Al’s Fastball carries a link to story in the St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada newspaper about the resurgence of interest in men’s fastball, which notes “Those who like the game like it a lot”

Fastball’s popularity on the upswing
ERIC BENDER, Free Press Sports Reporter 2005-08-27

ST. THOMAS — Those who like the game like it a lot.

Fastball has waxed and waned in St. Thomas for decades and like a rise ball, it’s on the upswing with the 2005 Canadian senior men’s championship that opens tomorrow at Doug Tarry complex in the southeastern sector of the city.

The 13-team tournament ends next Sunday, with the bronze-medal game at 11 a.m. followed by the championship final at 1:30 p.m.

Bill Horne, head coach of the host St. Thomas Evergreen Centennials, said there are enough young players to sustain the sport.

“Maybe not right around here now but over Kitchener way, there’s a lot of fastball and in the South Perth league. And there were 20 teams at the midget championship.”

Get the link to the whole story here, at Al’s Fastball.

Editor’s Note: The ISC II is a good testament to the growing popularity of the game in that area, with the top finishers in the tournament all coming from the Ontario province. And while some say that there are no young players coming up through the ranks – this year’s ISC II runner-up, the Port Elgin Blue Devils have an average age of 23.7. Youth shall be served.

The ISC-II Tournament of Champions, regarded by some as the best intermediate level tournament on the continent, will be in Kitchener/Waterloo, Ontario, Canada in 2006. The favorable exchange rate ($1.25 to $1.00 at last check) provides American teams with a chance to experience fastball in Ontario, at affordable prices. Kitchener is located less than an hour’s drive from Toronto, which provides direct flights from all major U.S. Cities, and nearby Buffalo (2.5 hour drive) and Detroit (3.5 hour drive) providing even more affordable alternatives. And, as witnessed by the ISC Sportsmanship Award garnered by Ontario’s senior men’s team, the Hallman Twins, Ontario offers some of the friendliest people in the game. Watch our blog “The Deuce” for all the unofficial coverage of the growing ISC II division. In five short years, it has grown to 38 strong.

The ISC II Tournament of Champions offers:

* Four (4) game guarantee for all teams;
* Five (5) games guaranteed for 24 teams advancing to the playoff round;
* Live audio broadcasts of approximately 24 games, including most of the playoff round.
* Championship game on the same day and field as the ISC World Tournament, which this year drew an estimated 5,000 fans.

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* Have you updated your bookmarks to the new web address for Al’s Fastball Archive ? * Click this link, then hit Control-D to bookmark.

To all fastball fans:

The archives for the 2005 ISC II Tournament of Champions played at Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin are now available via Ballparkradio/Sportjuice. The 2005 Archive consists of 26 games.

For easy access:

* Go to Ballparkradio, http://www.ballparkradio.com
* Click the ISC II Tournament of Champions logo at the top of the main page;
* Once you get to the ISC II Sportsjuice page, hold down the Control Key (to avoid your pop-up blockers, if you use them) click on the green rectangle near the top right that says
* From the drop down menu, choose the game you want to listen to and play.

Please Note: In all Sportsjuice archives, you can now scroll through the timeline of the game by clicking, holding, and dragging the slider bar to listen to whatever portion of the game you want. This is different from previous years’ archives, where Sportsjuice games
could only be heard linearly, from start to finish.

The ISC II scoreboard, with links to the box scores and play-by-play is a great companion while you’re listening. It enables you to jump around (fast forward or go backwards) during the broadcast to find a particular hit or play.

For those who have inquired, we will be making audio CD’s of the games available for purchase. Watch The Deuce Blog at Fastpitchwest.com (www.fastpitchwest.com/thedeuce) or Al’s Fastball for further announcements.

The ISC II broadcast crew sends out a big thank you to all who tuned into the broadcasts. We thoroughly enjoyed the hundreds of emails received from members of the listening audience, which topped 8,000 in terms of hits on the game links, and we appreciate the kind words and encouragement. All of us are looking forward to even bigger and better things in 2006 in Kitchener, ON.

Cheers,
The ISC II Broadcast Crew
Blair Setford, Jim Flanagan ,
Joe Todd, Brett Bresnahan,
Lance Winn and Chris Bach