Archive for August, 2005

Message from Al Doran re: Al’s Fastball Archives

Wednesday, August 24th, 2005

We pass along the following note from Al Doran regarding the recent problems the Escribe site that had been hosting his mailing list:

eScribe is down and maybe out, maybe for good.

eScribe went down over a week ago, just as the ISC’s were getting underway. This is not the first time they have crashed and been down for more than a few hours. In June 2004 they went down and were down for weeks while the owner bought and set up all new servers.

eScribe is privately owned, my company has nothing to do with it. Al’s Fastball is just one of hundreds of list servers that make use of the services provided by eScribe. This service has always been free.

Last year in June we learned that the owner, Scott Paterson, was working with a couple of unpaid volunteers to keep eScribe going. He had to buy expensive computer equipment to replace the servers that had worn out and died.

This week we learned that they major technical problems and the prognosis is not good.

See Scott’s note to me today:

Al

Dead power supply and lack of financial support and non-paid volunteers. Going to try to fix it myself as soon as I have time, but really, with no end-user financial support, it’s most likely done for.
-Scott

This does not sound good.

Thousands of fastball fans miss their easy access to recent posts AND to a virtual gold mine of history on the game, posts from the past several years. We are encouraging Scott to carry on, which is not easy as he cannot receive email any longer @escribe.com, the system is totally down. We do write the occasional very short note to Scott at his work address but I cannot give this out, his employer frowns upon getting private email at his work place.

In the interim, we have been using Jim Flanagan’s TEMP site, as our only site for posting fastball news. That site is: http://www.fastpitchwest.com/alsfastball.htm

For now we are not calling it the TEMP site, its our only site at the moment.

We are looking at other options as the temp site does have some drawbacks, including the fact that the latest postings are at the bottom of the page and not the top. As well, if someone sends me a post and then changes their mind, its not that easy to remove the post in error as eScribe was.

Jim Flanagan has very kindly provided this site and I would most appreciate if you could tell your friends about it, many fans may not know about it. We have almost 2,000 fans on our subscriber list but we estimate there are at least that many who were looking daily at eScribe to get their fastball news.

Thanks
Al Doran

ISC II Blog, “The Deuce” Adds Emailing List

Wednesday, August 24th, 2005

The Deuce blog has added an email mailing list for players and fans of the ISC II.

We’ll send announcements about things like the broadcast archives for 2005, the upcoming 2006 ISC II Tournament of Champions in Kitchener, and updates of note that are posted on our blog. It’s designed for players and fans alike.

We’ll still be posting the majority of items to The Deuce blog, with the email list reserved for announcements of a more special nature, giving members of the mailing list the inside scoop on things.

Click here to join The Deuce mailing list. (it’s automated so you can do it yourself).

Click here to visit the mailing list archives.

You’ll find both of the above links in our links section in the right hand margin for easy access in the future.

The volume of email is heaviest during the ISC II Tournament of Champions every August, and lighter during the rest of the year.

You may unsubscribe or turn it off or on whenever you like, and we protect your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.

Do ISC World Tournament Players Belong at ASA “C” Nationals ?

Wednesday, August 24th, 2005

Read what Fastpitch Forum member Sledgehammer22 and others say on the subject. Do you agree or disagree? The ‘hammer says:

“Most open hitters I’ve seen hitting “C” are terrible. Their timing is way off. Where they will help teams are the instances when a pitcher is pitching “C” that shouldn’t be. They will eat the hard throwers up. But they won’t be hitting anyway so no use talking about it. Many of the players are only rated “A” because they havn’t been to any ASA Major events, just ISC. This means that they may drop two levels and hit, but each team can only have 4 upper division players.”

and

When you look at the whole picture, the “C” nationals should be the best tournament of the year next to the ISC

Huh? I thought it was the ISC II, ASA Major, ASA “A” and ASA “B”, and that the “C” Nationals were for entry level teams and old(er) guys like me 🙂 Readers, tell us what you think. Do ISC World Tournament level players belong at the ASA “C” Nationals?

Join the discussion by clicking here.

Ten More ISC II Broadcasts Added to Archives at Ballparkradio

Wednesday, August 24th, 2005


Ten (10) more broadcasts from the 2005 ISC II Tournament of Champions have been added to the archives at at Ballparkradio.com.

To listen, click here to go to Ballparkradio, then click the large letter “A” above the words “Click Here for Game Archives”.

Be patient while it loads as it take a little longer the first time around.

We will be posting all of the broadcasts shortly, so check back later if your game is not yet posted. (The 2004 championship game is available as well)

To those who have asked, we will be making CD’s available for purchase in the coming months.

(Unofficial) Order of Finish for 2005 ISC II Tournament of Champions

Wednesday, August 24th, 2005

1 Elmira, ON Cubs 8-0
2 Port Elgin, ON Blue Devils 7-1
3 Ottawa, ON Team Easton Thunder 5-2
4 Alvinston, ON Indians 6-1
5 Niagara, ON Snappers 4-2
6 Tavistock, ON Smully’s Merchants 5-1
7 Harriston, ON Mercury’s 5-1
8 Hermann, MO Black Gold 4-3
9 Ashland, OH Merchants 3-3
10 Mankato, MN Fisher Group 2-4
11 Bridgeport, ON Braves 4-2
12 Oswego, NY McKie’s Sports 3-3
13 Denmark, WI Circle Tap Lumberjacks 3-3
14 Reasnor, IA RPMs 3-3
15 Kenosha, WI Earl’s Club 4-1
16 Memphis, TN Posse 4-2
17 St. Paul, MN ASB Villard 2-3
18 Yakima, WA JRW & Associates 2-3
19 Wichita, KS Athletic Club 2-3
20 Denver, CO Colorado Rage 2-3
21 St. Paul, MN Vannelli’s/Rice Street 2-3
22 Chippewa Falls, WI Sawdust City 2-3
23 Palermo, ON Athletics 3-2
24 Cobourg, ON Stingers 2-3
25 Athens, WI Rep & Bajas 2-2
26 Sioux Falls, SD Sox 4-0 – withdrew
27 Perkasie, PA KMV Rise 1-3
28 Gladstone, MB Whips 1-3
29 Cowessess, SK Royals 1-3
30 Appleton, WI The Bar of Appleton 1-3
31 Regina, SK Century 21 Angels 1-3
32 Galesville, WI Wilber Lime 1-3
33 Rice Lake, WI Orangemen 1-3
34 Elburn, IL Richwrap Fastpitch 1-3
35 Galena, IL Keg & Cask Liquor Store 0-4
36 Denmark, WI Pioneer Metal Finishers 0-4
37 Lloydminster, AB PWM Steel Scope Dodgers 0-4
38 Dubuque, IA Hammerheads 0-4

Editor’s note:
The 2005 ISC II Tournament of Champions was an outstanding, competitive tournament and figures to be again in 2006 in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It will run early to mid-August, same basic time as the ISC World Tournament — providing intermediate level teams an opportunity to compete in the ISC II Tournament of Champions, and take in some ISC World Tournament games at the same time. Great coverage, with two dozen or more games, including most playoff games broadcast live on Ballparkradio, and Game stats including box scores and play-by-play for every game. When is the last tournament you’ve been to where you had that?

For American teams, the currency conversion works to your advantage, about $1.25 for each dollar at present. That means cheaper hotels, food, beverage, and everything in between. Affordable flights directly into Toronto, if you buy in advance, less than a hour’s drive to Kitchener, or even less expensive into Buffalo, just 2.5 hours away or Detroit, which is a bit further. Catch a game at the Skydome with the Blue Jays on your way into or out of town. Kitchener hosted the ISC Tournaments previously and did a great job. Plans are already underway for 2006. Shouldn’t you and your team be there? Watch Fastpitchwest for ISC II Qualifying tournament information.

Click comment link below post your comments or read others, including this one:

ISC II caliber teams should note that the 2006 ISC II Championship is planned for Saturday afternoon on the main diamond at the World Tournament facility – Peter Hallman Park – in Kitchener in front of what should be a crowd of about 5,000!!!

(Unofficial) Order of Finish for ISC World

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2005

So Cal Bombers Finish 10th

The following is the unofficial order of finish for the top 16 teams at the ISC World Tournament at Eau Claire, WI. The final rankings going into the tournament are shown in parentheses. The Hallman Twins had the highest jump over ranking, 10 spots from # 13 to third place, as did the Pueblo Bandits, rising from #21 to eleventh place. The So Cal Bombers rose 8 spots from #18 ranking to tenth place, as did the Quad City Sox, IA, moving up from #16 ranking to eighth. Calgary fell the furthest, from a #4 ranking to 13th place.

The Hallman Twins were the only team in the Final Four that was not a member of the two “super pools” consisting of the Top 10 ranked teams entering the tournament.

1. County Materials, Marathon, WI (1)
2 The Farm Tavern, Denmark, WI (2)
3. Kitchener Hallman Twins, ON, Canada (13)
4. Circle Tap, Denmark, WI (5)
5. Aspen Interiors, Saskatoon, Canada (9)
6. Broken Bow Spirit, Amsterdam, NY (3)
7. Townline/Shoots, IL (12)
8. Quad City, IA (16)
9. Quaker Riversharks, PA (7)
10. So Cal Bombers, Yucaipa, CA (18)
11. Pueblo Bandits, Pueblo, CO (21)
12. Kegel Black Knights, Fargo, ND (11)
13. Calgary Smokers, Calgary, Canada (4)
14. Innerkip, Canada (19)
15. Midland Explorers, Midland, MI (10)
16. The Bar on the Avenue, WI (17)

Sonny Perkins Earns First Team All World Honors as DH, and ISC’s Top Hitter

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2005

Sonny Perkins, of Team Iowa (and who plays a good deal in Southern California) earned First Team All World honors as the DH and was named the Top Hitter in the tournament.

Dwayne Fowler of So Cal’s Team Rainey was selected as the Second Team All World Catcher. Fowler hit .333 in the tournament (5-15), with 2 home runs, 7 RBI and 4 runs scored, in addition to some stellar defense behind the plate.

Jeremy Manley, pitcher for the Pueblo Bandits, from Pueblo CO was also selected to the Second Team All World squad.

The complete list of awards for this year’s ISC World Tournament in Eau Clarie, Wisconsin:

Best Dressed Team
Springfield IL, Brandt’s Chemicals

Frank Porth Memorial Team Sportsmanship Award

Kitchener, ON Hallman Twins

Third Place Team
Denmark WI Circle Tap

Third Place Team
Kitchener, ON Hallman Twins

Second Place Team

Madison WI The Farm Tavern

First Place Team

Marathon WI County Materials

1st Place Individual Awards

RBI Leader
Colin Abbott, The Farm Tavern

Leading Hitter
Phil Perkins 9/15 .600

MOST VALUABLE PITCHER
Korey Gareau – The Farm

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
Colin Abbott – The Farm

FIRST TEAM ALL WORLD
(more…)

NAFA “A” World Series: Aug 25-28

Monday, August 22nd, 2005

Printable Winner’s Bracket

2005 Canadian Senior Men’s Softball Championships, Aug 28 – Sept 4

Monday, August 22nd, 2005

2005 Canadian Senior Men’s Softball Championships

Teams Entered:

HOST
St. Thomas Evergreen Centennials
(more…)

Waseda Univ of Japan Tops Lancaster, PA for NAFA “AA” Title

Monday, August 22nd, 2005

[North Mankato, Minnesota]-Waseda University of Tokyo, Japan won the 2005 NAFA Class AA World Series title this afternoon at Caswell Park in North Mankato. Waseda defeated the Lancaster County Merchants (Pa) 7-0 in the title.

Waseda did not allow a run the entire tournament, with Yukinori Nakashima throwing every inning.

Brett Bresnahan
NAFA webmaster
http://www.2005ws.nafafastpitch.com
mailto:mnfastpitch@hotmail.com

Championship Game 64-Waseda University 7 Lancaster County Merchants 0, Lancaster eliminated

Waseda …..110 030 2-7 11 0
Lancaster 000 000 0-0 3 2

WP-Yukinori Nakashima (6-0)
LP – Earl Rutledge (2-2)
HR-Tatsunori Takahara (1)