1996 Canadian Men's National Team - ISF's 19-man roster

1. Darren Zack Pitcher Toronto Gators
2. Brian Paton OF Toronto Gators
3. Chris Jones SS Toronto Gators
4. Ken Kivell OF Owen Sound Tiremen
5. Jody Henniger Pitcher/DH Farm Tavern Madison WI
6. Jeff Hurford OF Surrey Ravens
7. Dave Paetkau OF Surrey Ravens
8. Todd King IF Tampa Bay Smokers
9. Colin Abbott OF Green Bay All Car
10. Mike Pietnik Pitcher Victoria Payless
11. Doug Chase Catcher Victora Payless
12. Terry Bell Pitcher Victoria Payless
13. Dave Hoffman IF Toronto Gators
14. Craig Crawford Catcher Waterloo Twins
15. Terry Wiebe IF Surrey Ravens
16. Terry Wallin IF Toronto Gators
17. Randy Peck Catcher Toronto Gators

Terry Bator Head Coach
Bob Bugslag Asst Coach
Jim Haley Team Leader
Neil Fennell Ontario Tour Coordinator
Bob Baird Trainer
Mark Smith Support Staff
See the team!

SCHEDULE:
June 27 Toronto, ON Team Assembles Travel to Perth
June 28-30 Perth, ON Annual Perth "Shootout"
July 1 Port Perry Double Header Canadian National Team vs Toronto Gators
July 2 Woodstock Double Header Canadian National Team vs Waterloo Twins
July 3 Woodstock Double Header Canadian National Team vs Toronto Gators
July 5-13 Midland Michigan The ISF's

ONTARIO TOUR INFORMATION: NEIL FENNELL 613/267-2049 (evenings)
TEAM CANADA AT THE ISFs

SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1996
CANADA VS. MARIANA ISLANDS
Played on Diamond 1, 10:00am.Terry Bell pitching for Canada.
Max Pangelinan started for Mariana Islands Today was a banner day for Craig Crawford, catcher for Team Canada.
Craig hit three big home runs in the game and came within a few feet of a fourth home run in his final at-bat in the 7th inning.
HR # 1 top of 2nd inning.
HR # 2 top of 3rd inning.
HR # 3 top of 5th inning.
Pop fly to deep left field caught by left fielder.
Terry Bell had a perfect game going until the bottom of the 6th and a no hitter going until he walked a batter then let M. Guerrero hit a single. Bell ended the game with a one-hit shutout; 18K's
Final Score: Canada 10 and Mariana Islands 0.
Al Doran "At the Ballpark" in Midland Michigan

SUNDAY, JULY 7, 1996
CANADA VS KOREA
Played on Diamond 3, 10:40am.
Game delayed from Saturday, July 6.Korean team delayed in arriving in Midland (most suggest visa problems) and this game was moved to Sunday morning, diamond 3. Luckily, this diamond was out of the mainstream so that not too many had to witness what happened when these two teams met.

Due to language difficulties, it was difficult to verify facts but it appears that the Korean team is basically a baseball team. Further, their two "pitchers" appear to be anything but. (Speculation that any pitchers they may have had earlier could not obtain visas to enter the country).

Sunday morning started with overcast skies in Midland Michigan, and by about 10:15am a fairly steady rain had started. Most of the spectators moved to under the large trees by the riverbank, just behind Team Canada bench.

Michael "Peaches" Piechnik started this game for Team Canada. T.S. Jang started for Korea. Jang walked the first two batters from Canada and when Terry Wiebe stepped to the bat, he hit a 3-run homer. Jang had great problems getting the ball over the plate, let alone putting any speed on it. This was not a pretty site. Eventually, Jang switched positions with shortstop C.H. Yeo who had no more pitching skills than Jang.
Inning one was very long and Team Canada ended up on top 8-0.

Keep in mind that the mercy rule in this tournament is 20 after 2 AND it was raining during this "game".

Team Canada mostly continued to walk, finding it very difficult to find a pitch close enough to the plate to swing at. Eventually, catcher Doug Chase hit a grand slam home run making it 17-0 for Canada. The second inning ended at 18-0. Canada needed two more runs to invoke the mercy rule.

Craig Crawford continued his hot streak and hit a grand slam to make it 22-0 and the game was finally over.

Winning pitcher: Piechnik, in 3 innings, with 9 K's.
Grand slams by Doug Chase and Craig Crawford.
-Al Doran "At the Ballpark" in Midland Michigan for the 96 ISF's.

SUNDAY, JULY 7, 1996
CANADA VS. CZECH REPUBLIC
Played on Diamond 1, 2:00pm.Coach Terry Baytor, used the same line-up from the 10:00am Sunday game with Korea for this game. Speculation was that Team Canada would just as soon forget the morning disaster (disaster for Korea) so set the same line-up, including pitcher Michael Piechnik. Michael seemed happy to pretend this was the first game of the day, trying to forget the morning game with Korea.

In the first inning, Piechnik had a bit of a rough start. The first batter had a single for the Czech Republic and Michael hit the next batter. He then settled down and retired the side with 2 on.

Team Canada came on strong in their bottom half of the first with: Brian Paton, single, stole second.

Colin Abbott hit a double, with Paton scoring. RBI for Abbott. Doug Chase hit a single on an error.

Jeff Hurford hit a single, RBI as Abbott scored. Terry Wallin walked and loaded the bases.
Todd King hit a single but scored two runs.
5-0 for Canada after one inning.
Piechnik retired the Czechs 1-2-3 in the second inning.
Doug Chase was removed from the game and replaced by Randy Peck. It appeared Chase had some chest muscle problems.
In the Canadian half of the second inning:
Chris Jones walked.
Terry Wiebe hit a single.
C. Abbot, single, Jones out at 3rd.
C. Crawford, single, Abbott out at 3rd.
In the 3rd for Canada:
Hurford grounded out.
Wallin walked.
King grounded out.
Paton hit a single and drove in Wallin for an RBI.
Canada, 7-0 after three innings.
In the 4th inning:
Dave Hoffman moved to first and Todd King moved to Centre Field.
Paton and Hurford out of the game.
Dave Paetkau to left field.
In the fifth inning, Terry Bell came in to pitch for Team Canada.
In the 7th inning, Darren Zack came in to pitch for Canada.

Darren threw 3 KEs and the game was over with Canada winning 8-0 over the Czech Republic.

This game was played under bright sunny skies, as compared to the rain and cloud of the morning game with Korea. The afternoon was very hot and humid.
Al Doran "At the Ballpark" in Midland MI.

MONDAY, JULY 8, 1996
CANADA VS RUSSIA
Played on Diamond 2, 10:00amNo contest. Russia with only 9 personnel, including players, coaches and spares (no such thing) are a very young team, new to the game but full of ambition to play the game well. Short on equipment as well, this group of thin young teen-looking men came to the world tournament with only two bats. Along the way, other teams have donated some additional equipment.

During the tradition exchange of gifts before the game, Team Canada gave a number of new balls to the Russian team to help fill our their inventory a bit.

About as soon as this 11am game started, so did the rain. It had been a good morning to watch ball, warm but cloudy with temperatures around 72-75F. By 11:15am we had a steady rain, a bit of wind and cooler temperatures. Players hid their equipment under the grand stand and continued to play. A few hardy soles stayed in the stands but with umbrellas and assorted rain gear. Over at diamond 1, the main diamond, the game was rain delayed (as they have a \tunnelD for players and spectators to hang around in until the rain stops. But on diamond 2 there is no shelter so the game went on.

No match for the Canadians, the Russians allowed 8 runs in the first inning.
Terry Bell was pitching for Team Canada.

In the second inning, Dave Hoffman of Courtice ON (home team = Toronto Gators) hit a home run deep over the centre field fence.

Team Canada struck out 1-2-3 in the 3rd.

Jody Hennigar of Halifax NS (home team = The Farm) came in to pitch for Bell.
In the 4th, Terry Wallin of Saskatchewan (home team = Toronto Gators) walked; got to second on a single by Craig Crawford, and scored on a sac fly to deep centre field by Dave Hoffman.

By the end of 4, Canada were up 10-0.

Hennigar struck out Russia 1-2-3 in the fifth and Canada took the win 10-0 with the mercy rule (10 after 5).

About this time the skies really opened up and all games were put on hold for a few hours. In spite of this, once it was fit to play again, the organizers got everything back on track by using all 3 diamonds to play catch up. By 6:00pm, the fans were ready to watch the scheduled feature games of the evening.
Al Doran "At the Ballpark" in Midland MI.

MONDAY, JULY 8, 1996
CANADA @ USA
Played on Diamond 1
8PM FEATURE GAME OF THE EVENING.
This was the first real test for both of these major contenders. The fans turned out for this one. The park was filled to capacity, guessed to be 4,500 on diamond #1. There were also games going on at the other two diamonds, but this was the event fastpitch fans from far and wide came to see.

It was rumored that we would see the two greats, Darren Zack and Peter Meredith for the USA start against each other. It did not work out that way. Zack started for Team Canada and Doug Middleton started for Team USA. A wise choice by Team USA coach Russ Boice, as we will see later.

A perfect evening for a ball game. The temperature was in low 70s, low humidity, a bit of cloud, but a real nice evening.

The fans warmly welcomed both teams. I was sitting with a mix of US and Canadian fastpitch fans and we all observed that Team Canada got a bit of an edge on the reception from the fans as the teams and players were introduced. This may be because a few of the Canadian players are very well known in Midland, as they played for the Midland Explorers last year in the ASAs (Darren Zack and Craig Crawford).

Doug Middleton was hot for Team USA in the first inning, with 3 Ks in the first inning, against the three top hitters, Paton, Jones and Abbott.

Zack had little difficulty with the top 3 from USA, Boyer, Stevenson and Rychcik but he did have a lot of difficulty with the 3rd base umpire who on two occasions called him for illegal pitches. Team Canada coach Terry Baytor made it quite clear to this umpire that he did not agree and so did the whole audience. They were emphatic that they were there to see fastpitch and not 4 guys in blue outfits.

The first base umpire had to get into the act too when he called Canadian Terry Wiebe for leading off from first base. Again, most others there did not agree and told the boys in blue to get on with the game.

Mr. 3rd base umpire also was heard from again when he called Doug Middleton of Team USA for an illegal pitch. As one of my seat mates quipped "...the umpires are more up tight about this game than the two teams!..."

Both Zack and Middleton were awesome this evening, throwing a variety of pitches with very little results by the batters. Through the first five innings, lots of Ks and lots of pop ups and outs.

In the bottom of the 5th inning, David Boys got to second on an error. Up came Todd Schultz who also hit a double and drove in Boys for the go ahead and first run of the game making it 1-0 for Team USA.

Then, in the top of the 6th, Russ Boyce pulled Doug Middleton and put in Peter Meridith to pitch for Team USA. Peter is actually a New Zealander by birth and has even played for New Zealand in recent years but he is also now a US citizen and he is playing for the USA. Peter is a very well known pitcher and is now a regular with Larry Miller Toyota of Salt Lake City.

Then, the strangest thing happened, facing Todd King, he threw a change up! King hit it a ton for a double. My expert panel commented "... they did not bring Meredith in to throw change ups...."

Brian Paton came to bat and before he struck out, Todd King stole 3rd on a wild pitch by Meredith. Then, coach Baytor of Canada put in Dave Hoffman to pinch hit for Chris Jones. As I was explaining that Dave is a big hitter for the Toronto Gators, Hoffman hit a home run totally out of the park, making the score now Canada 2 and USA 1.

Team USA did nothing in their half of the 6th.

In the top of the 7th, Meredith threw to Terry Wiebe who hit a double to deep right field.

At this point, Russ Boice had had enough and pulled Meredith from the game. USA brought in the great Jimmy Moore to pitch to Team Canada. Even though Moore is now about 40 or 41, and plays only master-level fastpitch, he is still a well respected player. Some notes from the record book re Jimmy Moore:
-TWO perfect games in 1986 ISCs in Seattle.
-29 wins in ISC tournaments.

Ken Kivell of Owen Sound ON came in to run for Wiebe at first.
Doug Chase hit a single and Kivell stole third.
Terry Wallin hit by pitch, to first.
BASES LOADED - NO ONE OUT!
Jeff Hurford of Victoria BC hit a double, 2 RBIs.
Todd King, line drive, out.
Brian Paton, sac fly, scores Wallin.
Chris Jones of Oshawa ON (Toronto Gators) hit single and scores Hurford.
Canada now out in front of Team USA 6-1.
Zack takes out Team USA 1-2-3 in bottom of the 7th.
A standing ovation for the exhibition of great fastpitch and for the winners, Team Canada.
Canada now play the Netherlands on Wednesday at 1pm.
THERE IS STILL LOTS OF GOOD BALL LEFT and seats are not reserved so come on down to Midland Michigan and see the race to the finish.
Al Doran "At the Ballpark" in Midland MI.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 1996
CANADA VS NETHERLANDS
Played on Diamond 2, 1:00pmMichael Piechnik pitching for Canada
Erwin Visser pitching for Netherlands
First Inning
Todd King, double
Colin Abbott, single
Jody Hennigar, single, RBI
Dave Hoffman, double
Crawford and Wallin ground out.

Today is a bright sunny day with fairly low humidity. Lots of sun but occasional clouds, big white ones with no threat of rain today. Temperatures in mid 70Es, ideal for watching ball.

This game was held on Emerson diamond 2, which is a small park when it comes to bleachers, but probably holds about 600 in a pinch. Today the park is almost full; mostly Canadian supporters.
Second Inning
Dave Paetkau, bunt single
Chris Jones, bunt single
T. King, passed ball, runners advance, K
Terry Wiebe, single, Paetkau out at home
Colin Abbott walked, bases loaded
Jody Hennigar, grand slam home run!
Dave Hoffman, home run into hot dog alley, over first and second fence and then into the concession stand to hit a chip wagon on the roof.
Craig Crawford, home run off the same concession stand.
Pitcher change, H. Martes
Terry Wallin, pop out.
5th inning
Chris Jones, hit batter, walks to first
Todd King. walked
Ken Kivell, triple
Randy Peck, walked
Jody Hennigar, second home run of the day
Game over after five innings due to the mercy rule.
Piechnik threw 11 Ks
This game was NOT a good test for Team Canada. Although Netherlands have 3 wins to their four losses, they have mainly beaten very weak teams.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 1996
CANADA VS PUERTO RICO Played on Diamond 1, 6:00pmCanada goes into this game with a 6 & 0 record while Puerto Rico has a 4 and 3 record.
Darren Zack pitching for Team Canada.
Victor Floores pitching for Puerto Rico.
1st inning
Brian Paton, K
Terry Wiebe, double
Colin Abbot walked
Jody Hennigar, single
Dave Hoffman, passed ball and Wiebe scores.
Canada 1 and Detroit press not printed today.
Zack threw 20K's without even trying today.
Canada 1
Puerto Rico 0

THURSDAY, JULY 11, 1996
CANADA VS MEXICOUndefeated Canada take on once-defeated Mexico (beaten last night by USA).
Terry Bell is the Canadian pitcher for tonight.
1st inning for Mexico:
1,2,3 with two KEs for Bell
1st Inning for Canada:
21 Brian Paton, walked but out in attempted steal to second.
29 Todd King, bunt, safe at 1st
10 Terry Wiebe, walked, King stole 3rd
20 Colin Abbott, grounder, safe at first; Wiebe out at 2nd, ball to 1st leaves park, Abbott moved to 2nd; King scored; Canada now 1-0
26 Dave Hoffman, double, ball fumbled at 1st, scored Abbott score now Canada 2-0
2 Doug Chase; Mexico manager to home plate umpire; Chase hitting out of order; Out
30 Terry Wallin, K
2nd inning for Mexico:
single, pop up, single, K,K, 2 left on base
2nd inning for Canada:
Wallin, single on first pitch
Wallin steals 2nd on passed ball
Jones, single to mid centre
Paton, sac fly, Wallin scores
King, blooper single
Wiebe, pop up, out
Abbott, HOME RUN!, scores 3
Canada 6-0
pitching change for Mexico
Chase, pop to left, out
3rd for Mexico:
ground out, single, pop out, single, K; two left on base.
3rd for Canada:
Dave Hoffman, HOME RUN!
Canada now 7-0
Herford, ground out
Wallin, double to centre
Jones, pop out
Paten, to left, out
Another GREAT evening in the park at Midland Michigan. Bright sunny evening, temperatures in low 70s not much humidity. Main stadium about 50% full for this early game, but filling up a bit for later match between USA and Korea.
4th for Mexico:
ground out, ground out, K
4th for Canada
King, pop out
Wiebe, walk
6 Dave Paetkau; stand-up triple to deep right along foul line; scored Wiebe
Canada 8-0
Chase and Peck out
5th for Mexico
Jody Hennigar of Nova Scotia in to pitch for Bell
Ken Kivell of Owen Sound ON in at 2nd
line drive, out, K, K
5th for Canada
Wallin, Kivell, Jones, in field outs
6th for Mexico
pop out, K, walked, K, one left on base
6th for Canada
Paton, ground out
King, walked
Paetkau, single
Chase, K, two left on base
7th for Mexico
double, ground out, K, pop out, one left on base.
CANADA WINS 8-0 OVER MEXICO

Not a great test for Canada, Mexico not showing any reason why they won all but one of previous games (lost last evening against USA).

The cotangent of Mexican fans was very quiet this evening. Last evening they were very vocal, singing and chanting the whole evening in the midst of a large USA audience. Same audience tonight but the spark was not there.

CANADA TAKES FIRST PLACE IN THE A BRACKET AND PLAYS AT 9AM FRIDAY, JULY 12 AGAINST B BRACKET SECOND PLACE TEAM, JAPAN.

SECOND PLACE USA IN A BRACKET PLAY FIRST PLACE NEW ZEALAND FROM B BRACKET AT 11AM.

Strong contingent of fans from southern Ontario arrive during the day today for the Friday and Saturday champion ship rounds.

FRIDAY, JULY 12, 1996
CANADA VS JAPAN - GAME 1
Played on Diamond 1, 9:00amErrors almost cost Canada this win. A two-run homer by Doub Chase of BC enabled Canada to pull this win out in the bottom of the 7th.

Five errors by Team Canada gave Japan a chance to beat Darren Zack, who was throwing a good game, 11Ks. A Japan error in the 3rd inning gave Canada their first run. Terry Wallin of the Toronto Gators led off with a walk. Chase followed with a sacrifice bunt attempt but an attempt to steal by Wallin led to a bad throw by Japan went high over the fielders head and both runners scored.

Yoshiro Umeshita and Hiroyuki Komin ami scored for Japan in the top of the 4th on a single by Shinji Eguchi.

Akihto Oogi threw a complete game for Japan and too the loss with 6 Ks.
As ISC Commissioner (for Ontario) quipped: "...this is what you call Winning Ugly..."
CANADA 4 - JAPAN 2

FRIDAY, JULY 12, 1996
GAME 7 OF PLAYOFFS
CANADA VS JAPAN - GAME 2A pair of home runs by Canada's power hitters and 13 Ks by left handed Michael Piechnik of BC led Canada to a win over Japan, the second of the day.

Jody Hennigar (plays for The Farm) from NS gave Canada a 2-0 lead in the first inning with a home run, scoring fellow Nova Scotian Todd King. Hennigar and Colin Abbott from NF (plays for Green Bay All Car) both added an RBI in the 3rd scoring King and Chris Jones (plays for Toronto Gators).

Dave Hoffman (also plays for Toronto Gators) from Oshawa ON led of the 6th with a solo home run.

Tomoaki Okamoto had one of Japans three hits, with a home run in the 2nd.
CANADA 5 JAPAN 1
both teams advance to Saturday playoffs.

SATURDAY, JULY 13, 1996-8:00pm
1996 ISF CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
MIDLAND MICHIGAN, USA
CANADA VS NEW ZEALAND
Darren Zack pitching for Canada.
Michael White pitching for NZ.
Before the game started, the NZ team performed their Haku, traditional dance/chant of challenge before the fans, facing the opposition. This is one of the most exciting non-ball events of the tournament. NZ performs this ritual before every game in the tournament, scaring the heck out of some countries that did not know what is coming. Earlier today, Canada avoided the Kiwis and headed to the outfield for a team meting. The entire NZ team followed them to the outfield, faced them in formation and performed the ritual. For this game,, the championship game, Canada lined up along the 1st base line, arms crossed, basically standing at attention while the NZ team performed.

1. NZ:
Dean Rice 2nd at bat and umpire on first calls illegal pitch on Zack. The capacitiy crowd did not want to hear this and blasted the first base umpire.

Zack strikes out Mark Sorenson (reputed to be the best hitter in the world) and OH NO, our friendly umpire on first base calls Illegal Pitch on Zack again. This time the umpire got about five minutes of standing boos and insults. Turns the umpire is a local guy who lies to show boat and loves the boos and such. Seveal comments from the regulars who say this guy has ruined a few good tournaments.

(Luckily this man in blue settles down and does not call any more illegal pitches event though both pitchers are basically thawing the same way that Zack was when called).

CA
Todd King, called out at the plate due to out of the box.
Chris Jones, K
Colin Abbott, chopper, out

2.
NZ
Martin K, Walford K, Matai K.
CA
Hennigar, ground out
Hoffman and Wiebe each K
NZ
Taikato K, Wilson out at 1st, Nahunuku K.
CA
Crawford, ground out
Hurford, K
Wallin, fly to CF, out

4.
NZ
Perenera, K; Rice K, Sorenson a single; Martin a K, 1 left on. CA
Todd King, K
Chris Jones, pop up, out.
Colin Abbott, line to first near ground, nice trap by Martin for the out.
ATTENDANCE ANNOUNCED AS 7,400 for the evening!

5.
NZ
Walford K, T. Maiti, triple to RF;
D. Taikato, slap to get single, runner Maiti scores.
T. Wilson; single
F. Wyatt, walked
Makea, blooper, out.
CA
Hinigar, Hoffman, Wieve each had Ks

6.
NZ
Grounder, out.
Sorenson, fly to right field, out.
Martin, bunt, safe at 1st
Walford, home run!
Matai, K
NZ 3-0 CA
Crawford, line to 1st, out
Hurford and Chase had Ks.

7.
CA
Canada goes down 1-2-3, with 2 Ks for White.
NEW ZEALAND WINS 4-0, a no hitter and perfect game for Michael White.
Al Doran (at the Ballpark) in Midland, MI