Archive for October, 2010

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NAFA Open & 23U World Series returns to Madison, Wisconsin

Friday, October 29th, 2010



(click logo for official NAFA website)

On July 22-24, 2011 16 Team (10 have confirmed already) NAFA Men’s Open World Series will be held at the four field complex near Madison, Wisconsin at the Bowling Green Sports Complex. To showcase our youth program and development of the sport we will also hold our 23-Under Elite Division at the same time side by side. The Men’s Open event will feature the NAFA 3GG Bracket. The 16 Team(9 have confirmed already) 23-Under Division will feature a 4 game guarantee with teams playing 3 round robin games that seed them into an upper and lower playoff bracket so that any level of pitching can participate in the 23U and be able to compete in the playoff bracket. Both events will be seeded with all teams playing Friday with the 23-Under first game at 2pm and the Open Men’s First game at 6pm, 8pm, 10pm and the championship games will be at 1:15 for the Open and 3pm and 4:45 for the 23-Under. To register email Executive Director, Benjie Hedgecock, at Nafafastpitch@gmail.com or by phone at 503-559-5398. More details including motel info and entry fee deadlines can be found at Nafafastpitch.com.

Posted in General, NAFA | Comments Closed

Rockford Illinois Selected to Host 2011 NAFA World Series

Friday, October 29th, 2010



(click logo for official NAFA website)

Rockford, Illinois selected to host 2011 NAFA “A”, A-Major”, “AA”, “AA-Major”, 23-Under World Series featuring new 4 Game Guarantee

The beautiful 8 field Sportscore Softball Complex in Rockford, Illinois has been selected to host the 2011 NAFA World Series August 11-21, 2011.

The 48 Team A-Major and 32 Team AA Divisions and the Youth Boys 18,16,14,12,10 Divisions will be held August 11-14.

The 64 Team “A” and 24 Team AA-Major and 8 team 23-Under Comp Division will be held August 18-21.

The event will feature a new 4 game guarantee with the standard NAFA 3GG Bracket but the teams that only get 3 games in that bracket will be placed into a Single Elimination Bracket thereby creating a full 4 day event for almost every team so that they can plan for vacation time and know that NAFA is doing everything possible to give teams the best event possible while also creating a great experience for every player with more value for their money.
First games for each week will be Thursday at 10am with the championship games Sunday at 2pm with the if necessary games to follow. More information including motel info and entry deadline info can be found at Nafafastpitch.com.

NAFA would like to express our appreciation to Sportsevents.com for assisting us in the bid process and the cities that participated in the process including Appleton-Kimberly, WI., Indianapolis, IN., Waterloo, IA, Ann Arbor, MI., Milwaukie, WI, Decatur, IL., Beaumont, TX., Columbus, GA, St. George, UT, Brookfield, IL., and Butler, PA.

Posted in General, NAFA | Comments Closed

Paging Jerry Hoffman

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

Know How to get in touch with Jerry Hoffman?

Former Lancaster/Lakewood Chameleon first baseman Jerry Hoffman is among the members of the newest ISC Hall of Fame class, to be inducted at Quad cities in August, 2011.

The ISC is try to get in touch with him, in preparation for that induction.

If you have any contact information for Jerry, or know how to reach him, please e-mail to me, jim (at) fastpitchwest.com, or ask Jerry to get in touch with me directly, by e-mail, or phone, 562-726-3004.

Posted in ISC, Players | Comments Closed

Devils cop a roasting in final

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

Cap tip, Bob Henning.


Wellington side in total control
CAROL COOK – The Nelson Mail


Photo: HOME SAFE: Poneke Kilbirnie’s Craig Wallace scores against PCU catcher Josh Thomson by sliding under the tag and driving him off home plate.

Although Parklands Christchurch United accounted for Poneke Kilbirnie 3-1 on Sunday and backed this up with a 3-0 win in yesterday’s playoffs, it counted for nothing when the teams faced off in the final of the Stoke Eagles GJ Gardner Homes Fast Pitch softball tournament at Saxton Field.

Poneke Kilbirnie made an aggressive start, posting four runs in the first innings, while the PCU Devils could only reply with a solitary run.

Poneke Kilbirnie’s pitcher, Thomas Cameron, commanded the mound as well as being influential with the bat.

Devils hurler Regan Manley had previously contained the Wellington offence, but he gave up 14 safe hits in the final, with PK’s full roster coming to the party.

After a number of tight and even contests, the final did not live up to expectations. PK were in total control after their first at bat and went on to add a four further runs for a comprehensive 8-1 win.

The Devils had gone through five games unbeaten but came up well short in the game that counted most. They would have felt happy with their overall performance, though, given that they were without four of their starting lineup for the decider.

The tournament gave the Devils’ bench players an opportunity for more time on the diamond.

Poneke Kilbirnie recorded a convincing 10-2 win over Papanui to reach the final.

Recently selected Black Sox player Daniel Tarapi had a strong batting game for a 1000 average, including an automatic home run.

Cameron went three from four, which also included a home run.

Click here for the complete story.
It was a clean sweep for Cameron in the individual awards, taking out the top batter (with a .520 average), top pitcher and Most Valuable Player titles.


TOURNAMENT TEAM

The Nelson Building Society Tournament team is:

Pitchers: Cameron (PK), Manley (PCU);

catcher: Josh Thomson (PCU);

infielders: Tom Arps (Stoke Eagles), Gareth Cook (PCU), Craig Wallace (PK), Steve McFarlane (PCU), Jerome Rameki (PK), Paul de Lautour (PCU); outfielders: Brad Annandale (PCU), Jarred Tibbits (PK), Carl McIlroy (Papanui), Daniel Tarapi (PK); designated player: Scott Dale (PCU); coach: Thomas Makea (PK)

Posted in General | Comments Closed

Ken Vierling inducted to Minnesota HOF

Monday, October 25th, 2010

Our friend Ken Vierling was inducted into the Minnesota Hall of Fame over the weekend. Congrats, Ken!

Posted in General | Comments Closed

Tournament List for 2011 at Al’s Fastball

Monday, October 25th, 2010

THE tournament schedule for 2011 is growing by the day.

Find it here, at Al’s Fastball

Among the recent additions:

Best of the West, June 4-5, 2010
Erie, PA, July 30-31, 2011.

And, of course, the first “big one” on everyone’s list for the new year, the AAU International Tournament, at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex, Orlando, Florida, January 20 – 23, 2011.

Posted in Tournaments | Comments Closed

Team Argentina heading to New Zealand

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

From our friend Martin Jorge:

Argentina Men’s National Team Staff confirmed today that school will be touring in New Zealand and Australia between 24 November and 12 December in what will be the first international competition will face the national team since he is commanded by Eduardo Sabaté.

Selection will be leaving from Buenos Aires on November 24 for New Zealand where he held a series of meetings with the selected second in the world, the Black Sox. On 1 December the national group will travel along with the selected New Zealand to Australian lands, where they will play from 3 to 5 December, the National Championship Skin, along with the eight best teams in Australia. The international series between the three selected, will run from 7 to 10 December in the city.

Yesterday, the Body Coach of Argentina Mayor announced the list of players who will join the Argentina National Team during the international competition:

1-Bittor, Nicholas Paraná
2-Bolzán, Kevin Paraná
3-Brandauer, Juan Bahia Blanca
4-Cáceres, Mauricio Bahia Blanca
5-Ferrara, Lautaro Paraná
6-Godoy, Gustavo Paraná
7-Godoy, Manuel Paraná
8-Guerrinieri, Gustavo Paraná
9 – Jiménez, Nicolás Bahía Blanca
10-Malatesta, Marcelo Paraná
11-Montero, Mariano Paraná
12-Montero, Maximiliano Paraná
13-Montero, Pablo Paraná
14-Motroni, Bruno Paraná
15-Petric, Fernando Paraná
16-Potolicchio, Juan Paraná
17-Rúa, Fernando Buenos Aires
18-Sabaté, Paraná Francisco
19-Sacks, Paraná Germain

It is noteworthy that two substitute players for any contingency that may arise with the squad (injury, administrative, labor or personal disabilities, etc.).

The Body Coach of Men’s Argentina is headed by Mayor Eduardo Sabaté, along with his assistant Mariano Spotorno (not travel due to labor), Rafael Salguero, Ricardo Biondi, Laureano Gomez, and Javier Martínez Team Leader.

Jorge Martin
Head of Media and Communication
Softball Confederation Argentina

Posted in International, ISC-II, ISF, Players, Teams, Tournaments | Comments Closed

Fastpitch Chronicle – First issue, Aug 1988

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

Update: See bottom of this post.

As many of our regular readers know, Fastpitchwest.com followed in the footsteps of Al’s Fastball, but also some older printed publications, like Ray Anderson’s Fastpitch Bulletin, and Bob Tomlinson’s Fastpitch Chronicle. (mentioned here, written when I started the site twelve years ago, back in 1998)

Though the Fastpitch Bulletin and Fastpitch Chronicle are no longer printed in this internet age, copies of old issues are still around and provide a great historical record of the game.

A while back, the publisher of the Fastpitch Chronicle, Bob Tomlinson held an auction on eBay for a complete set of issues for the Fastpitch Chronicle, and I was the successful bidder. (Sorry, Billy). We are planning to post the issues online, as part of our “new and improved” Fastpitchwest, but in the meantime, I thought I’d share a few issues to give readers a sneak preview of what is “coming soon”.

Click here to view the very first issue of the Fastpitch Chronicle, Volume 1, Number 1, published in August 1988.

It’s interesting, as Bob talks, on page one, about his plans to publish the Chronicle. It also contains a bracket sheet for the 1988 ISC World Tournament, as it was just about to get underway at the Borg-Warner Sports Complex in Decatur, Illinois. It had a full 48 teams, including my hometown Long Beach Nitehawks, who was not among the 16 top seeded teams. The Nitehawks were playing an unnamed team from the South East area, with the winner to face the Rempel Brothers of Saskatoon, Canada. It was the year before my first ISC World Tournament, and the news of games and more came to my mailbox but once a month.

OK, for bonus points, do you know who won the ISC World Tournament that year? Which two teams played in the finals ? Who won the MVP’s? Do you know without looking it up at the ISC Website ? Were you at the tournament? If so, send me an email and tell me what you recall about the tournament. Email to: jim (at) fastpitchwest.com

Update/Editor’s note: This post seems to have generated quite a bit of interest, judging from the e-mails coming in. The “bonus points” go to John Younger, who was the first to note Penn Corp as the winner of the 1988 ISC World Tournament, and and MVPs Jimmy Seaman and Mark Sorenson, both members of the Penn Corp team.

Sioux City IA Penn Corp beat Lexington MO Harolds Supermarket twice in the finals, I think Jim Seaman was MVPitcher & Mark Sorenson MVPlayer,I didn’t stay for finals.I remember it was very hot that week in Decatur,I was glad I wasn’t playing. Harolds played in our city league in St Joseph MO at that time & I played with them in the 86 ASA national. They beat Penn Corp early in the 88 ISC & went undefeated to the finals, but Penn Corp came back with it’s great pitching staff: Jim Seaman, Steve Schults, Pete Sandman& I beleave Paul Magan

Posted in General, ISC | Comments Closed

New ISC II Player Rep – Eric Fogel

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

From the ISC

NEW ISC II Player Rep- Press Release

I would like to welcome Eric Fogel, from Hummelstown, Pa, as the new ISC II Player Rep.

Eric is an active player/pitcher/coach with Pennsylvania Power, who are coming off an impressive sixth place finish at the 2010 ISC World Tournament where they were also awarded the Frank Porth Memorial Team Sportsmanship Award.

The youngest of five children, Eric’s three older brothers got him playing the game at the age of 15 in 1981. He has been hooked on fastpitch ever since and still has the passion to carry on for many years to come.

Eric helped pitch his teams to two ASA National titles in 1999 and 2005 to go along with three titles in NAFA and NSA. He is also the girls softball pitching coach at Central Dauphin High School in Pennsylvania.

A school teacher, Eric and his wife Jodi have a two-year old son named Brody.

Eric’s email address is:
efogel13 (at) hotmail.com

Eric will be a valued member of the ISC Player Rep Committee and I look forward to seeing a new face, with new ideas and a keen love for the game of fastpitch

Joe Todd
ISC II Vice Pres
Ingersoll, Ontario
ftode739 (at) rogers.com

Posted in ISC, ISC-II | Comments Closed

Argentina 2012

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

Yesterday, we posted an announcement on the Argentina Jr. Boy’s team. Today, we are pleased to share a nicely produced video from the folks in Parana, Argentina, hosts for the 2012 ISF Jr. World Championships.

Parana was described to me by my friend Martin Jorge:

Parana is a nice city to go, it’s on the shore of an important river, called Parana River. It’s one of the most important rivers in the country. It’s a city who loves softball, they play the better softball in the country… in fact, almost every player who made ISC are from Parana (only Lucas Mata isn’t). They have a nice stadium (the 1995 Pan American Games were played in this stadium), a very nice field in front of the stadium, and 3 or 4 nice diamonds in the city, which I’m sure will be improved for 2012.

Posted in International, ISF, Youth | Comments Closed

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