen 
Mark Brill
David Shpiro 
Larry Silfen
Dave Blackburn
Ron Rupp
Ben Kessel
Ron Saslow
Mike Feldman
Ken Schwartz

Pitchers
Russ Snow
Andrew Putnam 
Gluckman / Winnick

Ohio Battery
Head Coach Nick McCurry
Tommy Grey
Steve Lamoreaux
Shad Alvey
Russ Paskins
Al Killian
Scott Robinson
Boomer Brush
Kelfen Neptune
Glen Cain
Mike Massine
Kevin Kammueller
Nick McCurry
Jim Yates
Dino Neptune
Larry Bedard
Morgan Eggers
Chip Smith
Randy Brown
Mike Justice
Mike Hazel

Fastpitchwest readers continue to weigh in on their pretournament picks for the top two teams in each of the ten pools of 4 teams each. Voting in Pool D has been the closest to date with a half a dozen votes separating each of the four teams.

Polling remains open for all pools.

Poll voting to date, as of the January 11, 2011, for the top two finishers in pools:

Pool A Voting (to date)
Chicago NY, USA 83 votes
Minnesota Angels, USA 63 votes
Blackburn Transport, CAN 8 votes
Venezuela Brewers, VEN 6 votes
Click here to view Pool A Preview and Poll
(voting still open)

Pool B voting to date
Millwood ON 79
Combatientes VEN 47
Houston Carnage 22
Memphis 21
Click here to view Pool B Preview and Poll
(voting still open)

Pool C voting to date
Team Minnesota USA 68
Gigantes, VEN 34
Kitchener Outlaws ON 32
Washington Metros USA 5
Click here to view Pool C Preview and Poll
(voting still open)

Pool D Preview and Poll
Illinois Pirates USA 49
Niagara Fury – ON 42
NY/PA Metros 37
Capitalinos – Venezuela 32
Click here to view Pool D Preview and Poll
(voting still open)

For list of all 40 teams by pool, click here.

For list of all 40 teams by country, click here.

For schedule of games, click here.

For Fastpitchwest’s coverage of past AAU tournaments, click here.

For Maddy’s Photos of last year’s tournament, click here.

Fastpitchwest gustaría listas de los equipos de Venezuela (incluyendo los nombres de los jugadores) que competiran en el torneo internacional del AAU, para que podamos incluir en nuestras historias sobre el torneo:

Si usted es uno de estos equipos, por favor envíe a jim@fastpitchwest.com

(In English, I’m asking for AAU rosters from teams from Venezuela)