Archive for October, 2005

Help Wanted – Pitcher for AAU

Thursday, October 20th, 2005

The Union Storm, a team from Ontario, Canada is looking for a pitcher for the AAU tournament in Orlando, FL in January 2006. Click here for contact information. The tournament is played at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex, one of the finest fastball facilities in the country. The fastball diamonds are adjacent to the Atlanta Braves spring training facility at the complex.

Last year’s tournament hosted a number of international teams, hailing from the Caribbean, Venezuela, Mexico, Canada and the U.S., 28 teams in all. For a complete recap of last year’s tournament, click here.

For a look at the five galleries of photos from last year’s tournament, click here.

Sonny Perkins Bumped to ASA “A” Pitchers List

Wednesday, October 19th, 2005

To no one’s surprise, Sonny Perkins has been bumped up to the ASA “A” pitchers list. Sonny’s last couple of seasons have been stellar, capped off last month with the announcement of his selection to TEAM USA. Currently, he is featured on the cover of Fastpitchwest.com.

It was just September 2003 when a certain out of state ASA commissioner approved him to play in the “C” Nationals, notwithstanding the fact that California ASA Region 14 had him classified as a “B Restricted” pitcher at the time. Go figure. (That’s a lot of improvement in a couple seasons, Sonny, from “C” to “B” to “A” 😉 ) Well, regardless, the folks in So Cal know Sonny as one of the best players around, and are proud of his accomplishment in making TEAM USA. In 2005, he pitched in the ASA Major tournament and the ISC World Tournament, and has shown that he can compete with the best in the game — as a hitter, and as a pitcher.

The pitchers’ list at the ASA Region 14 website contains a note that as of October 10, 2005, the classification list is not yet complete, so keep an eye on that list before the first pitch of the 2006 season.

The “A” list is a pretty select group: Matt Barnes, Glen Davis, Tony Peeples, Phil “Sonny” Perkins, Mark Bennett Mark Higgins, Travis Price, Lonnie Brooks, and Tony Hunoff.

The “Major” list is a list of one: Bill Hillhouse, who turned in some outstanding performances in this year’s ISC World Tournament for Keating’s Fitness, who moved up from the ISC II division in 2005. Bill teaches pitching back on the east coast, runs a website, (“Houseofpitching.com“) and serves as an ISC official in his spare time. He is responsible for bringing international teams to this year’s ISC World Tournament, including the Czech Republic and Denmark. This past week, Bill was in Aruba, giving pitching clinics to the folks there. He has played a key role in helping fastball to become a truly international game.

Two More “Bonus” Galleries of ISC II Photos

Monday, October 17th, 2005

We are pleased to share two more “bonus” galleries of photos, from the 2005 ISC II Tournament of Champions, at Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, including those taken on the final day of the tournament. Click the menu buttons for galleries 7 and 8.


Among the photos are some of the tournament’s Outstanding Pitcher and Most Valuable Player, Casey Halstead of the champion Elimira ON Cubs, as well as some shots of individual award winners, and one of all four Ontario, Canada teams, which finished in the top 4 spots in the tournament. Hope you enjoy them.

Update: Someone asked about this one. It’s a laptop computer showing the storm front about to hit Eau Claire/Chippewa Falls, WI on the second to last day of the ISC II Tournament. ISC II VP Bob McGowan and ISC II Commish Blair Setford were staying on top of things with the weatherman in order to ensure the tournament’s completion. For most of Thursday afternoon, it looked like this. (Oh, they managed to keep their “spirits” up during the rain delay)

By late Thursday afternoon, the fields looked more ready for fishing than fastball, but somehow, the Chippewa Falls Grounds Crew managed to get the fields ready for the following day, just in time for the quarterfinals, semi-finals and championship game. To the players at the 2005 ISC II, that crew, and most especially the fellow in the green shirt and beard, “Ade”, who was up at 3am Friday to be sure the fields would be ready were the tournament MVPs (Most Valuable People).

New and Improved Al’s Fastball Archive

Monday, October 17th, 2005

We are pleased to announce a “new and improved” archive for Al’s Fastball.

As many of you know, Fastpitchwest has been providing a semi-permanent home for Al’s archives, ever since former “Escribe” site went down this summer, during the ISC World Tournament. The features of the replacement archive were more limited than the Escribe site, due to limitations in the software.

The “new and improved” archive restores the two most missed features of the former Escribe site:

1) Newer items post at the top of the page, eliminating the long scroll to the bottom of the page;
2) The search engine is back, enabling readers to find old posts.

Please note that the address to send email to Al Doran remains the same, fastball@pmihrm.com

Because the new archive uses built in email address protection, if you send anything to Al’s Fastball for posting, please include your email address in the following format:

jim[at]fastpitchwest.com
jim@fastpitchwest.com

(the first one will enable people who need to contact you to see you email address, the second will show up with the “@” in the email that Al’s subscribers receive of postings to the list — even though it is obfuscated with an [EMAIL PROTECTED] when it goes up on the archive)

One Week Left for Palm Springs/Cal Cup Entries

Monday, October 17th, 2005

This is the final week to sign up for the “B” and “C” tournaments at Palm Springs, November 5-6, 2005. Contact Vicki Oltean at Palm Springs for more information. Entries are due by Monday, October 24, 2005. Interested teams should mail their $300 entry fee check to:

City of Palm Springs
c/o Vicki Oltean
401 S. Pavilion
Palm Springs, CA 92262

Please drop us an email, jim@fastpitchwest.com if your team is planning on going, so that you are added to their contact list.

2005 rules are still in effect, so it’s a last chance for all of those “C” teams and pitchers that got bumped up to “B” for 2006 to compete at the “C” level.

Don’t miss this one!

The perpetual Cal Cup will be awarded to the the champion of the “C” division.

Young Bucks Capture Santa Barbara Tournament Title

Sunday, October 16th, 2005

Clyde Bennett’s Young Bucks team went undefeated, with a perfect 6-0 recrod to win their own 8 team tournament October 15-16, 2005 at Santa Barbara, California. Anthony Martinez was the workhorse ace in the tournament picking up 5 of the 6 wins, with shortstop-turned pitcher Jason Obregon picking up the sixth.

Scores

Young Bucks 7 Quicksiver 0; W Anthony Martinez L Jerry Wert
Young Bucks 2 Those Guys 1; W Anthony Martinez L Joe Edwards
Young Bucks 9 Burbank 5; W. Anthony Martrinez L Jeremy Rogers
Young Bucks 14 SB Falcons 3; W Jason Obregon L Fred Bedel
Young Bucks 2 Escalera Plumbing 0; W Anthony Martinez L. Clayton Robinson
Young Bucks 2 Latin Heat 1 W Anthony Martinez L Cecelio Smalling

Matt Morales, Issac Hernandes, Clay Miller and Kevin Castillo had key hits for the Young Bucks. Jason Obregon and Chris Paiva were outstanding on defense. In the final game Young Buck outfielder Eric Smalling got a run scoring fly ball off of his father Cecelio Smalling of the Latin Heat. Other Young Bucks , Adam Alegria and Jason Reynolds made significant contributions to the title run.

Get the Morning Brief Via Email

Saturday, October 15th, 2005

For those of you who like knowing when new posts go up at the Morning Brief blog, but don’t like to bother with checking back all the time, we have an easy, automated solution — Feed Blitz. In short, you just sign up to receive Morning Brief via email.

For more info, click the Feed Blitz logo above, or the link over there at the upper right that says “Get Morning Brief via Email”

p.s. if you do sign up, come back and post a comment here and let us know how it’s working and if you like the new feature.

Billy Montana is Most Valuable Pitcher at NAFA Masters 50+ World Series

Friday, October 14th, 2005

Billy Montana was selected as the Most Valuable Pitcher at the NAFA Masters 50+ World Series held October 8-9, 2005 at Carson City, NV. Montana’s team, Badger Roofing of Prescott, Arizona was the winner of the tournament, the second year for the NAFA event. Badger Roofing also won this summer’s ASA 50+ Masters National in their hometown of Prescott, AZ, staking their claim as the top 50+ team in the country.

So Cal’s Bill Trembley, Dave Long and Tony Coppin of the So Cal Master were also selected to the All World team. The So Cal Masters have been the top 50+ team out of California for a number of years, finishing third in this year’s ASA 50+ Masters National in Prescott. The So Cal Masters finished a disappointing 1-3 in the NAFA Masters last weekend, finishing fourth.

For the complete list of All World selections, click here.

Next year’s ASA 50+ Nationals are slated for July 8-10, 2006 in Prescott, Arizona.

So Cal ASA Division Realignment

Friday, October 14th, 2005

For those without a list handy, here is how the realignment of the So Cal ASA divisions look:

Class “B” Teams

(shown in order, according to last year’s standings)

1. Prime Time
2. Amigos
3. Black Sox
4. Rounders
5. RAW
6. Rude Pac

7. Raymar (B last year)
8. Romie’s (B last year)
9. Snakes (new team)


Class “C” Teams:

(shown in order, according to last year’s standings)

1. Palm Springs Express
2. Panteras
3. Santana Concrete
4. Hustlers
5. Latin Heat
6. Primos
7. So Cal Rebels
8. Re-Max
9. Beaumont Coyotes
10. So Cal Masters
11. So Cal Gloves
12. QuickSilver

So Cal ASA Announces Pitchers Bumped from Class “C” to Class “B”

Thursday, October 13th, 2005

From the So Cal ASA website:

The six teams and the pitchers that are being moved up are:

* Amigos – Anthony Martinez
* Black Sox – Randy Clay
* Primetime Fast Pitch – Danny Zupp, Billy Montana
* RAW – Jerome Clark
* Rounders – Mitch Mendenhall, Gerald Pyle
* Rude-Pac – Tommy Obergon

Do click the link above and take the time to read the entire explanation for these and the team bump-up changes noted in separate Morning Brief posts below.

Feel free to post your comments below.