{"id":3917,"date":"2010-03-11T15:13:26","date_gmt":"2010-03-11T22:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=3917"},"modified":"2010-03-11T15:14:43","modified_gmt":"2010-03-11T22:14:43","slug":"ottos-someone-to-know-california-a%e2%80%99s-dave-weldin-and-silverhawks-chris-mcgehee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=3917","title":{"rendered":"Otto’s Someone to Know: California A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dave Weldin and Silverhawks Chris McGehee"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bob Otto is on fire:<\/strong>
\n<\/em>
\nFrom “OttoinFocus”<\/strong>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\n(click banner for original news story)<\/em><\/p>\n

Written by Bob on March 11th, 2010<\/p>\n

BAKERSFIELD, CA \u00e2\u20ac\u201c The little boy stared wide-eyed through the chain link fence, mesmerized by the risers and drops that rocketed toward home plate. He had never seen anything like it.<\/p>\n

That was back in 1983 when the International Softball Congress (ISC) World Tournament came to Bakersfield.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I remember going with my brother-in-law to see the World Tournament,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Chris McGehee, who lives in Bakersfield. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was about seven and saw these pitchers from Australia and New Zealand throwing the ball at what seemed like unhittable speeds.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

That left an impression that McGehee, now 34, never forgot. In the ensuing years, he moved from playing college baseball into the fastpitch game. And he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s risen from ASA Class \u00e2\u20ac\u0153C\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to the ISC Open \/ ISC II level.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153From the first time I started playing fastpitch, I have always wanted to play at the highest level that I am able to,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said McGehee.<\/p>\n

And McGehee has reached that level. As has his friend, David Weldin.<\/p>\n

McGehee plays for the Bakersfield Silverhawks, while Weldin manages the California A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. Both teams compete at the ISC \/ ISC II level.<\/p>\n

But the two men, along with Robert McCormick of the Silverhawks, have taken their fastpitch pursuits even further.<\/p>\n

They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve joined forces to bring ISC open-level tournament play back to Southern California by hosting the inaugural 2010 California Classic in Santee, June 19-20.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We plan on making this tournament an annual event,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Weldin said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If fact, if everything goes according to plan, we would like to expand our tourney to have both upper and lower divisions.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Weldin started playing fastpitch at age 19. But a brief stint in minor league baseball pulled him away. But in 1990 he returned to the underhanded game for good.<\/p>\n

Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s meet these two men and learn more about them and their fastpitch pursuits.<\/p>\n

Dave, you had an unexpected national championship come your way. Tell us about that. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In 2004, I was asked to put a team together to play at the ASA Class C level with some guys who had never played the game. Excluding pitching, there were only three guys on the team with fastpitch experience.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We qualified for the ASA C nationals in Hastings, Nebraska and somehow won the championship with a group of guys with little or no experience.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Chris, What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the fastpitch scene like in Bakersfield? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The game of fastpitch in Bakersfield is pretty much dead. We have no local leagues to play in and we have to travel to play on weekends. The only fastpitch in Bakersfield is our tournament, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Silverhawk Invitational\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that we host in May.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Chris, what efforts are being made to revive the sport? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are trying to promote the game and get more young players just out of college, or from slowpitch to come out and give it a try. But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a challenge in itself.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Dave, what motivated you to start the 2010 California Classic? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are no open-level tournaments in California, and for California teams to compete, they have to travel. Because of today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s economy that is very difficult. So we wanted to put together an open-level tournament that would be fun for the teams and families of these teams.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Dave, you stepped away after winning the 2008 ISC II \u00e2\u20ac\u0153TofC\u00e2\u20ac\u009d championship. What brought you back to the game? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I retired to watch my son play baseball. Now my son is very interested in learning how to pitch, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m back into the game this year.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Chris, what do you think needs to be done to grow men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fastpitch in California? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We need all the associations from northern and southern California to work together instead of trying to monopolize the areas they are in.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Chris, what can these associations do that would foster cooperation? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Everyone needs to work together to try and schedule tournaments on weekends where they aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t competing against one another. This will give teams the opportunity to play more weekends\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 and play in another area\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tournament that fits into their schedule.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Dave, you played minor league baseball. Does playing fastpitch help or hurt a baseball player? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think fastpitch helps kids with baseball. Once he plays fastpitch and then goes back to baseball, he will have more time to react to hitting a baseball. And that will make his hitting that much better.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Chris, what other issues do you see that need to be resolved? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All the different sanctioning bodies \u00e2\u20ac\u201c be it NAFA, ASA, ISC \u00e2\u20ac\u201c want to control the game and the teams, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think they want to work together to help the game survive.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Chris, what is your Silverhawks Invitational tournament doing to foster fastpitch growth in Bakersfield? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are trying to get the community involved through the media, and with an exhibition game with the Kern County Special Olympics to get people out to the park, and hopefully to watch a game or two of men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fastpitch.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are also looking into conducting a few clinics this year to help promote the game to some younger players.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

For more boy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fastpitch news, visit these websites.<\/p>\n

Al\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Fastball
\nFastpitch West
\nInternational Softball Congress
\nNorth American Fastpitch Association
\n2010 ISC World Tournament, Midland, Mich.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bob Otto is on fire: From “OttoinFocus” (click banner for original news story) Written by Bob on March 11th, 2010 BAKERSFIELD, CA \u00e2\u20ac\u201c The little boy stared wide-eyed through the chain link fence, mesmerized by the risers and drops that rocketed toward home plate. He had never seen anything like it. That was back in […]<\/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\/3917"}],"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=3917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3917\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}