ISC II June 2004 Rankings
The ISC II rankings for June 2004 were just released. The ISC II rankings are new for 2004, the brainchild of ISC II director, Blair Setford. Setford, 35, is a former NAFA Director for Ontario where he was very active in the administration of that organization including initiating the popular Ontario Intermediate Rankings. He has been involved in the game of fastball since 1977 as a player, manager, and administrator. He is the marketing manager for CI Funds, a mutual fund company in Toronto.
The ISC II rankings will be released again in July, and finally, in August, with the August rankings being utilized for seeding purposes for the ISC II "Tournament of Champions" to be held August 15-20, 2004 in Fargo, North Dakota, alongside the ISC World Tournament. ("Tournament of Champions" was the winner of a "name the ISC II tournament" contest held earlier this year) ) Fastpitchwest will be joining Blair Setford to produce live, streaming audio broadcasts of a number of the games at the ISC II tournament.
The ISC II is the "intermediate" division of the ISC, roughly equivalent to NAFA "AA" and ASA "B". The ISC held its first ISC II tournament in Kitchener in 2002, with twenty teams in attendance, won by the Alvinston Indians of Ontario, Canada, with West Michigan Merchants of Zeeland Michigan taking second.
Last year, at Kimberly, the top three finishers in the 24-team ISC II tournament were from the Ontario province of Canada, a hotbed for fastpitch. (or "fastball" as they call it north of the border) The Harriston Mercury's of Harriston Ontario, Canada won the ISC II championship, with the Kemptville Thunder, of Kemptville, Ontario second and the Waite Brothers of Shedden, Ontario Third. The top U.S. team was fourth place Marquette Fence of Marquette, Michigan.
For several years, the Ontario teams dominated the top spots at the NAFA "AA" World Series, unseated last year by champion Bucknell Park of Olympia, Washington and runner-up Quaker Riversharks of Pennsylvania.
Without further adieu, here are the current top 10 teams for the ISC II, with their preseason ranking shown parenthetically. Once again, the Ontario, Canada teams dominate the top spots, with the Orr Park Knights of Orr Park, Ohio getting the nod for the #4 spot. Orr Park has pitcher Jimmy Yates, who some of you may remember pitched for the Florida Suns at this year's AAU International tournament.
1 (1) Kemptville, ON Thunder
2 (2) Harriston, ON Mercurys
3 (4) Alvinston, ON Indians
4 (5) Orrville, OH Orr Park Knights
5 (3) Tavistock, ON Merchants
6 (12) Anderson, IN Jaybirds
7 (9) Portland, OR CR/Adidas
8 (6) Marquette, MI Marquette Fence
9 (10) Reasnor, IA RPMs
10 (9) Elkhart, IN Duncan Bullets
Click here for the complete June 2004 rankings of some 68 teams.
If you're looking for west coast flavor in the rankings, here's what you'll find:
# 7 - CR/Adidas, of Portland Oregon, moving up from #9 in the preseason rankings. This squad has had the ageless Mike Trotter, who at age 63 was still busting the radar gun at 70mph. For 2004, they've added a number of the former Seattle Hobnobber's Tavern team, so they should be stronger still. We'll get a look at them later this month when they compete at the Portland Rose Cup tournament in their own backyard, where they will face both ISC level and ISC II teams.
# 21 - Castlewood, from Pleasant Grove, Utah, which was unranked in the pre-season rankings. Castlewood had a great tournament at Red Rock last month, knocking off two of So Cal's best teams, the So Cal Bombers, and Team Rainey. Castlewood went on to finish in the final four of that tournament, being eliminated in a close game against eventual runner up, Pueblo Bandits, a top 20 ISC team. Looks like the rankers took notice and ran them all the way up to #21. Like CR/Adidas, Castlewood will be at the Rose Cup tournament later this month. We hear they have added a few players from Page Brake, so they should be solid for that one.
#24 - River City Rockers, from Sacramento, California. The Rockers finished 3rd in the 2002 NAFA "AA" at Salem (losing to Team Rainey), and then second in that year's ASA "B" National, so these guys can compete on the big stage. The Rockers did not fare too well in the Cal Int'l Memorial Day tournament in Fresno, but then again, their opponents were mostly ISC level teams. The team's big bat, former CCASA MVP Rob Penticoff suffered an early season ankle injury but is on the mend. The Rockers will compete at Rose Cup too, making it a trio from the top 25 ISC II rankings. We hear that Penticoff is not back to 100% yet, but a big game player, look for him to will himself ready for Rose Cup.
#37 - Captain Dan's, from Lakewood, California. Personally, I think this ranking is way too low. Chalk this ranking up to the fact that teams east of California don't get to see much of this squad. The Dan finished third in the ASA "B" a couple years ago, one slot behind the Rockers, and ran into not one but two Ontario Canada teams at last year's NAFA "AA", losing two tough, close games. The Dan has shown an uncanny knack for playing UP to the competition, going toe to toe with Team Rainey, So Cal Bombers and Mexicali (all ISC level teams) in the local So Cal league, and more than holding their own. This year, Captain Dan's were the only team at Red Rock to take the #1 team in the world, Broken Bow the full seven innings in the championship bracket.
#59 - Leafs/Sun Devils, Sunland, California. While we're on the subject of teams ranked way too low, here's another. In fairness to the ranking committee, the Leafs are a new team of sorts, merging the Sun Devils with some of the Blackhawks players. Until the recent California Area ISC tournament June 5-6, 2004, no one really had a fix on how strong they might be. They were not listed on the pre-season rankings, and barely a blip this time around. Keep an eye out in July for this team to make a serious jump, following their outstanding showing at the California Area ISC tournament, where they finished second, with a 4-1 record, losing only to ISC #17 ranked Team Rainey (a team they also beat earlier in the tournament). Troy Parker and company showed they can do more than just compete. Granted, they will not have Sonny Perkins, who is ineligible to pitch in the ISC II, but with the Barker Brothers they will still be a team to reckon with. They'll be at the Rose Cup, sans Sonny, so we'll have a better idea how they stack up by month's end. The Leafs have already accepted the bid to represent the California area at the ISC II Tournament of Champions in Fargo, North Dakota.
Have a comment? Click the "Comments" link at the lower right of this column and post away. Anyone can post.
The ISC II rankings will be released again in July, and finally, in August, with the August rankings being utilized for seeding purposes for the ISC II "Tournament of Champions" to be held August 15-20, 2004 in Fargo, North Dakota, alongside the ISC World Tournament. ("Tournament of Champions" was the winner of a "name the ISC II tournament" contest held earlier this year) ) Fastpitchwest will be joining Blair Setford to produce live, streaming audio broadcasts of a number of the games at the ISC II tournament.
The ISC II is the "intermediate" division of the ISC, roughly equivalent to NAFA "AA" and ASA "B". The ISC held its first ISC II tournament in Kitchener in 2002, with twenty teams in attendance, won by the Alvinston Indians of Ontario, Canada, with West Michigan Merchants of Zeeland Michigan taking second.
Last year, at Kimberly, the top three finishers in the 24-team ISC II tournament were from the Ontario province of Canada, a hotbed for fastpitch. (or "fastball" as they call it north of the border) The Harriston Mercury's of Harriston Ontario, Canada won the ISC II championship, with the Kemptville Thunder, of Kemptville, Ontario second and the Waite Brothers of Shedden, Ontario Third. The top U.S. team was fourth place Marquette Fence of Marquette, Michigan.
For several years, the Ontario teams dominated the top spots at the NAFA "AA" World Series, unseated last year by champion Bucknell Park of Olympia, Washington and runner-up Quaker Riversharks of Pennsylvania.
Without further adieu, here are the current top 10 teams for the ISC II, with their preseason ranking shown parenthetically. Once again, the Ontario, Canada teams dominate the top spots, with the Orr Park Knights of Orr Park, Ohio getting the nod for the #4 spot. Orr Park has pitcher Jimmy Yates, who some of you may remember pitched for the Florida Suns at this year's AAU International tournament.
1 (1) Kemptville, ON Thunder
2 (2) Harriston, ON Mercurys
3 (4) Alvinston, ON Indians
4 (5) Orrville, OH Orr Park Knights
5 (3) Tavistock, ON Merchants
6 (12) Anderson, IN Jaybirds
7 (9) Portland, OR CR/Adidas
8 (6) Marquette, MI Marquette Fence
9 (10) Reasnor, IA RPMs
10 (9) Elkhart, IN Duncan Bullets
Click here for the complete June 2004 rankings of some 68 teams.
If you're looking for west coast flavor in the rankings, here's what you'll find:
# 7 - CR/Adidas, of Portland Oregon, moving up from #9 in the preseason rankings. This squad has had the ageless Mike Trotter, who at age 63 was still busting the radar gun at 70mph. For 2004, they've added a number of the former Seattle Hobnobber's Tavern team, so they should be stronger still. We'll get a look at them later this month when they compete at the Portland Rose Cup tournament in their own backyard, where they will face both ISC level and ISC II teams.
# 21 - Castlewood, from Pleasant Grove, Utah, which was unranked in the pre-season rankings. Castlewood had a great tournament at Red Rock last month, knocking off two of So Cal's best teams, the So Cal Bombers, and Team Rainey. Castlewood went on to finish in the final four of that tournament, being eliminated in a close game against eventual runner up, Pueblo Bandits, a top 20 ISC team. Looks like the rankers took notice and ran them all the way up to #21. Like CR/Adidas, Castlewood will be at the Rose Cup tournament later this month. We hear they have added a few players from Page Brake, so they should be solid for that one.
#24 - River City Rockers, from Sacramento, California. The Rockers finished 3rd in the 2002 NAFA "AA" at Salem (losing to Team Rainey), and then second in that year's ASA "B" National, so these guys can compete on the big stage. The Rockers did not fare too well in the Cal Int'l Memorial Day tournament in Fresno, but then again, their opponents were mostly ISC level teams. The team's big bat, former CCASA MVP Rob Penticoff suffered an early season ankle injury but is on the mend. The Rockers will compete at Rose Cup too, making it a trio from the top 25 ISC II rankings. We hear that Penticoff is not back to 100% yet, but a big game player, look for him to will himself ready for Rose Cup.
#37 - Captain Dan's, from Lakewood, California. Personally, I think this ranking is way too low. Chalk this ranking up to the fact that teams east of California don't get to see much of this squad. The Dan finished third in the ASA "B" a couple years ago, one slot behind the Rockers, and ran into not one but two Ontario Canada teams at last year's NAFA "AA", losing two tough, close games. The Dan has shown an uncanny knack for playing UP to the competition, going toe to toe with Team Rainey, So Cal Bombers and Mexicali (all ISC level teams) in the local So Cal league, and more than holding their own. This year, Captain Dan's were the only team at Red Rock to take the #1 team in the world, Broken Bow the full seven innings in the championship bracket.
#59 - Leafs/Sun Devils, Sunland, California. While we're on the subject of teams ranked way too low, here's another. In fairness to the ranking committee, the Leafs are a new team of sorts, merging the Sun Devils with some of the Blackhawks players. Until the recent California Area ISC tournament June 5-6, 2004, no one really had a fix on how strong they might be. They were not listed on the pre-season rankings, and barely a blip this time around. Keep an eye out in July for this team to make a serious jump, following their outstanding showing at the California Area ISC tournament, where they finished second, with a 4-1 record, losing only to ISC #17 ranked Team Rainey (a team they also beat earlier in the tournament). Troy Parker and company showed they can do more than just compete. Granted, they will not have Sonny Perkins, who is ineligible to pitch in the ISC II, but with the Barker Brothers they will still be a team to reckon with. They'll be at the Rose Cup, sans Sonny, so we'll have a better idea how they stack up by month's end. The Leafs have already accepted the bid to represent the California area at the ISC II Tournament of Champions in Fargo, North Dakota.
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