may2006

Jarvis Merchants Fastball Challenge - May 19-22nd

May 10, 2006

Jarvis, ON


JARVIS, ONTARIO


Jarvis Merchants 3rd Annual Fastball Challenge

The final preparations are being made as the community of Jarvis and the
Merchants prepare to welcome back fastball to the Victoria Day weekend
in Jarvis.  From the late 70's through to the early 90's, the Jarvis
Lion's club held a top level intermediate fastball tournament over the
Victoria Day holiday weekend.  Top level intermediate teams from across
the province attended what started out as a 16 team double elimination
tournament that concluded on the holiday Monday with a fireworks display
sponsored by the Jarvis Lions club and local businesses.  The tournament
and weekend festivities slowly shrunk through the late 90's to the point
where in 2005, the ball diamonds and community park in Jarvis were empty
for the first time in 27 years over the long weekend.  When a scheduling
conflict in June forced the Merchants to relocate their tournament in
2005, the executive decided to try an revive the history of the Jarvis
Victoria Day weekend tournament by changing their date in 2006.  The
result is their strongest field in the Challenge's three year history.
The hope is to be able to develop into the tournament into the first
stop of the summer for the Senior teams in Ontario, Michigan and the
Northern parts of the Eastern States.  With that said, the Merchant
executive and the community of Jarvis would like to welcome the
following teams to the Jarvis Merchants 3rd Annual Fastball Challenge.

St Thomas Evergreen Centennials - defending Canadian Champions and
winners of the 2005 Challenge.  Ranked #16 in the ISC preseason
rankings, the Centennials will be led by the pitching of the legendary
Darren Zack and Trevor Wardell.  Darren makes a return to the Jarvis,
where he is remember from pitching for Garden River in the Victoria Day
tournament in the early 80's.

Kitchener Hallman Twins - the Twins are currently ranked #3 and finished
2005 with 3rd place finishes at both the ISC WT and the Canadian
Championships.  Led by the pitching staff of Todd Martin, Paul Koert and
Don Scott, the Twins will be one of the teams that everyone will be
gunning for in 2006.  Even though the Twins will be missing the services
of a couple of players due to the Canadian National Team camp, fans will
enjoy watching the hosts of the next two ISC WT.

Heflin Gremlins - Tom McAvoy brings in the #10 ranked Heflin team that
is led by the bat of Frankie Perez and the pitching of Paul Algar and
Brian Urquhart.  An explosive team that has a history of making noise
come the WT.

Midland Explorers - the #12 Explorers make their first trip to the
Challenge and will be led the bat of Kyle Beane and the arms of Doug
Gillis and Grant Patterson.  Patterson returns to the Explorer fold
where he enjoyed his best season in 2004.

Niagara Snappers- the Snappers, who are member of the ISC travel league
of Eastern Canada, are ranked #2 in the ISC II preseason rankings.  The
Snapper surprised a lot of people with their offensive fire power in
their first year of the travel league.

Ohsweeken Redmen - the Redmen are in their first year of Senior ball and
are led by the pitching of veteran Mike Joseph and the young Rory
Miller.  Ohsweeken is entered in the ISC travel league and will be
looking to make a stand in their first tournament of the year.

Oshawa BB's - the BB's make their return to the Challenge in 2006.  The
junior team is guided by the veteran leadership of Todd Idenouye.  The
BB's are looking to improve on their 2005 4th place finish at the
Canadian Junior Championships.

Jarvis Merchants - the host Merchants are looking to improve on their
4th place finish at the 2005 Canadian Championships.  The Merchants, who
won the first Challenge in 2004, are looking to get back to the finals
in '06.  While they will be without the services of Andrew Phibbs, Scott
Wagar will team with Jamie Simpson to handle the pitching duties as they
kick off their 2006 season

Schedule:
Fri. May 19th
Jarvis - Ohsweeken 7:00
Niagara - Oshawa 7:00
Jarvis - St Thomas 9:00
Kitchener - Midland 9:00

Sat. May 20th
Midland - Oshawa (10:30am)
Heflin - Ohsweeken (10:00am)
Kitchener - Niagara (12:30pm)
St Thomas - Heflin (12:00pm)
Kitchener - Oshawa (2:30pm)
St Thomas - Ohsweeken (2:00pm)
Jarvis - Heflin (4:30pm)
Niagara - Midland (4:00pm)

EG#1 - 3rd Pool A vs 4th Pool B (8:30pm)
EG#2 - 3rd Pool B vs 4th Pool A (8:00pm)

Sun. May 21st
10:00am
Quarter Final #1- 2nd A vs Winner of EG#2
Quarter Final #2 - 2nd B vs Winner of EG#1

12:00pm
Semi Final #1 - 1st B vs winner of QF#1
Semi Final #2 -1st A vs winner of QF#2

2:00pm
Championship Final

In addition to the Senior tournament, the Merchants will also be running
an intermediate tournament over the same weekend that will conclude on
the Monday afternoon.  The Cayuga Rebels, Caledonia Sox, St Thomas
Storm, Fisherville A's, Jarvis Rock, and the Motown Muscle.

With the return of fastball action to the park, the Jarvis Lions Club
will be preparing their traditional BBQ 1/2 Chicken dinner that was a
hit for both fans and players for a number of years.  Cooking will be
started early Sunday morning with the first dinner being served at 1pm
Sunday afternoon. 

The Jarvis Lions Park is located on the southeast corner of the Highway
#3 and #6 intersection. 
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