{"id":41567,"date":"2023-06-24T07:08:46","date_gmt":"2023-06-24T14:08:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=41567"},"modified":"2023-06-24T07:10:40","modified_gmt":"2023-06-24T14:10:40","slug":"hill-united-chiefs-hosting-worlds-best-fastball-teams-in-simcoe-this-weekend-ontario-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=41567","title":{"rendered":"Hill United Chiefs hosting world’s best fastball teams in Simcoe this weekend (Ontario Canada)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From the Simcoe Reformer<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Brian Smiley<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hill United Chiefs won an ISC tournament in Fort Myers, Florida, earlier this year. This weekend the team will hold the Chiefs Challenge in Simcoe, a tournament featuring the top-four teams in the world rankings.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

The world\u2019s best fastball teams will be in Simcoe this weekend for the Chiefs Challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hosted by the 2021 International Softball Congress world champion Hill United Chiefs, the tournament at Lions Park that runs Friday through Sunday will feature eight teams and four of them are currently at the top of the world rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a world-class tournament,\u201d said Chiefs coach Jeff Ellsworth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLast year\u2019s world champion Kitchener Twins folded so all those players are on the Niagara Stompers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo the No. 1 ranked team in the world, the New York Gremlins, are here. The No. 2 ranked team in the world is the Niagara Stompers and they\u2019re here and No. 3 Bear Creek is here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Hill United Chiefs are ranked No. 4. The four top teams in the world in the ISC loop are all here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tournament\u2019s format is a bit different than in past years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will be two pools of four teams and each team will play the four teams in the opposite division during preliminary play. The top-four teams overall then move into semifinals on Sunday at 10 a.m. with the final to follow at noon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chiefs are hoping to build toward the world championship later this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Formed in 2012, the Chiefs are based out of Ohsweken and have won several world championships, including their last in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ellsworth was a player with the team from 2012-19 and then when Hill United returned from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, he became its coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following a somewhat disappointing 2022 season, the Chiefs made a couple of changes and the team\u2019s roster feature players from seven different countries \u2013 Mexico, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Czech Republic, United States and Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThere were a couple of new additions,\u201d Ellsworth said. \u201cOne player retired and a couple of player movements but not a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Chiefs won an ISC tournament in Fort Myers, Florida, earlier this season and they\u2019ll be looking for their second title of the season this weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThis one is huge,\u201d said Ellsworth, noting that aside from world-ranking points, there\u2019s something special about playing close to their home base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our own tournament and the very first game we\u2019re playing is against the Stompers. We just played them on the weekend and lost 3-1. It\u2019s an amazing first game to have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd then we get Bear Creek Express on Saturday night and they\u2019re ranked third in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTwo out of our four round-robin games are against higher ranked teams so obviously if we want to move up the rankings, these are the teams we\u2019re going to have to compete against and beat.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Click here to read the complete story at the Simcoe Reformer.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Simcoe Reformer Brian Smiley Hill United Chiefs won an ISC tournament in Fort Myers, Florida, earlier this year. This weekend the team will hold the Chiefs Challenge in Simcoe, a tournament featuring the top-four teams in the world rankings. The world\u2019s best fastball teams will be in Simcoe this weekend for the Chiefs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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":[5,28,23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-41567","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-canada","7":"category-featured","8":"category-tournaments","9":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41567","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=41567"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41569,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41567\/revisions\/41569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}