{"id":17327,"date":"2012-07-24T12:17:34","date_gmt":"2012-07-24T19:17:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=17327"},"modified":"2012-07-24T12:19:47","modified_gmt":"2012-07-24T19:19:47","slug":"junior-explorers-new-program-could-produce-next-generation-of-midland-explorers-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=17327","title":{"rendered":"Junior Explorers: New program could produce next generation of Midland Explorers\u2019 players"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure id=\"attachment_11874\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11874\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ourmidland.com\/sports\/article_911e15dc-d5a5-11e1-8677-0019bb2963f4.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Midland-Daily-News-blue-150.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Midland Daily News blue 150\" width=\"150\" height=\"45\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11874\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11874\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Click logo for complete story at Midland Daily News.<\/figcaption><\/figure>Young players like Auburn\u2019s Jon Gwizdala are excited to be part of a brand-new program that could produce the next generation of fastpitch softball players for the Midland Explorers.<br \/>\nGwizdala, 21, is a pitcher for the 21-and-under Midland Junior Explorers, who will play in the International Softball Congress 21U Tournament in Midland in August.<br \/>\n\u201cIt\u2019s really exciting to be on the team,\u201d said Gwizdala, who played baseball at Bay City Western and is a student at Delta College. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting because it\u2019s something new (on the fastpitch scene) and something new for the younger players. It\u2019s also exciting because they are associated with the Midland Explorers.\u201d<br \/>\nThe Junior Explorers, who played their first games this past weekend at the Junior Explorer Invitational in Midland, are aiming at placing high in the ISC 21U Tournament during the second week of the ISC World Tournament.<br \/>\nDave Lach, a co-chairman of the ISC, is running the 16-team, 21U tournament that has attracted teams from around the world, including a team from British Columbia, the Argentina Junior National team and several players from New Zealand.<br \/>\n\u201cWith the ISC (World Tournament) coming to Midland in 2012, we thought it was a good time to start something like this,\u201d Lach said of forming the squad. \u201cWe, as the Midland Explorers Booster Club, said it would be valuable if we took the initiative to have our own team for the event.\u201d<br \/>\nA few other local players are on the team, including Western graduate Jared Stewart, Freeland\u2019s Justin Krenzke, and Midland\u2019s Trevor Hoon and Chase Porter. Some of the players participate in fastpitch leagues in Midland. Lach\u2019s son, Zach Lach, who is originally from Frankenmuth, is also on the squad and forms a formidable 1-2 pitching duo with Gwizdala.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"pullquote\"> \u201cWe have two of the best young pitchers in the area,\u201d Dave Lach said. \u201cWe thought it was a good time to start a team and build around them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ourmidland.com\/sports\/article_911e15dc-d5a5-11e1-8677-0019bb2963f4.html\">Click here to continue reading in the Midland Daily News.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Young players like Auburn\u2019s Jon Gwizdala are excited to be part of a brand-new program that could produce the next generation of fastpitch softball players for the Midland Explorers. Gwizdala, 21, is a pitcher for the 21-and-under Midland Junior Explorers, who will play in the International Softball Congress 21U Tournament in Midland in August. \u201cIt\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11874,"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":[21,27],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17327","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-teams","8":"category-youth","9":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17327","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=17327"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17329,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17327\/revisions\/17329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}