{"id":4486,"date":"2010-08-08T12:18:13","date_gmt":"2010-08-08T19:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=4486"},"modified":"2010-08-08T12:23:11","modified_gmt":"2010-08-08T19:23:11","slug":"midland-gears-up-for-isc-softball-world-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=4486","title":{"rendered":"Midland gears up for ISC Softball World Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nMLive.com Blog<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nGeoff Mott | The Saginaw News<\/em><\/p>\n

MIDLAND \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Fastpitch softball enthusiasts from around the globe will be watching the 63rd annual International Softball Congress World Tournament when play starts Friday at Midland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Emerson Park.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We began audio streaming games over the Internet in 2001 and added video streaming in 2005,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d ISC Executive Director Ken Hackmeister said. <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had an outstanding response to it, particularly overseas. We take e-mails from viewers and listeners and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s amazing to see how they come from the different corners of the world. New Zealand, Argentina, Europe, Australia \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 they are from everywhere.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Midland will get a tremendous amount of exposure worldwide.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hotels in Midland are full and spilling over into the Great Lakes Bay Region to accommodate 48 teams from all over North America. Midland is just the second Michigan city to host the ISC tournament \u00e2\u20ac\u201d the first was Saginaw in 1981.<\/p>\n

The tournament, a double-elimination format that includes the ISC II tournament for teams quickly eliminated, wraps up with championship games on Aug. 21. The inaugural Legends Tournament and ISC 19-under World Tournament also will take place in Midland.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Midland is the perfect place to host a tournament like this,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Kyle Beane, co-host of the tournament committee who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll play in his 16th ISC World Tournament. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know the Explorers will do well in front of the hometown crowd.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always been good support here. The actual number has dwindled as the sport has fallen out of the amateur sporting eye, but we sold 300 tournament passes before it started. Compared to other hosts, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a good number. Other tournaments haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sold a third of that.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Action will be aplenty in Midland all week, including times when six softball games will be going at the same time. Two separate free clinics are available to boys up to 18 years old, a Special Olympics and ISC exhibition game takes place Wednesday night and fans can meet stars from yesteryear at the ISC Hall of Fame breakfast Sunday.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Five vendors offer all sorts of concessions at Emerson Park and Redcoats Softball Complex while a beer tent is on tap near Currie Stadium.<\/p>\n

Throw in the Great Lakes Loons playing back-to-back home series starting at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday and the Midland County Fair running from Saturday through Aug. 21 and entertainment will be at a peak in Midland County.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The players that are in town will have something to do,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said David Lach, co-chairman of the tournament committee and a right fielder for the Explorers. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A lot of these guys like to go golfing during these tournaments so they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be out on the course first thing in the morning.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll enjoy our selection of courses in the area.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The Kitchener (Ont.) Rivershark Twins have won the last two ISC World titles and return as favorites to win. Four area teams will compete for the title, including the Midland Explorers, who are celebrating their 23rd straight trip to the ISC World Tournament in their 25th year of existence. The Explorers enter the tournament ranked No. 6 in the world.<\/p>\n

Mickey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Sled and More of Midland, featuring longtime Explorers pitcher Doug Gillis, is co-hosting the tournament while Frankenmuth\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and the Munger Vols will also compete.<\/p>\n

The first 24 teams to lose twice head to the ISC II Tournament, which is built into the World Tournament to encourage younger, inexperienced teams to compete at the highest stage.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a notch below the highest level. In baseball analogy, the ISC II is Triple A while the ISC World is the Major Leagues,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hackmeister said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We began the ISC II in 2002, giving an alternative to other organizations by offering a chance to compete against the top international teams.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It gives teams an incentive to come and compete.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Richville and Munger Fastpitch are two local teams vying for the ISC 19-under title while the Legends game will feature several Michigan players.<\/p>\n

The fast-paced action, with pitch speeds reaching as high as 86 miles per hour from only 46 feet away, is spectacle that any sports fan would want to watch, Hackmeister said.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Some of the scores are going to be low because the pitcher has the advantage in this sport,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Lach said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You play a lot of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsmall ball\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 by moving people around to score. They may be viewed as cheap runs, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how you play it. There are great hitters, too, so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a good mixture.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a very interesting game. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of strategy and trickery on being able to push runs across the plate and these are the best players in the world who know those tricks and use it to their advantage.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MLive.com Blog Geoff Mott | The Saginaw News MIDLAND \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Fastpitch softball enthusiasts from around the globe will be watching the 63rd annual International Softball Congress World Tournament when play starts Friday at Midland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Emerson Park. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We began audio streaming games over the Internet in 2001 and added video streaming in 2005,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d ISC Executive Director […]<\/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\/4486"}],"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=4486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4486\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}