{"id":20601,"date":"2013-03-21T15:11:38","date_gmt":"2013-03-21T22:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=20601"},"modified":"2013-03-21T15:12:40","modified_gmt":"2013-03-21T22:12:40","slug":"schellenberg-canada-place-fifth-at-isf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=20601","title":{"rendered":"Schellenberg, Canada place fifth at ISF"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/a>
Click to view original story and photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n\u2018Disappointing\u2019 result for Squamish resident at softball world championships<\/strong><\/p>\n

BY BEN LYPKA
\nBLYPKA@SQUAMISHCHIEF.COM<\/em><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t the ending that Squamish\u2019s Kevin Schellenberg and the rest of Team Canada wanted.<\/p>\n

Schellenberg and his Team Canada mates came up short at the International Softball Federation\u2019s Men\u2019s World Championships in New Zealand earlier this month and he said the fifth place finish has made him want to don the red and white one more time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely had a disappointing result,\u201d he said. \u201cWe went there wanting to win gold and were fully capable to do so with the team we had. I thought this was the best team that Canada had assembled in the last 10 years.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t start off that poorly for Team Canada, as the squad posted six wins and one loss in round robin play. Canada pitched four shutouts and was the top ranked team in the A pool.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started off really well,\u201d Schellenberg said. \u201cOur pitchers and defense played good and we were right where we wanted to be heading into the playoff round.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canada moved on to play Venezuela, who was the second ranked team in the B pool, but Schellenberg said a lack of offense hurt the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really came down to a few bad bounces,\u201d he said. \u201cWe lost 3-1 and we just didn\u2019t score enough runs. I can\u2019t really pinpoint a reason why we lost, but we just waited too long to get the offense going.\u201d<\/p>\n

The offensive struggles continued in Canada\u2019s final game of the tournament against Argentina. Canada lost 2-1 and Schellenberg admitted that the team was emotionally spent after the devastating loss to Venezuela the day before.<\/p>\n

\u201cLosing to Venezuela was a pretty heartbreaking defeat and it was tough to get back into the game emotionally against Argentina,\u201d he said. \u201cWe ran into a top pitcher against Argentina and just couldn\u2019t score.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the few positives from the tournament for Canada was they were the only team to defeat the eventual champion New Zealand in round robin play. Schellenberg said he was happy with his play, but the team\u2019s poor result left a bad feeling in him.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeating New Zealand is a positive, but it reminds us that we underachieved,\u201d he said. \u201cWe know we can beat the best but we need to figure out why we lost to lower ranked teams. I was happy with my play but the team slogan was \u2018one team, one goal\u2019 and as a team we came up short.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schellenberg was tied for the team lead with five runs batted in (RBI) and made zero errors in the field during tournament play. He said he hopes to represent Canada once more \u2013 at either the Pan Am Games or the next ISF world championships. Both events take place in 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis result has left me with a sour taste in my mouth,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had to work so hard to get there and I just don\u2019t want to shut it down on that note.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the Pan Am Games or ISF tournament in 2015 will likely be his last go with Canada but noted it\u2019s been a good 13 year run. An added bonus for the shortstop is that both events take place in Canada, as the Pan Am Games are in Toronto and the ISF will be in Saskatoon.<\/p>\n

Schellenberg also pointed out that the Howe Sound Men\u2019s Fastball League (HSMFL) is also looking for local players to join up. The league currently has three teams signed up and is always looking for more players. Contact him by email at skates_2010 [@] hotmail.com for more details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Disappointing\u2019 result for Squamish resident at softball world championships BY BEN LYPKA BLYPKA@SQUAMISHCHIEF.COM It wasn\u2019t the ending that Squamish\u2019s Kevin Schellenberg and the rest of Team Canada wanted. Schellenberg and his Team Canada mates came up short at the International Softball Federation\u2019s Men\u2019s World Championships in New Zealand earlier this month and he said the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20602,"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":[5,12],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20601","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"category-isf","9":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20601","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=20601"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20604,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20601\/revisions\/20604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}