{"id":19555,"date":"2013-02-05T13:39:26","date_gmt":"2013-02-05T21:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=19555"},"modified":"2013-02-05T14:01:04","modified_gmt":"2013-02-05T22:01:04","slug":"new-elite-mens-fastpitch-team-forming-in-midland-michigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=19555","title":{"rendered":"New elite men’s fastpitch team forming in Midland, Michigan"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dan Chalk, Midland Daily News<\/em>
\n

\"Click<\/a>
Click logo for original news story at the Midland Daily News<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nGregg Sauve and Dave O\u2019Keefe are excited about what lies ahead this summer, and for many years to come, in local men\u2019s fastpitch softball.<\/p>\n

The two longtime players and coaches have a vision for a new fastpitch organization that\u2019s young, athletic, made up of local players, and built to last for a long time.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s why they\u2019ve organized a new elite men\u2019s fastpitch team in Midland.<\/p>\n

The new team, the \u201cMidland Emerson ACes,\u201d will make its debut this summer.<\/p>\n

The team name was chosen to reflect Emerson Park, where the ACes will play their home games at Currie Stadium, and as a tribute to the Dow AC\u2019s (Athletic Club), a dominant Midland fastpitch team in the 1940s and 1950s.<\/p>\n

\"Greg<\/a>
Greg Sauve<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n\u201cThe Dow AC\u2019s were the first big fastpitch team in Midland,\u201d Sauve noted. \u201c(The team name) kind of ties it all together nicely.\u201d
\nSauve and O\u2019Keefe, both veterans of more than three decades in fastpitch, will co-manage the new team, which they envision competing at the Open level, just like the Midland Explorers. Jim Wallace will also be on the coaching staff.<\/p>\n

Sauve, who has been the Explorers\u2019 manager for the past two years, and O\u2019Keefe, who has been his assistant, said they had a friendly parting of ways with the Explorers during this offseason. They had a difference of philosophies over what direction to take the team in the next few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe left as friends,\u201d Sauve said. \u201cIt was our decisions to leave. We talked to (longtime Explorers\u2019 players) Kyle (Beane) and Steve (Horning). Our idea of what the Explorers needed to do right now was to bring some youth in, and let\u2019s get some more Midland guys in. Their philosophy was that they kind of have a locked-in roster. … And that\u2019s fine. You know you\u2019re going to have top-notch pitching, and it\u2019s a well-run organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what we\u2019re looking at doing is something brand-new,\u201d Sauve added. \u201cThere are kids out there who want to play (open fastpitch) and don\u2019t have an avenue to play. … All you have is one team (in Midland) to have a shot to play at (the Open) level. Now you\u2019ll have two teams to have a shot at playing at that level. It expands the horizon.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ACes have put together a roster that so far includes Midland High graduates Ken and Sean Hoffman and Neil Faccio; Bullock Creek grad Josh Peterson; Bay City Western grad Kevin Dore; Freeland grad Justin Krenzke; Meridian grad Brandon Krause; former Northwood baseball player Jeff Nowaczyk; former Saginaw Valley State player Andrew Plouff; longtime local fastpitch pitcher Rick Engle; former Explorers\u2019 pitcher Doug Sleep and his son, Ben Sleep; pitcher Kyle Crawford from Ontario; and outfielder Josh Thomson of New Zealand.
\nThe majority of the ACes\u2019 players played baseball in both high school and college.<\/p>\n

Sauve and O\u2019Keefe said they also plan to talk to other managers in the Midland fastpitch league to find out if they have any players interested in playing open ball.<\/p>\n

Sauve noted that the Hoffman brothers, Peterson, and others got a taste of competing at the Open level when they played for the Big Apple Bagels team and won a couple of games at the ISC World Tournament in Midland last August.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gets in their veins,\u201d Sauve said. \u201cThen the word gets out, and they say, \u2018Hey, So-and-So wants to play ball.\u2019 … They\u2019re doing things they never did in baseball.<\/p>\n

\"Dave<\/a>
Dave O’Keefe<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n“It gives them another avenue to continue to play (at a high level).\u201d
\nO\u2019Keefe said that teams such as Big Apple Bagels last year and Mickey\u2019s at the 2010 ISC in Midland generated a lot of buzz among Midland fans because of the fact that they had a lot of local players.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was on board with Mickey\u2019s in 2010 and last year with Big Apple Bagels, and with the Explorers,\u201d O\u2019Keefe noted. \u201cIt was exciting for all of them, but there was a certain higher level of buzz and excitement with the (local) teams like Mickey\u2019s and Big Apple Bagels.
\n\u201cI think over the last maybe eight to 10 years, the Explorers are still a Midland team, but that real close bond with Midland has diminished a little bit over that course of time, just in the fact that to remain competitive at the level that they have over the years, they\u2019ve had to bring in players from outside of Midland and they\u2019ve lost a little of the identity with Midland,\u201d O\u2019Keefe said.
\nSauve said he\u2019s excited about the makeup of the new team.<\/p>\n

\"Jim<\/a>
Jim Wallace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to be athletic. They\u2019re going to be able to play defense. We\u2019re going to have pitching that will keep us in most ballgames,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you get a good draw (in a tournament), you can win some ballgames.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ACes\u2019 players will play on separate teams in the Midland fastpitch league during the week, and will come together as the Aces on about six weekends, playing an estimated 25 to 35 games during the season.<\/p>\n

So far, they are scheduled to play in the Lee Isenhart\/Lefty Bartos Memorial Tournament at Emerson Park in June \u2014 where they will have a game against the Explorers \u2014 along with an Open tournament in Petoskey. The Aces may also compete at tourneys in Frankenmuth and Port Huron, and their ultimate goal is to play in the ASA Major Nationals in South Bend, Ind., and the ISC World Tournament in Moline, Ill.<\/p>\n

Sauve said his vision is for the team to endure for many years, just as the Explorers have.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to build for one or two years. We want it to be along the lines of the Explorers,\u201d he said. \u201c … It\u2019s going to take a few years to get (our team) to that level. It\u2019s going to be our job to bring in pitching to make them competitive. Our forecast is that this (organization) can go on and on.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Along with the emphasis on having local players, Sauve also wants to have the team compete mainly within Michigan to keep its travel costs low.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to stay in Michigan as much as possible,\u201d he said.
\nThe team will have \u201cMidland Emerson ACes\u201d printed on the front of its jerseys, and its jackets will feature an image of Currie Stadium on the back.<\/p>\n

The ACes are sponsored by Pat Carey of Carey All-State insurance, Kevin Marsh, and Laura Currie.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s website is www.midlandsemersonaces.com<\/a>. Its Facebook page is under the name \u201cmidlands emerson aces\u201d and its team email address is midlandsemersonaces [@] gmail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dan Chalk, Midland Daily News Gregg Sauve and Dave O\u2019Keefe are excited about what lies ahead this summer, and for many years to come, in local men\u2019s fastpitch softball. The two longtime players and coaches have a vision for a new fastpitch organization that\u2019s young, athletic, made up of local players, and built to […]<\/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":[10,21],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19555","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-isc","8":"category-teams","9":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19555","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=19555"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19570,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19555\/revisions\/19570"}],"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=19555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}