Archive for February, 2010

Passing of Dave Bostick

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

We were sorry to learn of the passing of Dave Bostick, member of the River City Rockers of Sacramento, California. Funeral service details will be posted when available. Our condolences to his family, teammates and friends.

Update: From the Sacramento Bee newspaper: Obituary notice, with memorial service information:

BOSTICK, David Glenn
Was born February 19, 1967 in Lakeview Terrace, CA and died February 23, 2010 in Sacramento, CA. Dave moved to Milpitas, CA when he was 7 years old where he began his illustrious baseball career. Dave moved to Elk Grove, CA when he was 13 and in his first year in Elk Grove, he made friendships that would last the rest of his life. Dave graduated from Elk Grove High in 1985 and worked for UPS for 23 years. Dave was the epitome of the famous UPS driver. He was rarely seen in anything but UPS brown shorts showing off those legs and he never had a hair out of place. Dave’s smile would light up a room and the sound of his distinctive voice would always remind you that you were in the company of a true friend. Dave made friends wherever he went, especially as he traveled the country wearing his #5 jersey on various fast pitch softball teams. Dave will be deeply missed by his loving family and numerous friends. We will remember the comedy and celebrate the good times we’ve had with him. Dave was preceded in death by his father, Jerry Dean Bostick. He is survived by his mother, Janice Hillyard, his sister Karen and brother Tom and many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and, nephews. A celebration of Dave’s life will be held in the near future. For information regarding the celebration, contact Rusty at rmclain15@yahoo.com. We will always love you Bostick!

2010 Island City Classic – Eaton Rapids, MI

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

2010 Island City Classic

May 14,15,16 Eaton Rapids, Michigan
Major, A, B, C (open to all levels)
entry $325 (US)
3 game guarantee

1st – $1000
2nd- 500
3rd – 250
4th- 250

contact: Denny DeLano
cell – 616-822-9569
email- dde4546109 (at) aol.com

Interested teams – please contact person above to reserve your spot; based on 12 team participation / additional sponsors or teams will increase the payout special hotel rates /
15 miles south of Lansing, Michigan; early season funds for top 4 places

Editor’s note: Eaton Rapids, Michigan is a couple of hours south west of Midland Michigan, home of the 2010 ISC world tournament, and a couple of hours east of Detroit:


View Larger Map

Panteras Valentine Tournament

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

No results to report yet. We have asked for scores and will post if and when.

Update: Courtesy of David Carrillo, his team’s scores:

L 4-1 vs. Blacksox
L-5-4 vs. Amigos
W 3-1 vs. Maccabi-USA

Props for Palazzo from Hometown Newspaper

Saturday, February 20th, 2010


(photo by Maddy Flanagan)

From the Des Moines register

SELECT SOFTBALL COMPANY

Few would be surprised to hear that Olympics star Jennie Finch was named USA Softball’s female athlete of the year for 2009.

Softball’s male athlete of the year, however, received little notice — until now.

Des Moines player Matt Palazzo led the national team to a fourth-place finish at the ISF Men’s World Championships in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Palazzo led the team with a .444 average and four home runs, while driving in 11 runs and scoring nine times as the team finished 7-3.

“To wear red, white and blue and represent your country is such an amazing thing,” Palazzo said.

ISC Ball for 2010 – Worth C120WISC

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

Below is information on sources for the official ISC softball, the Worth C120WISC.

In Canada
The following dealers currently have inventory of the ISC ball. If there is not a dealer in your specific area or if your preferred source is not list, please contact Jason Shipley:

Jason Shipley
Sales, Marketing and Promotions Coordinator
Jarden Team Sports Canada
70 Morton Avenue E Unit 1
Brantford Ontario N3R 7J7
(800)741-7205 x 228
(519)750-1380 x 228
jshipley (at) rawlings.com

Paris Sports – Paris Ontario
Restored Sports – Barrie Ontario
Cleves Source for Sports – Halifax Nova Scotia
Streetsville Sports – Streetsville Ontario
Sarich Source for Sports – Elliot Lake Ontario
Rudderham Sports – Sydney River Nova Scotia
Corbetts Source for Sports – Oakville Ontario
Homerun Sports – Mississauga Ontario
Homerun Sports – Winnipeg Manitoba
Al Anderson Source for Sports – Saskatoon SK
Sportzone Sports – Waterloo Ontario
London Source for Sports – London Ontario
Tommy Whites Source for Sports -St Thomas Ontario
MVP Athletic Supply – Burnaby British Columbia
Sportscraft Sports Excellence – St Johns Newfoundland
Mactavish Source for Sports – Fredericton New Brunswick
United Cycle – Edmonton Alberta
Tuxedo Source for Sports – Calgary Alberta
Sports Connection Source for Sports – Medicine Hat Alberta
Sport St Bo Source for Sports – St Boniface Quebec

Contact your local dealer or Jason Shipley for pricing.

In the USA
MVD Sports in Ashland, OH will again be the source for C120WISC balls in the US.
Mike Van Dine
MVD Sports
1226 East Main Street
Ashland, OH 44805
419-281-4429
Magicn2 (at) yahoo.com
www.mvdsports.com

Prices are $56 per dozen plus actual shipping charges. For orders of 30 dozen or more, shipping charges will be waived.

The Worth C120WISC ball will be the official ball used in the ISC World Tournament, the ISC II Championship Tournament and the new ISC 50+ Legends tournament. In addition, the ISC is strongly recommending this official ball also be used in all ISC Qualifying Tournaments in 2010.

Ken Hackmeister

Panteras Tournament in Norwalk This Weekend

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Editor’s note: Updated Friday night with links to the schedule of games, which start at 8am Saturday morning.

From the SCIFL website:


PANTERAS ST VALENTINE’S TOURNAMENT

The Panteras tournament will be held February 20 & 21 at Holifield Park in Norwalk, CA. The tournament will be a pre-season event to the SCIFL regular schedule.

The schedule is posted at the SCIFL website.

Direct links:

Round Robin Schedule

Single Elimination


View Larger Map

Bob Flanagan Named New Sales & Marketing Director for Fort Worth Cats

Friday, February 19th, 2010

(click banner for the team’s official website)

The Cats have also announced that Bob Flanagan has been named director of sales and marketing. Bob has been in minor league baseball since 1994, when he started his baseball career with the Visalia Oaks, a Class A ballclub in the California League and Colorado Rockies affiliate. Bob left Visalia after the 1997 season and has spent nine of the last twelve years working for teams in Texas- Lubbock, Edinburg, and Robstown(Coastal Bend). After a year and a half in Wichita, Kansas, he is happy to be back in Texas and back in baseball. Bob is married to Dawn, a West Texas native, and they have two children- eight-year old son Riley, and daughter Delaney, who is six years old.

Editor’s note: A shameless plug for my brother, Bob. Younger and better-looking, or so he tells me.

Olympian Tweets

Friday, February 19th, 2010

(Spoiler alert – for those of you who are taping to watch, you will run across some results here, so if you don’t want to know the results, don’t click links)


With the eyes of the world focused on the 2010 Winter Olympics, we thought you might enjoy this link to all of the twitter feeds of the Olympians.

Want to watch the Winter Olympics online? Try these links:

(Spoiler alert – for those of you who are taping to watch, you will run across some results here, so if you don’t want to know the results, don’t click links)

NBC

CTV
(for our Canadian friends)

Watching Vancouver Olympics

Texas fastballer in ICU

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

A note from John Limon, in Texas:

I received a phone call last night to inform me that Reynosa 100% Neccio Second baseman/ shortstop Manuel “Meme” Vela had been shot in Reynosa and was in the ICU. I don’t know the particulars but I do Meme and I’m asking you to keep him in your prayers. Meme was last years Memorial Tournament MVP , he played for me with Castro a few years ago and was wonderful with the young players we had. My heart is very Heavy right now for Meme and his Family , again Please keep him in your prayers .. I’ll let you know more when I know more.


“Your Friend In Softball”
John Limon
Texas ISC Commissioner
2005-2007
texasisc (at) gmail.com

OttoinFocus: ” Kyle Beane gets it”

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

From “OttoinFocus”

(click banner for original news story)

By BOB OTTO
botto3 (at) verizon (dot) net

YUCAIPA, CA – I don’t know what Kyle Beane does for a living. But I suspect it has something to do with sales or marketing.

Beane along with Dave Lach are the Co-chairmen of the 2010 International Softball Congress World Tournament to be held in Midland, Michigan, Aug. 14-21. And I am learning fast that it would be hard to find two finer promoters for the tournament – and the sport of men’s fastpitch softball.

Recently Beane sent an email to several people including myself. He asked for help in promoting the world tournament by writing a serious of stories about the 48 teams playing in the tournament.

“…Throughout the course of the ISC, and leading up to it, we’re hoping to do some things that other hosts haven’t done,” Bean said in his email. “One thing is to provide a unique team profile, article, and feature on our website of all 48 teams…. probably starting around May 1st, and adding three to four per week leading up to the beginning of the tournament.”
What a great idea. And one long overdue.

Telling fastpitch fans across the world about the teams, players, managers, and sponsors who are the “guts of the game” is one of the promotional things this sport needs to do if it is to survive.

PROMOTING THE SPORT
Beane understands that to create interest and entice fastpitch fans to come to the tournament, he has to get the word out. Call it marketing, call it advertising, call it promoting…Beane gets it.

Let’s suppose I know very little about men’s fastpitch softball. And let’s suppose I’ve got this firebrand trying to sell me on the sport and this event he calls a “world tournament.”

I’m probably going to have a few questions I want answered before I buy a plane ticket and fly halfway across the country to a softball tournament I know very little about:

“What’s so special about men’s fastpitch softball?”

“Who plays this sport that I’ve heard so very little about?”

“What’s so special about the ISC World Tournament?”

And the most basic question fans of any sport want answered before they shell out (vacation days) and entertainment dollars is:

“What’s in it for me?”

Beane plays infield for the Midland Explorers, a team long recognized as a top-flight team in men’s fastpitch. And a team that is a household word in the sport.

BOOSTER CLUB EXTRAORDINAIRE
Why? Because of promotion – getting the word out. The Explorers have this wonderful support group called the “Midland Explorers Booster Club.” They do everything from raising money to keep the team afloat to promotion. Without them the Explorers may not even exist.

Do you remember the Decatur Pride of Decatur, Illinois? When they were in operation, I dare say that there wasn’t a fastpitch fan in the world that didn’t know about this team. And again it’s because of promotion.

I don’t know who was behind the effort, but the name “Decatur Pride” was always in the news. Always in publications like the Fastpitch Chronicle run first by Ray Anderson and then later by Bob Tomlinson.

And Executive Sports Editor, Mark Tupper, of the Decatur Herald & Review, wrote story upon story about the team. About the players. About the tournaments they hosted or played in.

So someone within the Decatur Pride organization “got it,” and embraced marketing. Embraced promotion.

In his email, Beane also said, “I think each team has a unique story, and things that are of interest to fans and within the sport. I also see these (stories) potentially being used by local media…”

Finally, someone who “gets it.”


Editor’s note:
To visit the Official Midland 2010 ISC World Tournament website, click the banner below: