Grey Sox in good form to defend title
Vancouver Sun
Friday, July 25, 2008Ageless pitching ace Mike Piechnik will lead the Vancouver Grey Sox into the annual Vancouver Challenge Men’s Fastpitch Tournament this weekend at South Memorial Park.
The 47-year-old Victoria native is 13-1 this season for the Grey Sox, defending Canadian senior men’s champions, and ranked No. 9 in the world by the International Softball Congress.
The Grey Sox, 29-6, are coming off a four-game sweep of Portland DeMarini in Oregon last weekend and are led offensively by outfielders Rob Giesbrecht and Brian Abrey and infielder Derek Mayson.
Portland, ranked No. 30 by the ISC, is in Vancouver for this weekend’s tournament, along with the No. 11-ranked Horse Lake Thunder of Alberta, and No. 24 Pubeblo, Colo., Bandits. Those three teams, plus the Grey Sox, are tuning up for the ISC world championships Aug. 9-16 in Kimberley, Wisc.
Filling out the eight-team tournament are the Bakersfield, Ca., Lumberkings; the Camrose, Alta., Fury; Vancouver South Hill Giants and Vernon DC Arrows.
Games begin tonight at 6:30 p.m. and continue all day Saturday and Sunday morning. The championship final is set for 2 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $5 a day or $10 for a tournament pass.
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