Wednesday August 13 – all times central
9:00 AM
Quarter-final game
Kitchener Outlaws vs Ashland Stockpack
11:30 AM
Semi-final 1
Winner Gm 73 vs Winner Gm 74
Semi-final 2 (alternate channel)
Winner Gm 75 vs Winner Gm 76
2:00 PM
ISC II Championship Game
Winner Gm 77 vs Winner Gm 78
The road to the Elite Eight was not an easy one for the River City Rockers, but they rallied from down 2-0 to win their third game of the day, 3-2 in the nightcap against 2005 ISC II champions, the Elmira Cubs of Ontario, Canada, and advance to the Elite Eight. Elmira was previously unbeaten in the tournament, earning a double bye by winning their pool. Elmira jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, which held until first baseman Mario Pereira tied the game with a two run homer. The game then went extra innings, with the international tie breaker in effect. With a runner at second, an Elmira player hit a long, high fly ball to the 275 foot fence in left where it was caught by Rob Penticoff. The runner tagged up and tried to score from second. Penticoff fired a strike all the way to the infield, and the runner was cut down at the plate. The Rockers then won the game in a walk off in the bottom of the eight, with Rusty Newnan coming through with game winning hit.
Pitcher Bryan Newton picked up the win, pitching in his sixth game of the tournament, due to a groin injury to Ed Gaspar. Newton pitched two shutouts earlier in the day, surrending a total of just two runs on the day, enroute to his fifth win of the tournament. The Rockers will face the unbeaten New York Knights, at 9am central time Wednesday morning. The Knights came into the tournament as the # 3 ranked team in the ISC II division.
Some quick notes on Day 3:
Sweet Sixteen:
Kitchener 3, Rude Pac 2, 4:30pm Tuesday
Hoffman Rise PA vs. Ashland, 4:30pm Tuesday
Villard vs. Lloydminster Dodgers, Alberta, 5pm Tuesday
Pete’s Blues IL vs. Waterdown Hammer, ON, 5pm Tuesday
Lumberkings, CA vs. Bridgeport, ON, 6:30pm Tuesday ON BALLPARKRADIO.COM
Keatings or Hermann Black Gold MO vs. Ottawa, 6:30pm Tuesday
River City Rockers vs. Elmira, 7pm Tuesday
CPI vs. New York Knights, 7pm Tuesday
The River City Rockers won their second game of the day, both playoff games, a 5-0 win over the Palermo Athletics, and advance to the Sweet Sixteen, to play their third playoff game of the day, at 7pm tonight Central time, against the unbeaten Elmira Cubs of Ontario, California. Bryan Newton has not surrendered a run in either playoff game. Earlier this morning, the Rockers eliminated the defending ISC II Champions, TNT of South Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
The California Lumberkings won their third game against one loss, this one a second round playoff game against a tough Innovative Communications team from Salt Lake City, Utah, 5-4. (The Lumberkings earned a first round bye) Dr. Dave Drotzman came on in relief of Mike Egerdeen to get two strikeouts with the tying run at second base, for the save. The Lumberkings will come back tonight against a well-rested Bridgeport Braves team from Ontario, California. The two teams have met twice previously at the 2006 and 2007 ISC T of C’s with each team getting a win. Rubber Match tonight at 6:30pm central.
So Cal Bombers 7, Midland Explorers 0. Bombers now 2-0 at the ISC World Tournament at Kimberly, Wisconsin.
Click here for the box score and play-by-play.
Darren Box keyed a 5 run second for the Bombers with a home run. Robbie O’Brien drove in two runs in the win for the Bombers, with veteran Marty Grant picking up the win. Peeples and Mata also pitched in the contest.
The Bombers will play one of the tournament favorites next, Patsy’s of New York. Patsy’s recently won the ASA Major National Tournament at Stevens Point, Wisconsin.
The “R”‘s have it.
The River City Rockers eliminated the defending champions, TNT of South Lebanon, Pennsylvania, 8-0, in a 5 inning run-shortened game. The Rockers jumped on pitcher Rob Fawcett for four runs in the first on five hits, added another in the second and put the game away with three more in the third. Rob Penticoff continued to swing a hot bat, going 3 for 4 in the game with 4 RBI, including a two-out, three-run triple to clear the bases in the third inning, that ran the score to 8-0. Pitcher Bryan Newton picked up his third win against one loss.
Rude Pac eliminated Herda & Sons, 2-1, behind the stellar pitching of Greg “Spud” Barker.
Both teams advance in the single elimination contest.
The other two teams from “out west” square off this afternoon, at 2:30pm, the California Lumberkings and Innovative Communications of Salt Lake City, Utah, in a game that will be broadcast on Ballparkradio.com
Day 2 – Upsets abound
If Day 1 went mostly according script with the higher ranked teams beating the lower ranked teams in their respective pools, then Day 2 will be remembered for some big upsets and shocking results with potentially terminal ramifications for a pair of highly regarded teams.
Top-ranked California LumberKings dropped a 4-2 decision to the lowest ranked team in their pool, Lloydminster Dodgers. That upset would propel the Dodgers to the top seed in Tuesday’s playoff round, giving them a double bye into the third round of the single-elimination bracket.
The LumberKings would recover to spank Memphis Posse Monday night and claim the #2 seed in Pool A and a first round bye. Memphis finishes #3 in Pool A by virtue of their win over Wyevale Tribe who finish at A4. Wyevale knocked off the Dodgers early in the day, but dropped an 8-5 decision to the Posse in the afternoon.
As shocking as the Dodgers win over the LumberKings, another western Canada team tripped up the defending champions South Lebanon TNT. Bulyea Rustlers threw the standings in Pool B into total disarray with a 3-2 win. That left TNT need a win over Sioux Falls Sox to claim the top seed and the double bye. It wasn’t to be.
Sioux Falls rallied from a 1-0 deficit with a game-tying single in the 6th and won it in the 8th on a game-ending double play with a TNT runner called out at the plate. The loss handed the division title to Bridgeport Braves, who had wins over Sioux Falls and Bulyea Monday, while TNT dropped to the #4 seed. Sioux Falls finishes #2 while Bulyea comes in at #3.
In Pool C, the New York Knights made it look relatively easy, finishing 3-0, but it wasn’t quite the cakewalk that it seemed at first glance. The Knights needed extras to put away Rude Pac and for 6 innings clung to a 1-0 lead over Elora Wellington Brewers before prevailing 3-0.
While the Knights get the double bye, it’s Rude Pac in the #2 spot as they rallied for a late 4-3 win over Elora who finished third. Earl’s Club will look to get their offence untracked in the playoff round as they went 0-3 in pool play.
John Rozich belted another pair of titanic home runs yesterday, giving him 4 for the tournament.
In Pool D, Kitchener Outlaws scored a 1-0 win over CPI, scoring the only run in the first inning and making it stand up. The Outlaws get the top seed with their 3-0 record, while CPI finishes 2nd. Pete’s Blues who edged Salt Lake City Innovative Communications, will be the #3 seed with Salt Lake finishing a hard-luck 0-3 will be #4.
In Pool E, the standings were a little cleaner as Ashland Stockpack, with a 7th inning walk-off win over Winterset A’s claimed the top seed. Palermo Athletics finished second at 2-1. Carp 14C Victory is the #3 seed at 1-2 while Winterset is the #4 seed at 0-3.
In Pool F, Elmira continued their imitation of a Mack truck, crushing the opposition. The Cubs have scored 27 runs and have yet to allow a run. Hoffman Rise, with a 2-1 nailbiter win over Black Gold secured the #2 seed and the first round bye. Black Gold comes in at #3 while The Bar of Appleton will be the #4 seed.
In Pool G, the tie-breaker rules were put to the test as Ottawa Team Easton Thunder, River City Rockers and St. Paul ASB Villard all finished with 2-1 records. Ottawa beat Villard Sunday before dropping a 2-1 decision in the bottom of the 7th to River City on Monday, but River City had earlier lost to Villard 3-1.
By virtue of allowing the fewest runs in the games involving the 3 tied teams, Ottawa finishes first and gets the double bye while the win by Villard over River City gave them the #2 seed. River City will have to play 3 games on Tuesday to advance to the Elite Eight with Kelvington PDC Comets getting the #4 seed.
Waterdown Hammer scored only 6 runs in their 3 pool games, but it was enough to win all of them and finish first in Pool H. The Hammer needed 8 innings to edge Chicago Fastpitch 1-0 while Keating’s Fitness scored 3 late runs to beat Herda & Sons 5-2 and nail down the #2 seed. Chicago finishes third in Pool H with Herda & Sons #4.
Setting up the first round of games on Tuesday morning, the best match-up is B4 vs G3 – TNT vs River City Rockers. Either the defending champions, who have struggled at the plate, or the team with one of the top 3 pitchers in the tournament will be headed home after this one. Wow.
The bottom half of the draw looks to be the toughest with the LumberKings, Ottawa, Elmira, New York and Bridgeport all on that side. Whoever comes out of that dog-fight will be battle tested, but will they have enough left for the finals on Wednesday?
Stick around to see – it’s gonna be great!
Team Rainey won their opener at the ISC World Tournament Sunday, a 2-1 victory over the Kegel Black Knights of Fargo, North Dakota. Pitcher Sebastian Gervasutti was dominant in the game, striking out 18 batters. Rainey won the game in dramatic fashion in the bottom of the seventh inning. With the score tied, Chris Hunt doubled, and came home to score the game winner on a pinch hit single by Josh Tisdale.
The game was reminiscent of the opener that Team Rainey played in the 2006 ISC World Tournament — in which they beat the same Kegal Black Knights. In that game, it was Sebastian Gervasutti picking up the win, and Chris Hunt homering to power the offense.
Rainey’s win earned them the honors of playing the defending ISC World Tournament Champions, The Farm Tavern of Madison, Wisconsin in their next game, at 7 pm on Tuesday night.
Click here for the box score and play-by-play.
Click Logos for official tournament websites.
