{"id":21867,"date":"2013-08-16T11:43:54","date_gmt":"2013-08-16T18:43:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=21867"},"modified":"2013-08-19T09:28:44","modified_gmt":"2013-08-19T16:28:44","slug":"midland-emerson-aces-capture-2013-isc-ii-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=21867","title":{"rendered":"Midland Emerson ACes capture 2013 ISC II title"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/a>
Click logo for original news story at the Midland Daily News<\/figcaption><\/figure>MOLINE, Ill. \u2014 Andrew Plouff hit two home runs and the Midland Emerson ACes capped their inaugural season by winning the International Softball Congress II title with a 9-8 win over the Wiarton (Ont.) Nationals 9-8 on Thursday at the ISC Men\u2019s Fast Pitch World Tournament.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first tournament championship for the ACes, who posted a 7-2 record in Moline. They finish their first season with an overall record of 14-10.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is absolutely amazing,\u201d said ACes\u2019 co-manager Gregg Sauve. \u201cOur defense and pitching have been just fabulous. And our hitting has caught up the last couple of weeks. These kids are confident. They know they belong now.\u201d<\/p>\n

ACes\u2019 co-manager Dave O\u2019Keefe had similar thoughts about the team.
\n\u201cWatching this team grow up these last two weeks, each player began to realize they can compete with these folks at this level. The confidence just continued to grow and it showed in these last couple games where we came from behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ACes\u2019 Sean Hoffman and Justin Krenzke were named most valuable outfielders, Jeff Nowaczyk was named most valuable catcher, and pitcher Kyle Crawford was named most valuable player for the ISC II Tournament.<\/p>\n

\"Midland<\/a>
Midland ACes, 2013 ISC II champs. (click to enlarge) Front Row-Left to Right- Justin Krenzke, Andy Plouff, Jeff Nowaczyk, Josh Thompson, Ken Hoffman, Brett Rohn (Back Row- Left to Right)- Laura Currie, LT Jocque, Ty Sebastian, Kyle Crawford, Kevin Dore, Gowan Stuck, Dave O’keefe, Jim Wallace.<\/figcaption><\/figure>The ACes went 2-2 in their first four games at the ISC, then dropped to the ISC II bracket and won five straight games to capture the title.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody contributes all the time,\u201d Sauve said of the team. \u201cIt might be the hardest working team I\u2019ve ever been associated with. They just don\u2019t stop. They have that drive to get better.\u201d
\nThe ACes jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning against Wiarton when Kevin Dore singled, stole second base, and came home on a base hit from Justin Krenzke.<\/p>\n

In the second, Emerson plated three more runs to go up 4-0. Jeff Nowaczyk reached second on a error to lead off, then scored on a triple off the bat of Ty Sebastien. Sebastien came home on a sacrifice fly from Brett Rohn. After a walk and a sacrifice bunt, Plouff scored on a single from Josh Thompson to make it 4-0.<\/p>\n

The Nationals stormed back in the top of the third, however, scoring five times to grab a 5-4 lead on a single, two doubles, and a pair of two-run home runs.<\/p>\n

Emerson tied the game in the bottom of the fourth on a leadoff home run by Plouff and went ahead 6-5 in the fifth when Ken Hoffman singled, took second on a fielder\u2019s choice and third on a wild pitch, and scored on a single from Sebastien.<\/p>\n

Wiarton knotted things up again at 6-6 in the top of the sixth.
\nIn the bottom of the sixth, Plouff smacked his second homer of the contest to give Emerson the lead again at 7-6. After a two-base error allowed Dore to reach second, Krenzke singled to bring him home, followed by a triple from pinch-hitter Gowan Stuck that plated Krenzke for a 9-6 lead.<\/p>\n

Wiarton scored twice in the top of the seventh on another two-run homer, and put the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base, but pitcher Kyle Crawford held on to preserve the win and the title for the ACes.<\/p>\n

Crawford, who earned every decision at the ISC for Emerson, struck out 12 in a complete-game victory. He allowed one walk and 12 hits.
\nAt the plate for the ACes, Plouff had two home runs, with two RBIs and three runs scored, and Sebastien and Krenzke each had two hits, two RBIs and two runs scored.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Midland Emerson ACes thank all our spsonsors and backers for helping this team get off the ground,\u201d Sauve said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MOLINE, Ill. \u2014 Andrew Plouff hit two home runs and the Midland Emerson ACes capped their inaugural season by winning the International Softball Congress II title with a 9-8 win over the Wiarton (Ont.) Nationals 9-8 on Thursday at the ISC Men\u2019s Fast Pitch World Tournament. It\u2019s the first tournament championship for the ACes, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11874,"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":[10,23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21867","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-isc","8":"category-tournaments","9":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21867","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=21867"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21972,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21867\/revisions\/21972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}