On behalf of the Hill United Chiefs, our sponsors the ever generous Hill Family, and the Simcoe Braves, I would like to thank the world class  teams, the knowledgeable fans and all the hard working volunteers who made our first Chiefs Challenge in Lions Park , Simcoe a huge success over Canada Day weekend. Special thanks to George Ryder who championed the field maintenance, and the Braves players led by Adam Walker, who worked like professionals in keeping the diamonds in great shape, the benches clean , water cold for players and officials, and did what ever was asked when we needed help. The Braves parents and fan support group, thank you all for looking after admissions and 50-50, you were the first point of contact with fans and truly set the tone for a fun weekend in the ball park

 

 To Bruce Bierman and Lou Davis who acted as UIC's for the tournament  and to all the umpires who worked multiple games in very hot game conditions, thanks for being part of a world class event by providing your many years of officiating experience.

 

Naturally it is always the unsung heroes who really make things happen, and I cannot say enough about the work of Ginger and Dean Smith for everything they did not only during the weekend but in the months of preparation leading up to it.  To Hub Fehrman and his scoring team, thank you for your professionalism in scoring and announcing through the 19 games of the tournament. I would be remiss in not thanking both Gary Baughman and Al Doran for turning scoresheets into our primary point of communication to the rest of the softball world through Al's Fastball. Thanks as always for the pre-tournament work Al and to both of you for the great, timely job on getting scores out.

 

The eight team lineup for this event featured seven top ten ranked ISC teams; it doesn't get any better than that. Congratulations to this years champions, the New York Gremlins who battled hard all weekend and knocked the host Chiefs out of the playoffs early. Likewise to Bear Bottom Lodge who battled their way to a second place finish after losing to the Chiefs in the preliminary round. Kudos to both the Niagara Stompers and the Kitchener Cubs who earned their birth in the 2019 ISC World Tournament by making it to the final four Sunday playoff . Outstanding fastball by all of eight teams, all weekend.

 

The Hill family and the Chiefs are proud to donate the bulk of the profits from this tournament  to the Simcoe Braves, as they prepare to travel to western Canada for their own National tournament later this summer. In a very class act move the champion New York Gremlins also made a sizeable donation from their travel winnings back to the Braves.

 

This tournament was a whole new organizational adventure, having never worked in Simcoe before. That said, the County of Norfolk was very accommodating and in particular we had tremendous support from Special Events Coordinator Marie Steiner and Parks manager Adam Kannawin. Thank you both for all the assistance in the tournament build up.

 

Finally, my personal thanks to the entire Hill family and Tim and Cindy Tota, who not only financed the Chiefs Challenge but worked all weekend on food preparation and sales and on setting up a tremendous refreshment garden with cold beverages, live music and truly great softball camaraderie happening all 3 days. For a town that has not experienced big time softball for decades Simcoe was a great venue and Friday night was a reunion of old time players and fans, not soon forgotten. Without great sponsors this game would never be able to bring world class teams to small town Ontario. The Hill family is one of the few gold standards in keeping our game alive.

 

The Hill family and the Chiefs hope all of you will keep the Canada Day weekend open again next year for the 2020 edition of the Hill United Chiefs Challenge.

 

Sincerely,

Larry Lynch,

Tournament Chair

 

 

The trophy is actually a piece of First Nations art, the Mohawk War Club, symbolic of clubs used by the Mohawk tribe when it went into battle, taking on all challengers. The New York Gremlins took on 6 teams en route to their tournament victory in Simcoe, the war club is symbolic of that success.

 

 

 

 

 Andrew Kirkpatrick is presented with a piece of locally made First Nation's art by a Simcoe Braves player, in winning the most valuable pitcher award at the Hill United