ISF World Championships - January 29-Feb 8, 2004

[fpw]

For those of you who are following the ISF World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand, Jan 29-Feb 8, a few notes:

Christchurch, New Zealand is almost a full day ahead of us in the United States. (21 hours ahead in California, 18 on the east coast) Following the schedule posted at the ISF website is a bit like "Back to the Future". If you wait for the scheduled game time to watch for results, the game will have been over for nearly a day.

Confused? Well, if so, see the online timezone clock that we set to show you the time in Christchurch, as well as cities here in the U.S.:
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/custom.html?cities=103,137,75,64,250,136,248,951

Team USA schedule: (Dates and Times New Zealand time)

Friday's 1pm opener for Team USA vs. Botswana.
Saturday's 10:30 a.m. vs. Hong Kong.
Sunday's 7:00 p.m. game vs. Japan.


The official website for the tournament is:
http://www.2004worldsoftball.com/homepage/home.htm

The schedule is posted at:
http://www.2004worldsoftball.com/draws_results/schedule.htm

Game results will be posted at:
http://www.2004worldsoftball.com/draws_results/game_results.htm

[fpw]

For more details, see:
http://www.fastpitchwest.com/isf_2004_game_info.htm

[bubbles]

I do not understand,we are in the year 2004!!!! The best game of fastpitch is being played by the best players in the world in New Zealand and not even a web-cast No live scoring This tournament is our sports WORLD CUP,takes place every 4 years and the only way to know whats goin on is check Al's or fastpitchwest -not to take anything away from als or fpwest.If it wasn't for these sites we would definitely be in the dark,keep up the good work I've read the article on Hayden Smith stating the cost of Internet Streaming to be more than television I don't know ,they probably thought everyone would stay home in front of their computer and listen to the games ,rather than take the trek to the great nation of New
Zealand. any way thats my two cents worth Cheers

[fpw]

Right with you on that count. Considering that this summer, we'll be able to flip on the TV and watch the best women's teams play in Athens, would like to think that we could muster a live audio feed or maybe real time internet for the men's teams. Glad to see those who are lucky enough to be over there, like Hadyn reporting in, for our benefit, but it feels a bit like tape delay. I like to think that at some point that the audience will continue to grow to the point where there is more/better coverage. BTW, no offense taken, I would like to have more coverage to pass on to our readers. We'll pass on all we get our hands on. If any of you out there have info that is not yet posted on the ISF pages here at Fastpitchwest, we invite you to post right here in the forum. Just click that reply button and post away.

---
JF, FPW

[fpw]

Day 3 report, Friday, midnight:

Team USA notched its second win of the ISF World Championships, with a 7-0 win over Hong Kong, a 1 hitter by veteran Michael White. Team USA returns to the field Sunday at 7pm (4pm Saturday California time) against Japan, which trounced Great Britain in its opener, 9-2.

Meanwhile the first big upset of the tournament occurred today, with Samoa knocking off Canada, which entered the tournament as one of the favorites, while Samoa was ranked 15th. Samoa has been the surprise of the tournament thus far, losing only 3-1 to host New Zealand in the very first game of the tournament, and nearly knocking off the Netherlands, falling 10-8 after taking an 8-7 lead into the 7th inning of that game.

We provide the following report courtesy of Media Manager Andrea Blackshaw :

Day Three, January 31

Samoa have pulled off a stunning upset at the NZCT Men's Softball World
Championships in Christchurch tonight.

The Samoans, ranked 15th at the championship, have claimed one of the
biggest scalps in world softball, beating Canada 3-1 at Smokefree Ballpark.

The win came on the back of a great pitching display by Aucklander Heinie
Shannon and with the help of a home run by Kurt Allen. Canada are ranked
fourth in the world and second in Pool A at this championship, so the
result will throw a cat among the pigeons as the teams battle for play-off
spots.
---

[fpw]

Addendum to report on game 2:

Travis Price gets tosses three shutout innings in relief in his first stint in international competition. (Way to go Travis!)

In Pool B, the United States scored their second win of the tournament, over Hong Kong 7-nil. Michael White pitched the first 4 innings without giving up a hit, and Travis Price who pitched the last innings gave up just one.

Don Garvey and Adam LaLonde both hit home runs for the Americans, with their run count assisted by two errors and a hit pitch. Hong Kong’s only hit came from the bat of Lam Hoi Chung.

[fpw]

A heads up from roving sports reporter Madpumper95:

Team USA run ruled Hong Kong 8-0 wp michael white and our very own Travis Price got the save striking out the side but giving up a double .

For the best coverage about team usa go to www.usasoftball.com they have live updates . Also have a game ticker for live coverage during the game.

[fpw]

The ISF World Championship schedule has been revised (again, due to rain). Note that this is updated even from the "first revised" schedule of games announced yesterday.

Latest revised schedule, Monday 2nd Feb
Remember that they're 21 hours ahead of us in California, so the Team USA vs. Japan game will actually begin at 6pm Sunday night, just about the time the Super Bowl is winding down.

The revisions are due to rain, though it appears they are playing again, starting with this morning's 9am game between Canada and Australia.

Game times, Monday, February 2, in Christchurch, New Zealand
9am Canada v Australia
10:30 Venezuela v Netherlands
11am Hong Kong v Botswana
12:30 Japan v Argentina
1pm Canada v Philippines
2:30 Venezuela v Samoa
3pm South Afica v Australia
4:30 Argentina v Botswana
5pm Czech rep v Great Britain
7pm New Zealand v Netherlands
9pm Japan v USA

[fpw]

Courtesy of Randy Souliers, via Mike O'Brien, via Al Doran, we bring you a link to some photos from the ISF Championships in Christchurch New Zealand (Team Canada):

Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2004 2:11 PM
Subject: Photo Website from 2004 ISF

http://photos.yahoo.com/canada2004isf

[fpw]

ISF Playoff Schedule, with conversions for different time zones.

http://www.fastpitchwest.com/isf_2004_playoffs.htm

[fpw]

Just for fun....pick the winner in our ISF World Championships poll. Very
unscientific!

http://www.fastpitchwest.com/isf_2004_playoffs.htm

Best regards,
Jim Flanagan
Editor, Fastpitchwest
Web: www.fastpitchwest.com
Email: jim@fastpitchwest.com