Some of the best young male fastpitch softball players in the world will compete in Midland in July of 2016, thanks to a successful bid by a Midland group to host the International Softball Federation (ISF) Junior Men’s World Championship at Emerson Park and Currie Stadium.
The only other time that this event was even held in the United States was in 1985 in Fargo, N.D.
“There’s been a long drought of not having it in our own country, and we’re cherishing the opportunity to bring it back here,” said David Lach, who is a co-chair of the tournament host committee along with Jeff Servinski and Kyle Beane. “We see this as a tremendous opportunity for young kids across the country, including young men from mid-Michigan, to represent their country on home soil. We feel that the Midland is the perfect place to host the event, with a great venue and the local history in fastpitch softball.”
The tournament — which is held every two years — will begin on Thursday, July 21, 2016, and will last about 10 days, including pool play and the playoff round, Lach said. But he noted that teams also have the option to arrive a week early and play exhibition games.
Lach expects to have about 16 junior national teams at the tournament, from countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, Venezuela, Mexico, and Argentina, among others.
Players in the event will have to be under 19 years old as of Jan. 1, 2016. Lach noted that the players at this level are future candidates for their countries’ national teams.
“There will be a number of pitchers that will throw up to 80 miles an hour. (The teams are) very talented and very competitive,” Lach said.
The Junior ISF will be held in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada in 2014. It was held last year in Parana, Argentina.
USA Softball junior men’s national team head coach Tim Lyon, who’s coached the team since 2001, is excited about having the tournament come to the United States and specifically to Midland.
“We couldn’t be more excited to be coming to Midland,” he said. “As a (junior national) program, we’ve come to Midland four or five times. I’m very familiar with the people there, and it’s a great stadium.”
Lyon, who has coached the U.S. team in South America, South Africa, and Asia, looks forward to finally having homefield advantage in 2016.
“When we played in (the Junior ISF in) Argentina, in a 3,000-seat stadium there were 8,000 people,” Lyon said. “I coached third base and our team could not hear me from the dugout. We hope we can generate that type of excitement in Midland.”
Lach — whose son, Zach Lach, played for the 2012 U.S. junior national team — is looking forward both to the international aspect of the tournament as well as the national pride that will be shown for the USA team.
“(I’m excited about) the international pageantry involved in hosting national teams from around the world, and witnessing the local support for the young men on Team USA with chants of ‘U-S-A’ echoing through Currie Stadium,” Lach said.
Lach said that a lot of volunteers will be needed to help organize, promote, and direct the tournament.
“We’ll need community-wide support for this event,” he said. “We’re looking for people to be involved in all areas. … We need a wide range of skills and a lot of business-minded people that want to help out.”
For Lyon’s part, he’d like to see more players from Michigan make the junior national team, and noted that the 2014 team will hold a training camp in Midland next summer prior to the Junior ISF.
“We’d love to get some more Michigan kids (on the junior national team). We’d love to generate some more interest (in fastpitch) in the state of Michigan,” Lyon said.
The 2016 junior national team will be selected in late 2015 or early 2016.