{"id":17170,"date":"2012-07-18T09:51:31","date_gmt":"2012-07-18T16:51:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=17170"},"modified":"2012-07-18T09:52:09","modified_gmt":"2012-07-18T16:52:09","slug":"seattle-invitational-returns-to-fife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=17170","title":{"rendered":"Seattle Invitational Returns to Fife"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cap tip: Kyle Sherwood<\/em>
\nFASTPITCH TOURNEY FEATURES SOLID TALENT, HONORS LEGENDS<\/strong>
\nBy\t Jeremy Helling, TACOMA WEEKLY\t<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Click logo to read the complete article at the Tacoma Weekly.<\/figcaption><\/figure>For the second straight year, men\u2019s fastpitch teams from around the Northwest, Northern California and British Columbia will be converging on Fife for the 52nd annual Seattle Invitational, which this year will become the longest continuously running men\u2019s fastpitch tournament in the nation.<\/p>\n

The tournament, which will take place at Dacca Park on July 21-22, will feature 12 to 14 teams from around the region in a round-robin format on July 21. Each team is guaranteed at least five games, and it will switch to a single-elimination format on July 22 to determine the champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have probably the most diverse group we\u2019ve had since 2000,\u201d said Tournament Director Charlie Bendock, adding that last year\u2019s champions, the Cal-State Builders from San Mateo, Calif., return and should be the favorites. \u201cIt\u2019s a very good representation, and there are some very strong teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

The local representation returning includes last year\u2019s runner-up, the Lacey A\u2019s, Cleon\u2019s Auto from Tacoma, K-Club from Bremerton and Interbay Door from Seattle. Fife Mayor Pro Tem Glenn Hull \u2013 who along with Bendock and Ryan Dailey form the tournament committee \u2013 said that this year, the tournament is an American Softball Association (ASA) sanctioned event, and also includes a bid to the North American Fastpitch Association (NAFA) national tournament later this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the good of the game, we want to bring as many organizations together so that men\u2019s fastpitch can keep going,\u201d said Hull, who also serves as a fastpitch umpire.<\/p>\n

Hull added the age of players ranges from 19 to 74 years old, with the average being in the 30\u2019s. This year\u2019s tournament will feature some newcomers to Fife, with the Surrey Rebels and The Farm coming from British Columbia, along with the Boise River Dogs and the Montana Bonner Boys. Returning squads include JRW & Associates from Yakima and the Rose City Merchants and Ivory Headware from Portland, Ore.<\/p>\n

One of the most entertaining parts of the tournament and a key to success, Hull said, is the presence of dominant starting pitching, and this year\u2019s tournament features several such players.<\/p>\n

Darren Strang, last year\u2019s MVP pitcher, returns to lead the Cal-State Builders, while Shawn Koster will be a dominant force for the Lacey A\u2019s, and Dave Drotzmann is another solid pitcher who will lead JRW & Associates. With the mound being closer to the plate than in baseball, added to the fact that some pitchers throw upward of 75 miles per hour, Hull said the reaction time is equivalent to a 100 mile-per-hour pitch in baseball.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese guys can make the ball rise\u2026they can throw high drops, they can throw curveballs, and some of the deadly pitches are the changeups they throw,\u201d Hull said. \u201cAnd there\u2019s no difference in (the pitcher\u2019s) body movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also present at the tournament will be 2008 Olympic umpire Lori Bish, whose 20-year career includes a long stint as a Pac-10 (and Pac-12) umpire. Mother Hubbard, a long-tenured and well-respected umpire out of Victoria, B.C., will most likely call a few games and features several quirky mannerisms. The tournament will also honor Hall of Fame pitcher Jimmy Moore and coach Jimmy Williamson.<\/p>\n

Click here to continue reading at the Tacoma Weekly.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cap tip: Kyle Sherwood FASTPITCH TOURNEY FEATURES SOLID TALENT, HONORS LEGENDS By Jeremy Helling, TACOMA WEEKLY For the second straight year, men\u2019s fastpitch teams from around the Northwest, Northern California and British Columbia will be converging on Fife for the 52nd annual Seattle Invitational, which this year will become the longest continuously running men\u2019s fastpitch […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17170","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tournaments","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17170"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17174,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17170\/revisions\/17174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}