As part of our recent redesign of the Fastpitchwest website, we are continuing to expand the content of our site, including some historical items, to provide some history to the game over the past decade.
One recent addition is a page on the 2005 USA Jr. Men’s team, which competed at Prince Edward Island.
It is hard to believe it was just a bit over five years ago the USA Jr. Men were competing against Australia’s Adam Folkard, then just a junior player. Australia’s Junior men would not only win gold in 2005, but again in 2009, for four-in-a-row, and Folkard follow his Jr. performance with an encore in helping the Australian senior men win gold in 2009 at Saskatoon.
The 2005 USA Jr. Men’s team included Kevin Castillo of Long Beach, California (son of a friend and former teammate Paul Castillo, who continued his work in youth fastpitch after 2005 and is now coaching Clyde Bennett’s 23-and-under team, the Young Bucks.) In the 2005 ISF Jr. World Championships at Prince Edward Island, Kevin broke up Adam Folkard’s no hitter against the USA (one of only four non-strikeout outs), and also homered against Argentina.
Kevin Castillo (Long Beach, CA) led the USA in hitting at .400 (10 for 25). Jason Loe (Sioux Falls, SD) hit .375 (9 for 24) with two home runs and seven runs batted in. Curtis Leavitt (Acton, CA) had three homers and Camden Decker (Aurora, IL) hit .308. John Kelly (Chester, IA) was the work horse on the mound, logging 34 innings, allowing 29 hits, striking out 19 and compiling a 3.91 ERA while posting a 2-3 record. Zach Warne (Sioux Falls, SD) had a 2-1 record, allowing 10 hits in seven innings with a 7.30 ERA and four strikeouts.
The 2005 USA Jr. Men went 4-4 at Prince Edward Island, finishing fifth in the tournament.
For the full story on the 2005 USA Jr. Men’s team, click here.
The 17 players selected for the 2005 Junior Men’s National Team were:
Matt Bezzant (Cedar Hills, UT);
Drew Bode (Prairie de Chien, WI);
Mike Bowden (Aurora, IL);
Kevin Castillo (Long Beach, CA);
Kyle Davis (Sioux Falls, SD);
Bobby Donley (Templeton, CA);
Brandon Huerta (Atascadero, CA);
John Kelly (Chester, IA);
Sean Krohse (Sioux Falls, SD);
Curtis Leavitt (Acton, CA);
Jason Loe (Sioux Falls, SD);
Brian Malakowsky (Wells, MN);
Andy Mathews (Cameron, WI);
Bobby Olson (Amboy, MN);
Evan O’Reilly (San Luis Obispo, CA);
Zach Warne (Sioux Falls, SD) and
Riley White (Lehi, UT)
Alternates were:
Camden Decker (Aurora, IL),
B.J. Hunhoff (Harrisburg, SD)
and Nick Santos (Pueblo, CO).
The USA Jr. Men’s team is still recruiting for the team they will take to Parana, Argentina in 2012. You can help build the 2012 roster with an email or phone call to the USA Jr. Men’s head coach, Tim Lyon. I recall chatting with Tim back in 2004 about Kevin Castillo, who was then still a youngster playing locally in Southern California. A year later, he had played his way onto the USA Jr. Men’s squad, and turned out to be their leading hitter. There are two training camps coming up this summer in Chula Vista, California, in June and July.So if you know of a talented youngster, get in touch with Tim.
The USA Softball Jr. Men’s National Team is still looking for players. ** These players need to be born in 1993-1996 ** No softball experience needed to be part of National Team. ** Training will be in summer of 2011 ** World Championships are in Parana, Argentina in 2012 Please give these young men a chance to represent their country. If you know someone, please forward the link below. Click here to enter player bio and contact info. We know there are many players out there that just don’t know there is a boy’s national team. Please help us. Thank You TIMOTHY LYON Head Coach USA Softball Jr Men’s National Team 801-244-7477
You will find the sub-pages for all National Teams under the main menu button for “Organizations“. (Each page at Fastpitchwest shows you where you are, using a feature called “Breadcrumbs” (meaning that the menu leaves “breadcrumbs” to help you find your way back home). It looks like this:
YOU ARE HERE: HOME / ORGANIZATIONS / NATIONAL TEAMS / USA SOFTBALL / USA NATIONAL TEAM – JR. MEN / 2005 USA JR. MEN’S TEAM
The items posted at the new Fastpitchwest fall into two types.
The first, are “posts“, i.e. the daily blog posts like this one, that are posted in chronological order, with the latest postings at the top of the front page. The front page displays eight (8) posts like this one, with the photo graphic, and ten (10) more older posts which display as links below the eight recent posts. Every single “blog post” is numbered, and remained at the same URL as when posted. The “blog posts” can be found by using the search box in the upper right side of the page, or via the “archive” and “category” drop down menus on the right side of the page.
Second, in addition to the daily blog posts, are “pages“, which appear underneath the main menus at the top. Our “pages” are organized according to the main menu, that stays at the top of each and every page at Fastpitchwest. To view any “sub-page”, just “mouse over” the main menu botton and watch the sub-menu drop down.
Click links below for some history on the USA Jr. Men’s team: