By Blair Setford & Jim Flanagan

Tavistock, ON Merchants were heartbroken in 2004 in Fargo but they are champions in 2006 in Kitchener, defeating Palermo, ON Athletics 3-2 in 8 innings in a well-played championship game in front of about 3,000 fans on PHBY #1 Friday afternoon … winning pitcher Steve Cook came on in the 7th inning in relief of starter Ryan Cummings with the score knotted at two … Palermo had jumped out to a 1-0 lead only to see Tavistock leapfrog ahead with a two-RBI single by Jamie Rader … the Athletics tied the game in the fifth as Chris McColl drove in Peter Dobbin … in the top of the 8th, Palermo was unable to score the runner placed on second as the international tie-breaker was in effect … in the bottom of the 8th, Mark McKay drove in Brad Roth with the winning run, setting off the celebration on the field and in Tavistock … Paul and Tyler Newman presented the Gord Newman Memorial ISC II Championship Trophy, named for their father, to Tavistock manager Steve Kaufman … earlier, Tavistock ran over the Perkasie, PA Rise 8-2 in the first semi-final … back-to-back home runs by Brad Roth and Kevin Thompson led the way while McKay was 3-4 with 3 rbi’s … Cummings got the win, going five strong innings with Steve Cook shutting down the Rise over the final two innings … Palermo knocked off ISC II strikeout king Corey Costello and the Micksburg, ON Twins 6-1, scoring single runs in each of the first three innings capped off by a three-run fourth, including a line drive HR by Keith Rankin and a triple by Brian Prowse … Gord Scott picked up another complete game win for Palermo … Costello pushed his tournament strikeout record to 101 with three strikeouts in three innings of work.

Click here for box score to 2006 ISC II Championship Game.

Thank you to the ISC II host committee, all the volunteers, the grounds crew staff, our ISC II game controllers, umpires, statisticians and broadcasters for a job well done in producing the 2006 ISC II Tournament of Champions … Hats off to all the teams, players and fans for making the 2006 edition of the ToC the best yet.

The assault on the record book continued at the ISC II Tournament of Champions on Tuesday. Leading the way is Corey Costello of the Micksburg Twins… On the heels of his 20-strikeout perfect game vs Orangeville, Costello struck out 20 again, tossing a no-hitter against Reading, PA Bob Hoffman’s Garage, with only a walk spoiling another perfect game… Not content with that, Costello came back at 5 pm to strikeout 15 against the defending champion Elmira, ON Cubs in a 3-0 win setting up a potential 3-way tie for first in pool A … Costello has 55 strikeouts in three games … Thomson, IL Area Merchants were facing elimination and needed to beat the host Bridgeport, ON PROforma Braves 3-2 on the strength of a 16-strikeout, 5-hit performance from Jonas Mach who now has 66 strikeouts in 4 games pitched… Kitchener Phoenix Outlaws clinched first place in pool F finishing 4-0 in the round robin with an upset 6-5 win over Elora Brewers … Setting up action Wednesday, Alvinston can wrap up first place in pool D with a win over Palermo, but a Palermo win forces a three-way tie for first … Colorado Rage can force a three-way tie for first in pool A if they can beat Orangeville … The winner of Waterdown & California (1 pm on www.ballparkradio.com) will finish in second in pool B … a Black Gold win over Harriston (11 am on www.ballparkradio.com) coupled with a Rise win over Up-to-Date Painting (9 am on www.ballparkradio.com) could set up a three-way tie for first in pool C … Mitchell Mets will win pool E while Glencoe will finish second … Needing wins to have a chance to qualify are Ashland, playing Mitchell, and CPI playing JRW … the winner of Elora-Stittsville will likely advance to the playoffs while the loser will go home … in pool G, Ottawa’s win over Tavistock would set up a 3-way tie with those two teams and South Lebanon TNT if the latter can beat Toronto.

Rain was the order of the afternoon at the ISC II Tournament of Champions as a three-and-a-half hour rain delay starting at 3 pm forced games to be shifted from Budd Park to Kinsmen Park in Cambridge in order to avoid midnight start times … In golf, Saturday is moving day and at the ToC, Monday is positioning day as several teams positioned themselves for a run at first place in their respective pools and a bye in the first round of the 24-team single knockout playoff bracket … In pool A, Elmira Cubs (2-0) edged Bob Hoffman’s 2-1 … In pool B action, Bridgeport Braves (2-0) beat Fitzroy Harbour (0-3) 6-2 … in pool C, Perkasie Rise (2-0) won two on the day 4-2 over Kingston Cowboys and 8-2 over Black Gold and Harriston (2-0) beat Up-to-Date Painting 2-0 … In pool D Alvinston Indians (2-0) took out Port Elgin Blue Devils 3-1 and Palermo (2-0) edged PA Power 3-2 with Chad Reed on the mound … In pool E, Glence Astros (2-0) rode a three-hit 15-strikeout performance by Shaun Winship to a 6-1 win over Oswego CPI … In pool F, Kitchener Outlaws (2-0) beat Rice Creek Lightning 5-2 … and in pool G, Tavistock Merchants (2-0) have yet to allow a run, defeating South Lebanon TNT 3-0 behind the pitching of Cam Struth and Steve Cook … full standings are available at www.ballparkradio.com … ISC II strikeout record in jeopardy? The ISC II strikeout record for a tournament is 80 in 45 2/3 innings by Keith Potter in 2002. Jonas Mach has 50 strikeouts in 22 innings so far … but a 1-2 record means his Thomson Area Merchants team will need to win their next game against Bridgeport in order to have a shot at a playoff berth to give Mach a shot at the record … tune in to ballparkradio.com Tuesday at 7 pm to see if Mach and Thomson are in the hunt … Strikeout records part two: Regan Manley of the Colorado Rage has 34 strikeouts in 14 innings … Strikeout records part three: Corey Costello - 20 vs Orangeville (perfect game, won 9-0); Jonas Mach - 20 vs Waterdown (8 innings, lost 5-4); Jonas Mach - 19 vs California Lumberkings (lost 2-1); Regan Manley - 19 vs Elmira (lost 6-0).

For Tuesday on www.ballparkradio.com, listeners can hear the following games:

11 am Stittsville 56ers vs Up-to-Date Painting (tentative)
1 pm Perkasie Rise vs Harriston Mercury’s
3 pm Port Elgin Blue Devils vs Palermo Athletics
5 pm Elmira Cubs vs Micksburg Twins
7 pm Bridgeport Braves vs Thomson Area Merchants

Sunday and Monday’s games are also archived on ballparkradio.com and links are provided to all relevant ISC II web pages including scores, pool standings and more.

Late scores from Monday:
Game 31
Elmira 2
Bob Hoffman’s 1

Game 32
Kitchener 6
Rice Creek 3

Game 33
Glencoe 6
CPI 1

Game 34
Elora 7
Sydney 0

Game 35
Rise 8
Black Gold 2

Game 36
Bridgeport 6
Fitzroy 2

Game 37
Alvinston 3
Port Elgin 1

Monday’s broadcast schedule:
3 pm Tavistock vs South Lebanon
5 pm CPI vs Glencoe
7 pm Rise vs Black Gold
9 pm Port Elgin vs Alvinston

Cheers,

Blair