{"id":16383,"date":"2012-05-02T14:23:32","date_gmt":"2012-05-02T21:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=16383"},"modified":"2012-05-02T14:23:32","modified_gmt":"2012-05-02T21:23:32","slug":"fastball-rivals-reunite-for-shot-at-glory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=16383","title":{"rendered":"Fastball rivals reunite for shot at glory"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Click logo for original news story at TheRecord.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>Christine Rivet, Record staff <\/em>
\nKITCHENER \u2014 Frenemies Jack Fireman and Larry Lynch were on a collision course along fastball\u2019s basepaths for years.<\/p>\n

Now, these one-time rivals will team up in an effort to relive fastball glory.<\/p>\n

Fireman \u2014 the free-spending and flamboyant Toronto trial lawyer and one-time owner of the most-hated team in fastball \u2014 has joined forces with champion of the underdogs, Lynch.<\/p>\n

Fireman has dragged his old Toronto Gators, International Softball Congress world titlists in 1993 and 1995, out of the swamp to take another tail swipe at global domination.<\/p>\n

ISC hall of famer Lynch, who led the threadbare and now-defunct Waterloo Twins against their arch-rivals, the old Gators, will coach the new Gators.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember one time Larry said he wouldn\u2019t cross the street to say hello to me,\u201d Fireman recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut even back then, there was mutual respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or maybe not.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The Gators) put us through a lot of anxiety back in the early nineties. I never respected what Jack did \u2014 taking my best players and everyone else\u2019s,\u201d said Lynch, a longtime Kitchener resident and director of public works for the Township of Mapleton.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he did what he set out to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the majority of those old Gators now in their 40s, the club will compete in at the International Softball Federation world masters championship in Turin, Italy, in 2013.<\/p>\n

Blasts from the Gators\u2019 past like ace hurler Darren Zack, infielders Craig Crawford, Dave Hoffman, Adam Smith and Chris Jones, along with outfielders Brian Paton and Terry Challis have signed on.<\/p>\n

Other members of the Gators\u2019 crack pitching staff headed to Italy include Todd Martin, Mike Crawford, Mark Bendahan and Brad Baker.<\/p>\n

Fireman and Lynch have combined forces in the past.<\/p>\n

In 2001, Fireman briefly became a Twins\u2019 sponsor and special adviser and Lynch was Fireman\u2019s coach for his squad at the Maccabiah Games, also known as the Jewish Olympics, in 2009.<\/p>\n

Time has a way of blurring the battle lines, even for these two.<\/p>\n

\u201cLarry is the best coach in the sport. This guy is brilliant,\u201d said Fireman who couldn\u2019t resist one parting shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard that Larry was such a terrible ballplayer he had to become a great coach quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans can watch the revived Gators at the Legends of Fastball Classic slated for Kitchener\u2019s Peter Hallman Ball Yard in June.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have a lot of fun,\u201d said Lynch, who will also help coach ISC world senior men\u2019s contenders, the Chicago-New York Gremlins, also making an appearance at the Legends.<\/p>\n

The tournament, which features a 10-team men\u2019s division, along with masters\u2019 and juniors\u2019 divisions, runs June 21-24.<\/p>\n

The two-time defending ISC world champion Jarvis Travelers and New Zealand\u2019s national team will be among the competitors.<\/p>\n

In other fastball news, a quartet of locals has been added to the senior men\u2019s national team pool, Softball Canada announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Kitchener\u2019s Ryan French, Brandon Horn, of Waterloo, and Elmira\u2019s Adam Hiller and Ben Wideman are among the 38 players who will vie for a spot on Team Canada.<\/p>\n

Click here to continue reading.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christine Rivet, Record staff KITCHENER \u2014 Frenemies Jack Fireman and Larry Lynch were on a collision course along fastball\u2019s basepaths for years. Now, these one-time rivals will team up in an effort to relive fastball glory. Fireman \u2014 the free-spending and flamboyant Toronto trial lawyer and one-time owner of the most-hated team in fastball \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16383","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16383"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16386,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16383\/revisions\/16386"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}