{"id":1922,"date":"2007-07-27T10:08:22","date_gmt":"2007-07-27T18:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=1922"},"modified":"2007-07-27T10:08:22","modified_gmt":"2007-07-27T18:08:22","slug":"top-flight-pitchers-big-attractions-at-tourney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=1922","title":{"rendered":"Top-flight pitchers big attractions at tourney"},"content":{"rendered":"

From The Vancouver Province:<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\nDarren Zack, Mike Piechnik lead the way<\/strong>
\n
\nGordon McIntyre
\nThe Province<\/em><\/p>\n

They’re wizards in the world of windmills and, while past their prime, still pack a punch.<\/p>\n

Pitchers Darren Zack of Ontario and Victoria’s Mike Piechnik will go moundo-a-moundo at 8:30 Saturday morning in the Vancouver Challenge fastpitch tournament, which runs today through Sunday at South Memorial Park.<\/p>\n

Hosted by the Vancouver Grey Sox and South Hill Sports, the tournament features the elite Horse Lake Thunder from Alberta (Zack’s team), Broken Bow Gremlins (No. 1-ranked by the International Softball Congress) of Clifton Park, N.Y., and the SoCal Bombers (No. 4) from Yucaipa, Calif.<\/p>\n

The host Grey Sox are ranked No. 10 and Piechnik’s Portland Demarini No. 12.<\/p>\n

The unranked Richmond Linus Software Stealers round out the field.<\/p>\n

Zack, from Garden River, Ont., became a household name in the world of softball as a hot hurler with Vancouver Magicians in the old Norwest League from 1990 to 1992.<\/p>\n

From the Magicians he went on to Toronto, then moved to Tampa Bay, and by then many people considered him the best pitcher in the history of the game.<\/p>\n

Zack is third and Piechnik fourth on the all-time ISC world tournament list of most wins, behind Michael White and Peter Meredith.<\/p>\n

Zack, with an ISC record of 46-14 (.767) and an earned run average of 0.96, has 797 strikeouts, or 12.72 per seven-inning game, in 438 innings pitched.<\/p>\n

Piechnik, who has the most wins of any left-hander in ISC world tournament history, has 770 strikeouts (12.29 per game) in compiling an ISC record of 45-16 (.729) and an ERA of .94 in 438 innings pitched.<\/p>\n

Zack has been named all-world seven times, has won four ISC world championships and was named the tournament’s top pitcher four times.<\/p>\n

Zack also has one perfect game and one no-hitter to his credit.<\/p>\n

Piechnik is a nine-time all-world player and has won one world championship.<\/p>\n

The two will be the subjects of a tribute in a ceremony at 4:30 on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Admission is $5 per day or $10 for a tournament pass; children under 12 are admitted free.<\/p>\n

Vancouver\/Richmond kicks off the tournament at 7 tonight. Sunday’s championship game is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday.<\/p>\n

gordmcintyre@png.canwest.com<\/p>\n

SCHEDULE FOR THE VANCOUVER CHALLENGE<\/p>\n

ROUND ROBIN<\/p>\n

Friday<\/p>\n

Vancouver Grey Sox vs. Richmond Linus Software Stealers, 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

Saturday<\/p>\n

Portland Demarini vs. Horse Lake Thunder, 8:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

So Cal Bombers vs. Portland Demarini, 10:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

Richmond Linus Software Stealers vs. Broken Bow Gremlins, 12:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

Broken Bow Gremlins vs. Vancouver Grey Sox, 2:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

Horse Lake Thunder vs. So Cal Bombers, 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

PLAYOFF ROUND<\/p>\n

Playoffs start Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and continue with two games Sunday at 8 a.m., one at 10 a.m., a semifinal at noon and the title game at 2 p.m.<\/p>\n

All games will be played at South Memorial Park, 5950 Prince Albert St., Vancouver (on East 41st Avenue between Knight and Fraser).<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a9 The Vancouver Province 2007<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From The Vancouver Province: Darren Zack, Mike Piechnik lead the way Gordon McIntyre The Province They’re wizards in the world of windmills and, while past their prime, still pack a punch. Pitchers Darren Zack of Ontario and Victoria’s Mike Piechnik will go moundo-a-moundo at 8:30 Saturday morning in the Vancouver Challenge fastpitch tournament, which runs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1922"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1922\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}