A very Merry Christmas to you and yours, from all of us at Fastpitchwest, Ballparkradio, and Maddy’s Photos. Hope you are getting a chance to spend time with family and friends over the holidays…..and maybe find that new bat or glove you were hoping for under that tree. Enjoy those holiday goodies now, ’cause that road work begins in January !
Warm wishes,
Jim & Maddy
The California Lumberkings, the first team ever from California to compete in the ISC II Tournament of Champions resigned two of its pitchers from 2006 and added another, Mike Edgerdeen. The “twist” in the story is that the versatile Nimmo will put the gear and get behind the plate to catch in 2007. Edgerdeen had an outstanding 2006 ISC II tournament, while pitching for the JRW team from Yakima, Washington, and will give the Lumberkings a solid 1-2 punch in Strang and Edgerdeen.
The Lumberkings qualified for the playoff round at the 2006 ISC II Tournament of Champions in Kitchener, Ontario, and won their first round playoff game, before being eliminated in an extra inning thriller on a controversial call at home plate. The ISC II T of C returns to Kitchener again in 2007, in the Ontario province, a hotbed of talent at the ISC II level.
More from the Lumberkings’ David Weldin on the signings:
The California LumberKings (Bakersfield Ca) are pleased to announce the signing of
Darren Strang, Jon Nimmo, and Mike Egerdeen to their 2007 roster.
The LumberKings will play an ISC Schedule through the summer and then return to ISC II Championships in August. Strang and Egerdeen will share pitching assignments, while Nimmo will assume the catching duties.
The LumberKings are very excited to be adding these three quality players for the upcoming season and feel that they will be very instrumental in helping make a run for a top finish this year.
From our ISC II blog “The Deuce”
The International Softball Congress is pleased to announce that the 2007 ISC II Tournament of Champions (ToC) is being shortened from a 6.5-day tournament to a 4.5-day tournament and will run from Tuesday August 14 to Saturday August 18, 2007 in Kitchener and Cambridge, ON.
This condensed schedule will help make it more affordable for teams to attend the premier intermediate championship in men’s fastball.
The tournament will be contested among 35 teams split into seven pools of five. Each team will play four round robin games with the top three in each pool along with three wild cards advancing to a single elimination playoff bracket.
Click link above for the full article.
Congrats to Tim Hatten (Illinois) for getting his research study on fastpitch softball published.
His article, entitled Addressing the Declining Participation Rates in the United States Men’s Fastpitch Softball: Do International Governance and Organizational Structures Provide the Answers. was published in the October 2006 Issue of the International Journal of Sport Management.
And speaking of the Latin Heat, get a load of some slick website work at the Latin Heat (So Cal) team website.
From the Latin Heat Team Website
2006 Toys 4 Tots Tournament:
The HEAT are back in action this weekend (December 16-17, 2006) to participate in the annual Toys 4 Tots Tournament held in Beaumont, CA. LATIN HEAT return to Beaumont, CA to defend their 2005 Championship against a field of 14 teams, but the tournament motivation makes it obvious there are more lofty causes than the Heat’s finish. In addition to the entry fee, all players are requested to bring toys for donation to the Toys 4 Tots Foundation. The HEAT aim to contribute to the Holiday Cheer promoted by the tournament as well as bring about a few cheers when HEAT runners cross the plate.
In recent tournament action, LATIN HEAT finished 4th out of 14 teams at the Phoenix Winter Invitational Tournament. The HEAT offense burned opposing pitchers averaging 9.5 runs a game (38 Runs/ 4 Games). Championship hopes were eventually squashed by Utah Fastpitch (ASA “A†Classified Team), but not before the HEAT became the 1st team of the tournament to post a run against Utah’s Steve Morgan, the eventual Championship winning pitcher.
Recent Team News:
1. #6 – Mario Ramsey (3B/SS): Unavailable for the Phoenix Winter Invitational, Ramsey will rejoin the HEAT in Toys 4 Tots Tournament play.
2. #22 – Eddie Gonzalez (1B/DH): Gonzalez has been on a 3-month long hiatus from team play (Absent since September 2006). Unconfirmed reports suggest he may be in uniform for the upcoming weekend. His agent, Tonya Gonzalez, was unavailable for comment. Rumors are swirling that Gonzalez may tab Boras & Flanagan to take over his representation.
3. #28 – Ned Waters (1B/2B/3B/SS): #2 Hitter Ned Waters, known for years as one of the craftiest bats in Southern California, has recently expanded upon his arsenal. Waters is smashing the ball for power, totaling 2 HRs and 2 Triples over the last two tournaments, while maintaining his always-high On-Base %.
SCHEDULE: Double-Elimination Format
Saturday, December 16, 2006:
9:30 am Latin Heat vs. Pala Casino
Subsequent game times will be determined by Winner’s/Loser’s bracket position. Stay tuned for more news on the HEAT and tournament results from the Toys 4 Tots Tournament.
From the Fastpitchwest Forum, California section:
I would like to take this time to introduce myself. My name is Fred Hanker and I was appointed the commissioner of the new 2007 NAFA So Cal B-C League. If you are a manager and were unable to attend the meeting please leave me a message with your email address and I will contact you. I hope to have all the managers emails and communicate with you in that way. If you were present and I did not get your email address please leave it with me also.
It is with great anticipation and I look forward to a new start with this league. I will need all the managers help in order to make this work. This is a huge undertaking and I will do my best to represent everyone. In the next week or so I will be working on a league constitution to be given to each manager at the next meeting in January. I will try to set a date in the next few weeks. I also plan on making a web site for the league that will be up and running in a few weeks.
As most of you know I have my own team that I run so all of your help will be necessary in order for this to work. There is still many things that need to be decided in the upcoming months and I welcome any ideas and suggestions. I hope to hear from all managers with your contact information as soon as possible. Thanks again for giving me the opportunity to represent Southern California.
Fred Hanker
Long Beach Black Sox
www.eteamz.com/longbeachblacksox/
Please email me your contact info as soon as possible.
email: fhanker@aol.com
home (562) 989-3339
cell (310) 738-4120
fax (562) 989-5662
10th Annual World Series of Fastball
July 13, 14, 15, 2007
Orillia, Ontario, Canada
Although it is only December, the organizing committee ofthe annual World Series of Fastball has been hard a work for a couple of monthsplanning the 10th anniversary celebration of one of the top annualinvitational tournaments. Casino Rama has been the title sponsor of the tournament since the very beginning and have monetarily supported the tournament since day one. During the past few months the casino has been reviewing all their various sponsorships and we were notified just a couple ofweeks ago that they would not be returning as the title sponsor of thisevent. As one of the original members of the organizing committee, Iwould like to thank Casino Rama for all their support over the first nine years of the tournament.
Now for the good news, after much thought process and planning I am pleased to announce that the 10th edition of theannual tournament will go ahead as planned on the weekend of July 13 –15, 2007. As a result of the loss of the tournaments title sponsor wehave had to make some minor changes but our goal is to make sure the fans ofthe tournament will not see any negative changes to the way the tournament hasalways been operated. We are presently looking for a new title sponsorand we hope to soon have an announcement with regards to securing that sponsor.
For the 2007 tournament, we will be dropping the Casino Rama name and the tournament will know be called simple the “WORLD SERIES OF FASTBALLâ€. We have developed an updated logo that we will soonrelease on our website.
We will again operate the tournament with 10 teams whichwill include the top teams in North America. We also hope to showcase some of Ontario’s premier teams and playersat this year’s tournament. If you have not already talked with me and you would like your team to be considered for one of the invitations please email or phone me ASAP. Within the next couple of weeks I hope to start announcing the teams that will be competing at the 2007 tournament.
The tournament website, www.city.orillia.on.ca/worldseries, will be updated within the next week to ten days so that everyone can access up-to-date information on the tournament. I will also continue send information out over Al’s list as we continue to finalize the plans forthe 10th anniversary of the annual World Series of Fastball.
Thanks
PaulBarnetson
MarketingCoordinator
City ofOrillia, Parks and Recreation Department
(705)325-2050
Fax(705) 329-2176
pbarnetson@city.orillia.on.ca
www.city.orillia.on.ca/tournaments
Congratulations to the Utah Fastpitch, champions of the First Phoenix Winter Invitational with solid performances by Utah and runner-up Los Apaches. Utah beat the Los Apaches 6-1 in the championship game. The tournament was a great success. I want to extend my gratitude to everyone who was involved and thanks to all the team for participation. Let’s keep it going, and shoot for 16 teams in March. Good luck to everyone in their upcoming season.
Great 8 Championships W L
1st Utah Fastpitch 5 0
2nd Peoria Los Apaches 4 1
3rd Tucson Hurricanes 3 2
4th L.A. Latin Heat 3 1
5th San Francisco Bay Merchants 2 2
6th Tucson Hawks 2 2
7th Peoria Los Apaches Viejo’s 2 2
8th Prescott Badgers 2 2
Consolation Championship
1st Window rock Az Brewers 3 2
2nd Peoria Latin Rage “Young Guns†3 2
3rd Prescott Barros 1 3
4th Peoria Bandits 0 3
5th AZ Gilas 0 3
6th Prescott Bat Attitude 0 3
Jllopes2@hotmail.com
6th Annual Billy’s Bash Men’s Fastpitch Tournament
Saturday, March 3-4, 2007
Franklin Field Complex
Taft, Ca
Entry Fee: $300
Guaranteed 3 Games
March 3rd – Round Robin
March 4th – Single Elimination
For more information:
Contact Billy Pilgrim @ (661) 428-0812
Or @ TPilgrim@bak.rr.com
Local Motel Information:
Caprice Motel (661-765-2161), Holland Inn & Suites (661-763-5211),
Topper’s Motel (661-765-4145),
Motel 8 in Maricopa-10 minutes from Taft (661-769-8291)