By Adam Bouton
Heavy rain postponed the start of the International Softball Congress Men’s Fast Pitch World Tournament, which was set to start Friday at Emerson Park with two exhibition games and one tournament bracket game. Play will now begin this afternoon.
But ISC Committee co-chairman Kyle Beane said the steady rain has yet to seriously impact the softball diamonds or create any scheduling dilemmas.
“We’ve had the tarps out on the fields (at Emerson Park) since Wednesday night,” said Beane. “There’s going to be a little water that seeps in underneath, but we should be OK. The outfields were also still in pretty good shape. That park was able to take quite a bit of water. We can be ready to play (on Saturday).”
The ISC World Tournament kicks off at 1 p.m. today with initial bracket play. Fifteen games are scheduled to be played today, all at Emerson Park’s three fields.
“(Friday) was just an added night to the schedule,” Beane said. “We just had one World Tournament game. We wanted to get people down to the park (Friday) to use the concessions and beer stand, but from a tournament schedule standpoint, we only had to move one game, so it wasn’t a tough move.
“But we do need the rain to stop. We hope the weather turns and moves on.”
Because of the rain, the Gillis International Fastpitch Institute has also moved its girls’ softball clinic at 10 a.m. today from Emerson Park to the Bennett Center at Northwood University.
Some ISC World Tournament games are being played at Red Coats Softball Complex, but games aren’t scheduled to begin on those diamonds until Monday.
“Once the rain clears up, we’ll be fine,” Beane said. “The Midland Parks and Rec crew has been doing a great job for us. They are just waiting. Once it stops raining, they’ll have everything ready.”
The official opening ceremonies for the ISC World Tournament are at 6 p.m. Sunday. The Midland Explorers, who along with Motor City Shamrocks are co-hosts of the tournament, kick off play at 7 p.m. Sunday following the opening ceremonies.
For full the full tournament schedule, visit www.iscfastpitch.com or www.midland2012isc.com