Fastpitch softball tournaments kick off at Wallace Marine Park

(From the Statesman Journal)
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Rose City Merchants’ Brad Branch takes a cut during their game against Funky Monkey, from Hayward, Calif., during the opening day of the ASA Men’s A, B & West C Fast Pitch National Championships, at Wallace Marine Park, on Thursday, July 29, 2010. (TIMOTHY J. GONZALEZ | Statesman Journal)

It took just more than 10 hours Thursday, but the first day of play at the ASA Men’s A and Western C National softball tournaments at Wallace Marine Park in West Salem.

Jason Grow of JRW and Associates from Yakima, Wash., hit a 15th inning walk off-single to beat the all-Native American Rez Dawgs of LeMoore, Calif., in the final game of the day, pushing the planned opening ceremonies back by a half hour.

“Just tired. We played three games today, left was like a fourth,” Grow said. “Four games a day is too much.”

The tournament is bringing some of the best talent Salem has every seen for a softball tournament.

Tournament director Billy Powers said that while some have brought more players, the men’s A has some of the best players in the country.

“This is the top, A level, and C level is as big as anything we’ve got prestige-wise,” Powers said. “It’s a step below the national team.”

The tournaments run through Sunday. Games start at 9 a.m., 11:20 a.m., 1:40 p.m. and 4 p.m. today through Saturday, with 6:20 p.m. games Friday and Saturday
Championships: A Division at 11:20 a.m. (if necessary game at 1:40 p.m.); C Division at 1:40 p.m. (if necessary game at 4).

This entry was posted on Friday, July 30th, 2010 at 8:46 am and is filed under ASA, General, Tournaments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.