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One More Time for the Black Sox

Friday, November 5th, 2010

From the Long Beach Black Sox Facebook page:

The Long Beach Black Sox will be participating in a 1 day tournament which is the last event for The Sox in 2010 and 2011. Please feel free to join us.

Saturday, December 11 · 9:00am – 8:00pm

El Dorado Park
7550 E. Spring St
Long Beach, CA

All former and current Long Beach Black Sox players are encouraged to play in the free event. Please contact me if your interested.


View Larger Map

Editor’s note: That’s my bike path to the right — look closely, you might see me.

Posted in General, So Cal, Teams, Tournaments | Comments Closed

Team Santa Barbara 2011

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

We are pleased to share the news that Santa Barbara will be on the fastball map for the 2011 season. The news comes from, longtime Santa Barbara player, Phil Hiromerides. The team will play in local Santa Barbara tournaments, including, most notably, the best of the West tournament June 4-5, 2011 ( held in Santa Barbara) as well as Masters events. Lots of familiar names and faces on this group.

The 2011Team Santa Barbara roster:
(pitchers shown in bold)

Ben Limosnero
Joe Vigil
Phil Hiromerides
Mick Ventura
John Silacci
Tony Acedo
Bud Sander
Mark Bennett
Pete Favero
Steve Garcia
Steve Adams
Russ Arellanes
Clayte Robinson
Kevin Spiers
Robert Renteria
Joe Edwards
Ron Mizener
Aaron Owens (part-time)

Coach Gary May
Coach Clyde Bennett

Santa Barbara has a long history of men’s fastball in the Southern California area, including the Santa Barbara instant replay team of the early 1990s, and Santa Barbara Bucks team that followed. The Bucks represented California in a number of ISC World Tournaments. A number of the players on the 2011 Team Santa Barbara squad were members of those Bucks teams, Additionally, catchers Tony Acedo (Team Rainey), and Aaron Owens (Long Beach Painters, and as a young 18-year-old with the 1990 Vista Bombers) also bring ISC World Tournament experience to next year’s squad.

Editor’s note: I’m sure this news will bring a smile to the face of our friend Dave Blackburn, who is a longtime member of this group. We shared a quote from Dave about teammate Phil Hiromerides in a feature story about Phil some time ago, “The Greek God of Hitting“. In talking about Phil, Dave Blackburn said:

“We called him the Greek God of Taters, because he didn’t just hit the ball hard, he mashed it”.

Posted in General, So Cal, Teams | Comments Closed

Team Name Change in 2011 AAU

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010

PK Broward IL now the Illinois Pirates.


The 40 team field:

Aragua Venezuela Venezuela
Blackburn Transport Canada
Bravos del Norte de Tenerife Spain
Brewers de Venezuela Venezuela
Capitalinos de Caracas Venezuela
Chicago/New York USA
Cobourg Force Canada
Combatientes Fastpitch Venezuela Venezuela
CPI USA
Dominicana U.S. USA
El Dorado Venezuela Venezuela
Elmira Erb Electric Expos Canada
Florida Fastpitch USA
Gigantes de Venezuela Venezuela
Hill United Canada
Hooligans of Niagara Canada
Houston Carnage USA
Illinois Pirates USA
Indios de Venezuela Venezuela
Italian Athletic Club USA
Kitchener Outlaws Canada
Lanzeros Venezuela Venezuela
Los Socios Venezuela
Maccabi USA USA
Mexico Mexico
Miami USA
Millwood Countrymen Canada
Minnesota Angels USA
Niagara Fury Canada
NY / PA Metropolitans USA
Ohio Battery USA
Oklahoma Fastpitch USA
SC Tornados USA
Softball Canada Canada
Sopotocientos Venezuela
Sureño Soy Venezuela
Team Minnesota USA
Tijuana Fastpitch Mexico
Virgin Islands Eagles USA
Washington DC Metros USA

By country:
(more…)

Posted in General, Teams, Tournaments | Comments Closed

The Morning After

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010

“People ask me what I do in the winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”

—Rogers Hornsby

(more…)

Posted in General | Comments Closed

NAFA Open & 23U World Series returns to Madison, Wisconsin

Friday, October 29th, 2010



(click logo for official NAFA website)

On July 22-24, 2011 16 Team (10 have confirmed already) NAFA Men’s Open World Series will be held at the four field complex near Madison, Wisconsin at the Bowling Green Sports Complex. To showcase our youth program and development of the sport we will also hold our 23-Under Elite Division at the same time side by side. The Men’s Open event will feature the NAFA 3GG Bracket. The 16 Team(9 have confirmed already) 23-Under Division will feature a 4 game guarantee with teams playing 3 round robin games that seed them into an upper and lower playoff bracket so that any level of pitching can participate in the 23U and be able to compete in the playoff bracket. Both events will be seeded with all teams playing Friday with the 23-Under first game at 2pm and the Open Men’s First game at 6pm, 8pm, 10pm and the championship games will be at 1:15 for the Open and 3pm and 4:45 for the 23-Under. To register email Executive Director, Benjie Hedgecock, at Nafafastpitch@gmail.com or by phone at 503-559-5398. More details including motel info and entry fee deadlines can be found at Nafafastpitch.com.

Posted in General, NAFA | Comments Closed

Rockford Illinois Selected to Host 2011 NAFA World Series

Friday, October 29th, 2010



(click logo for official NAFA website)

Rockford, Illinois selected to host 2011 NAFA “A”, A-Major”, “AA”, “AA-Major”, 23-Under World Series featuring new 4 Game Guarantee

The beautiful 8 field Sportscore Softball Complex in Rockford, Illinois has been selected to host the 2011 NAFA World Series August 11-21, 2011.

The 48 Team A-Major and 32 Team AA Divisions and the Youth Boys 18,16,14,12,10 Divisions will be held August 11-14.

The 64 Team “A” and 24 Team AA-Major and 8 team 23-Under Comp Division will be held August 18-21.

The event will feature a new 4 game guarantee with the standard NAFA 3GG Bracket but the teams that only get 3 games in that bracket will be placed into a Single Elimination Bracket thereby creating a full 4 day event for almost every team so that they can plan for vacation time and know that NAFA is doing everything possible to give teams the best event possible while also creating a great experience for every player with more value for their money.
First games for each week will be Thursday at 10am with the championship games Sunday at 2pm with the if necessary games to follow. More information including motel info and entry deadline info can be found at Nafafastpitch.com.

NAFA would like to express our appreciation to Sportsevents.com for assisting us in the bid process and the cities that participated in the process including Appleton-Kimberly, WI., Indianapolis, IN., Waterloo, IA, Ann Arbor, MI., Milwaukie, WI, Decatur, IL., Beaumont, TX., Columbus, GA, St. George, UT, Brookfield, IL., and Butler, PA.

Posted in General, NAFA | Comments Closed

Devils cop a roasting in final

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

Cap tip, Bob Henning.


Wellington side in total control
CAROL COOK – The Nelson Mail


Photo: HOME SAFE: Poneke Kilbirnie’s Craig Wallace scores against PCU catcher Josh Thomson by sliding under the tag and driving him off home plate.

Although Parklands Christchurch United accounted for Poneke Kilbirnie 3-1 on Sunday and backed this up with a 3-0 win in yesterday’s playoffs, it counted for nothing when the teams faced off in the final of the Stoke Eagles GJ Gardner Homes Fast Pitch softball tournament at Saxton Field.

Poneke Kilbirnie made an aggressive start, posting four runs in the first innings, while the PCU Devils could only reply with a solitary run.

Poneke Kilbirnie’s pitcher, Thomas Cameron, commanded the mound as well as being influential with the bat.

Devils hurler Regan Manley had previously contained the Wellington offence, but he gave up 14 safe hits in the final, with PK’s full roster coming to the party.

After a number of tight and even contests, the final did not live up to expectations. PK were in total control after their first at bat and went on to add a four further runs for a comprehensive 8-1 win.

The Devils had gone through five games unbeaten but came up well short in the game that counted most. They would have felt happy with their overall performance, though, given that they were without four of their starting lineup for the decider.

The tournament gave the Devils’ bench players an opportunity for more time on the diamond.

Poneke Kilbirnie recorded a convincing 10-2 win over Papanui to reach the final.

Recently selected Black Sox player Daniel Tarapi had a strong batting game for a 1000 average, including an automatic home run.

Cameron went three from four, which also included a home run.

Click here for the complete story.
It was a clean sweep for Cameron in the individual awards, taking out the top batter (with a .520 average), top pitcher and Most Valuable Player titles.


TOURNAMENT TEAM

The Nelson Building Society Tournament team is:

Pitchers: Cameron (PK), Manley (PCU);

catcher: Josh Thomson (PCU);

infielders: Tom Arps (Stoke Eagles), Gareth Cook (PCU), Craig Wallace (PK), Steve McFarlane (PCU), Jerome Rameki (PK), Paul de Lautour (PCU); outfielders: Brad Annandale (PCU), Jarred Tibbits (PK), Carl McIlroy (Papanui), Daniel Tarapi (PK); designated player: Scott Dale (PCU); coach: Thomas Makea (PK)

Posted in General | Comments Closed

Ken Vierling inducted to Minnesota HOF

Monday, October 25th, 2010

Our friend Ken Vierling was inducted into the Minnesota Hall of Fame over the weekend. Congrats, Ken!

Posted in General | Comments Closed

Fastpitch Chronicle – First issue, Aug 1988

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

Update: See bottom of this post.

As many of our regular readers know, Fastpitchwest.com followed in the footsteps of Al’s Fastball, but also some older printed publications, like Ray Anderson’s Fastpitch Bulletin, and Bob Tomlinson’s Fastpitch Chronicle. (mentioned here, written when I started the site twelve years ago, back in 1998)

Though the Fastpitch Bulletin and Fastpitch Chronicle are no longer printed in this internet age, copies of old issues are still around and provide a great historical record of the game.

A while back, the publisher of the Fastpitch Chronicle, Bob Tomlinson held an auction on eBay for a complete set of issues for the Fastpitch Chronicle, and I was the successful bidder. (Sorry, Billy). We are planning to post the issues online, as part of our “new and improved” Fastpitchwest, but in the meantime, I thought I’d share a few issues to give readers a sneak preview of what is “coming soon”.

Click here to view the very first issue of the Fastpitch Chronicle, Volume 1, Number 1, published in August 1988.

It’s interesting, as Bob talks, on page one, about his plans to publish the Chronicle. It also contains a bracket sheet for the 1988 ISC World Tournament, as it was just about to get underway at the Borg-Warner Sports Complex in Decatur, Illinois. It had a full 48 teams, including my hometown Long Beach Nitehawks, who was not among the 16 top seeded teams. The Nitehawks were playing an unnamed team from the South East area, with the winner to face the Rempel Brothers of Saskatoon, Canada. It was the year before my first ISC World Tournament, and the news of games and more came to my mailbox but once a month.

OK, for bonus points, do you know who won the ISC World Tournament that year? Which two teams played in the finals ? Who won the MVP’s? Do you know without looking it up at the ISC Website ? Were you at the tournament? If so, send me an email and tell me what you recall about the tournament. Email to: jim (at) fastpitchwest.com

Update/Editor’s note: This post seems to have generated quite a bit of interest, judging from the e-mails coming in. The “bonus points” go to John Younger, who was the first to note Penn Corp as the winner of the 1988 ISC World Tournament, and and MVPs Jimmy Seaman and Mark Sorenson, both members of the Penn Corp team.

Sioux City IA Penn Corp beat Lexington MO Harolds Supermarket twice in the finals, I think Jim Seaman was MVPitcher & Mark Sorenson MVPlayer,I didn’t stay for finals.I remember it was very hot that week in Decatur,I was glad I wasn’t playing. Harolds played in our city league in St Joseph MO at that time & I played with them in the 86 ASA national. They beat Penn Corp early in the 88 ISC & went undefeated to the finals, but Penn Corp came back with it’s great pitching staff: Jim Seaman, Steve Schults, Pete Sandman& I beleave Paul Magan

Posted in General, ISC | Comments Closed

Fred Hanker, Long Beach Black Sox Taking Time off in 2011

Monday, October 18th, 2010

From Fred Hanker’s Long Beach Black Sox Men’s Fastpitch Softball Facebook page:

I have decided to not have The Long Beach Black Sox next year. I have run this team for 6 years and I need a much deserved break. I will be playing with other teams in 2011. Thanks to all our fans for your support. I will continue to maintain the site and make posts so stay tuned. I may at some point next year reunite the team. Thanks for all your kind words

Editor’s note:

A well deserved break for Fred. He’s been the driving force for the team — and for much of fastpitch in So Cal for the past six years, both on the field and behind the scenes, somehow finding a way to manage and run the team, and yet still focus and be among the top hitters in So Cal, seemingly every single weekend. The list of players wearing the Black Sox uniform for those six year is long and distinguished. Thanks Fred to giving so many players a place to play, and learn the game — both young players and old. Like the Pittsburgh Pirates of old, it was always fun to see which uniform the team would don on a given day (just how many different version were there?) The Black Sox blended friendship and talent, with more tournament victories than one can count, a testament to Fred’s leadership. Fred’s website, his facebook page and the hundreds of photos and stories posted kept us up on fastpitch in So Cal. We’ll miss seeing the Sox in 2011 Fred, but it is a well deserved break indeed.

Posted in General, So Cal, Teams | Comments Closed

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