{"id":4006,"date":"2010-04-28T17:08:17","date_gmt":"2010-04-29T00:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=4006"},"modified":"2010-04-28T17:09:34","modified_gmt":"2010-04-29T00:09:34","slug":"palm-springs-scifl-tournament-wrap-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=4006","title":{"rendered":"Palm Springs SCIFL Tournament wrap up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note:<\/strong> More great writing from the pen of Bob Otto:<\/p>\n

Story and photos by BOB OTTO<\/em>
\nClick here for the original story with photos at Bob’s blog, “Otto in Focus”<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

PALM SPRINGS, CA \u00e2\u20ac\u201c It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a few years since I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve covered a men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fastpitch tournament. It was good to be back. Good to run into some old friends at Demuth Park in Palm Springs last weekend.<\/p>\n

But one thing I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like. Those garish yellow-neon balls. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve covered plenty of high school girl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s games and of course that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what they use. But those yellow balls seem out of place in the men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s game.<\/p>\n

I picked one up. Rock hard. And when a batter smashes one, those yellow rocks leave the bat like a missile launched for outer space.<\/p>\n

Former Long Beach Black Sox retired pitcher, Chuck Vranich, was spectating at the tournament. He said the reason he retired from pitching was because of those yellow missiles. After having them whistle over his head a few times, he decided it was time to give up pitching. Just not worth the risk for a 66-year-old disfiguring his face or breaking his bones.<\/p>\n

I saw a couple of two-bouncers headed into the shortstop \u00e2\u20ac\u201c second base hole. I was ready to pencil in a 6-to-3 groundout, but the ball shot into centerfield before the shortstop could react.<\/p>\n

So ball players, what do you think? Do you like them? Or would you prefer to go back to the old style cork-centered Dudley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s or DeBeers?
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6I saw some great plays, but the catch Maccabi USA centerfielder, Dan Winnick, made in the championship game against the Panteras topped them all. Winnick \u00e2\u20ac\u201c about as fast as they come in the sport \u00e2\u20ac\u201c made a great over the shoulder running catch in left-centerfield to track down what I thought was a sure triple.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Clyde Bennett may be the most devoted man in fastpitch. He umpires. He manages a 23-under team. And each year he recruits three or four young players and brings them into the game. Clyde brought his son, Mark, into the sport and Mark has gone on to become a top-level ASA Class \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and ISC pitcher.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6For years, Clyde\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Santa Barbara men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s teams were competitive with the better teams in California as well as the U.S. He no longer has a men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s team, but he has kept the men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s game alive in Santa Barbara. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still a four-team league going, he said.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6The Southern California Independent Fastpitch League (SCIFL) is one of the last bastions of men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fastpitch in Southern California. And much credit goes to NAFA Pacific Coast Vice President, Robert Hernandez, who serves as the SCIFL Tournament Director. The league is competitive and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s well run.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Co-ed fastpitch anyone? Debbie Day, a right-hander, pitched for Maccabi USA, and she did well against the men. Day pitched the University of Arizona Wildcats to the school\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first NCAA Division I National Championship in 1991. Debbie has been windmilling her screwball and rise ball at the men for about 10 years with the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Damn Yankees\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the Burbank League.<\/p>\n

The difference?<\/p>\n

\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think the women are more disciplined than the men,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But the men are so much stronger. You make a mistake and the ball goes so much further.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Day is also the head softball coach at Cal Lutheran University<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Frightening moment. San Diego PrimeTime pitcher Dan Zupp was standing in the on deck circle when a foul ball came screaming at him. The ball hit Zupp flush on the inside elbow of his pitching arm. His elbow had a knot the size of tennis ball. But there was Zupp pitching in the next game. And he threw well before losing 3-2 to the eventual champion Panteras.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6If it weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t for older pitchers like Zupp, Dave Blackburn (Maccabi USA), Ron Rupp (Long Beach Black Sox), Russ Snow (Maccabi USA), and several others fighting off retirement \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the game would already be toast in Southern California.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Since 1993, Vicki Oltean has been a staunch ally of men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fastpitch in Palm Springs. Every year, she welcomes the men to Demuth Park for tournament play. And under her leadership as Tournament Director for Palm Springs Parks Recreation, the ball fields are in excellent playing condition with the games running on schedule.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a622-year-old Cory Avery of Nova Scotia, Canada is a hot ticket in men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fastpitch. The right-hander is toeing the rubber for Rude Pac of Sunland, California this season as well as pitching for Murphy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Fish and Chips in the Canada Junior Men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s National Championship. On Sunday I saw him pitch against the Norwalk Panteras and he looked good.<\/p>\n

Avery\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thoughts on facing California hitters versus Canadians: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They are equal if not better,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They put the ball in play.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Rude Pac has kept Avery busy. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pitched in the Las Vegas Road Trip III, St. George, Utah, and the Palm Springs tournaments since landing in La-La Land.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve talked to a few folks about the ISC World Tournament format. The format has all 48 teams in the same bracket in the early rounds. Then the first 24 teams eliminated move into a single elimination ISC II Championship. Nobody takes the middle ground. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re either for it, or against it.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6One of the top pitchers in the world said that there should never have been an ISC II in the first place. I disagree\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6the ISC II has replaced the ASA Class A National Championship (in my view). And the ISC II has earned its distinction as the best national tournament for teams a notch under ISC World Tournament teams.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hope enough ISC World Tournament teams return next year so that the ISC can once again offer World Tournament and ISC II Tournament of Champions championships.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Avery pitched against fellow Canadian, Travis Price (Panteras), losing 2-1 in Sunday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first playoff game. His thoughts?<\/p>\n

\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard about him, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never seen him pitch,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Avery said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I wish he would\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve given me a pitch to hit.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Avery swings the bat about as well as he throws the ball.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Yellow ball part two: I saw pitchers wearing protective helmets with face guards. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d think all pitchers would be wearing them. I wonder how many other pitchers like Vranich retired early rather than risk injury from the yellow rocks? As you can probably tell, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not a big fan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note: More great writing from the pen of Bob Otto: Story and photos by BOB OTTO Click here for the original story with photos at Bob’s blog, “Otto in Focus” PALM SPRINGS, CA \u00e2\u20ac\u201c It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a few years since I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve covered a men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fastpitch tournament. It was good to be back. Good to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,3,13,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4006"}],"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=4006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4006\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}