{"id":4190,"date":"2010-06-10T10:24:11","date_gmt":"2010-06-10T17:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=4190"},"modified":"2010-06-10T10:24:29","modified_gmt":"2010-06-10T17:24:29","slug":"kelso-klassic-draws-some-of-nations-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=4190","title":{"rendered":"Kelso Klassic draws some of nation’s best"},"content":{"rendered":"

# 9 Ranked Decatur Pride Headlines Field of Teams<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n(click banner for original news story)<\/em><\/p>\n

Klassic draws some of nation’s best<\/strong>
\nBy Marty Mishow ~ Southeast Missourian<\/em><\/p>\n

It’s not difficult to pick the favorite in the 26th annual Kelso Klassic.<\/p>\n

Although there figure to be several other strong contenders, the Decatur (Ill.) Pride should be tough to beat as they try to defend their title.<\/p>\n

“They’re ranked ninth in the world. They’re the real deal,” tournament media coordinator Jerry Wolsey said. “They’re the favorite, but we’ve got several other teams right behind them.”<\/p>\n

The popular 14-team men’s fastpitch softball event begins Friday night on two fields at Kelso City Park.<\/p>\n

There will be four games Friday, including host Kelso Fastpitch facing the Belleville (Ill.) Stallions at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n

First-year participant West End Tavern of Altenburg, the other local entry, also plays opening night, against Lee’s Sports Falcons from Pickneyville, Ill., at 9:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

The double-elimination tournament continues through Sunday, when it concludes with the 3 p.m. championship. An if-necessary title contest would follow.<\/p>\n

“We expect another great tournament,” said Wolsey, a former Southeast Missouri State baseball player who competes for Kelso Fastpitch. “The tournament has continued to grow. It really is one of the top tournaments in the nation.<\/p>\n

“When we kick this thing off Friday night, if the weather is good, we’ll have anywhere from 800 to 1,000 people here. It’s a big event for the community.”<\/p>\n

Decatur went 5-0 in last year’s tournament, capped by an 8-0, five-inning run-rule win over Nokomis (Ill.) Bud Light for the title.<\/p>\n

The Pride were a national fastpitch power, winning several national titles, before disbanding in 2001. They started a squad again last year and made their first Kelso Klassic appearance as a unit, although several of their players had participated in the tournament.<\/p>\n

Decatur was led by its pitching staff last year, always the key in top-level fastpitch softball. The mound corps featured New Zealand natives Brent Stevenson and Jeremy Manley, who are expected back this week.<\/p>\n

Manley, the 2009 tournament’s most valuable pitcher and regarded among the nation’s top hurlers, went 3-0 with two runs allowed and 36 strikeouts in 17 innings.<\/p>\n

The veteran Stevenson, also among the nation’s premier hurlers, notched Decatur’s other two tournament wins by allowing just one run. He fired a two-hitter in the championship game.<\/p>\n

“We always have a pretty good international flavor in the tournament,” Wolsey said. “Softball is really big in New Zealand.”<\/p>\n

Two tournament entries are ranked among the world’s top 15 teams by the International Softball Congress, with Decatur ninth and Aurora (Ill.) Dolan & Murphy 15th.<\/p>\n

“To be ranked in the top 15 in the world, they’re the real deal,” Wolsey said.<\/p>\n

Another anticipated title contender is the Topeka (Kan.) Toros, the 2009 NAFA A-Major national champions.<\/p>\n

Aurora and Topeka did not participate last year.<\/p>\n

Nokomis also should be a threat after its strong showing in 2009. The squad dropped its tournament opener then posted six straight victories before falling to Decatur.<\/p>\n

“Even though Decatur is the favorite, right behind them are Aurora and Topeka. And Nokomis is always strong,” Wolsey said. “Altenburg should have a good team with Jeff Schott, one of the all-time great pitchers in the tournament.”<\/p>\n

Schott is first all-time in tournament games played while also ranking high on most of the tournament’s other all-time records lists.<\/p>\n

Kelso Fastpitch went 1-2 a year ago, losing to Decatur 5-1, beating Elkville (Ill.) 8-6 and losing to Nokomis 4-3.<\/p>\n

“We’re always very competitive and we have one of the nation’s top pitchers in Tom Jansen,” Wolsey said.<\/p>\n

Jansen ranks high on the tournament’s all-time pitching records lists.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a9 Copyright 2010, seMissourian.com
\nStory URL: http:\/\/www.semissourian.com\/story\/1641447.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

# 9 Ranked Decatur Pride Headlines Field of Teams (click banner for original news story) Klassic draws some of nation’s best By Marty Mishow ~ Southeast Missourian It’s not difficult to pick the favorite in the 26th annual Kelso Klassic. Although there figure to be several other strong contenders, the Decatur (Ill.) Pride should be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4190"}],"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=4190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4190\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}