Winger: ISC, Midland a good match
By Don Winger
Some things never change. That includes Midland’s ability to host a world class men’s fastpitch softball tournament.
In the 1970s and 1980s, it was the Amateur Softball Association’s national championship. This year it was the International Softball Congress’ World Fastpitch Tournament.
The host committee for the ASA tournaments was the Midland Redcoats, who were a group of dedicated volunteers who gave hundreds of hours toward making the tournaments a success.
For the ISC tournament that concluded last Saturday the same volunteer spirit existed for the Midland Explorers. Kyle Beane and David Lach, co-chairs of the 2010 ISC host committee, received the same kind of cooperation for their tourney as the Redcoats did for theirs.
Wherever you went at Emerson Park or the Redcoat Softball Complex, there were always volunteers in bright yellow shirts ready to lend a hand. They were available to answer questions to assist the many softball fans who flocked to Midland for the tourney.
Particularly visible were tourney co-directors Lee “Ike” Isenhart and Jim Volk as they rode their golf carts from diamond to diamond to make sure things were running smoothly.
As usual, Marcie Post and her Parks and Recreation Department staff did a superb job of keeping the ball diamonds in tip-top playing shape. Consequently, players had to worry about few if any bad hops turning routine ground balls into base hits. Even when called on to fix the landing area for pitchers, as they did on Emerson 3 one day, they were quick to respond.
Away from the playing fields, the highlight of the tourney was the ISC Hall of Fame induction breakfast at Valley Plaza Resort.
I had the pleasure of giving the invocation before sitting back and listening to the accolades afforded the various inductees.
As pitcher Darren Zack — who celebrated his 50th birthday that day — was introduced, I thought back to the previous afternoon. That was when he pitched his Cobourg (Ontario) Force to victory in their first tournament game. Although he did not strike out a lot of hitters as he might have in earlier times, his veteran presence on the mound was not that of a 50-year-old player.
My hope is that the ISC officials were sufficiently impressed to want to return to Midland in the future. If that opportunity arises, I urge the Explorers to go for it. If we did it once, we can do it again.
Don Winger is the retired executive sports editor of the Daily News.