Third time is a charm for Mitchell native Jody Eidt, who was named the most valuable player for the third time at the International Softball Congress (ISC) world championships in Wisconsin this past week.
Eidt, who plays third base for the Kitchener Rivershark Twins, hit a two-run home run with one out in the top of the seventh inning to snap a 3-3 tie in the championship game against the Saskatoon Aspen Interiors, and lead a 6-3 win and give the ISC world title to the Kitchener-based team.
Eidt, the 34-year-old son of Dave and Joyce Eidt of Mitchell, is only the third player ever to win the MVP award three times, having won back-to-back in 2003 and 2004 as a member of the ISC champion Broken Bow Spirit.
“I was really surprised this time. I didn’t fare well in the final game except for that final at-bat. But for the MVP award, it’s when you got your hits that matter, not the stats so much. I think it had to do more with the win than the play all week.
“It was nice, dad was there again to watch, and so was other family and friends.”
Kitchener, who had never won the ISC world title, was unbeaten in the world tournament, which began Aug. 10 in Kimberley, Wisconsin, but they worked overtime to defeat Saskatoon on two occasions on the tournament's final day this past Saturday, Aug. 16.
Trailing Saskatoon 8-3 midway through their game Sunday at noon, Kitchener rallied, thanks in part to a home run by Eidt to lead off the ninth and second extra inning, in an eventual thrilling 10-9 win in 13-innings which put the Rivershark Twins directly in the final. Saskatoon defeated N.Y. Patsy's to earn a shot at redemption, and they led 3-0 after five-and-a-half innings. But shutting the powerful Kitchener offense for an entire game is a difficult task, and it was their balanced attack which brought them all the way back.
Patrick Shannon and Blair Ezekiel hit solo home runs in the sixth inning to draw Kitchener close, then Ryan Wolfe went deep with one out in the seventh to knot the game at 3-3. After a walk, and a pitching change, Eidt hit an 0-2 pitch deep to right-center to break the tie for good and send the Rivershark Twins to the title.
Eidt said Saskatoon pitcher Dean Holoein was throwing nothing but hard rise balls in the final, a different tactic than the game earlier in the day when he threw mostly drop balls. When Ezekiel hit the home run to bring the Kitchener team within a run, Eidt said the bench picked up and he said you could feel a sense of confidence return and the knowledge that they could win.
“As soon as Zeke hit and made it 3-2, everybody turned the corner and started to believe that we had a chance...of course, Wolfe stepped up like he always does,” he continued.
“As soon as we got it to 3-3, I don’t think there was anybody in our dugout that thought there was a chance we were going to lose that game.”
Eidt described the final at-bat, noting he fell behind 0-2 on good friend Trevor Ethier, a member of the Canadian national team he’s known for years.
“I was looking for a first pitch rise ball and as he was winding up a bug flew right in my eye, I’m not kidding. It was almost like I saw two balls coming at me. He threw me the exact pitch I was looking for and I missed it.
“Now I’m flustered - I’m thinking, I could strike out four times in a row in the final, but I told myself to relax. I’ve had good luck being behind 0-2 all week, so this was nothing new. I was fortunate it got out of the park.”
Eidt said he was thrilled with the way the victory happened, but felt bad it had to hit the home run off Ethier.
“I love to win, and I just hate to see your really good friends lose,” he said. “Since we’ve been to the national team we’ve got to know each other really well, he plays hard and he’s a great teammate. It bounced our way.”
Eidt said the championship - his third - was special because he had a chance to experience it with longtime friends like Don Scott, Dave Bailey and Derek Shackleton who he played against and with for so many years in the South Perth Men’s Fastball League (those three still play for the Sebringville Sting).
“It’s nice to hand out awards and stuff, but the best part of this for me was sharing with the guys I grew up playing against and with,” he said. “It was the first time for all of them. When you win your first one, you don’t know what to do, you jump around and stuff, but the third time, you sit back and watch everybody else celebrate and that was really, really cool. That was the best part for me.”
Eidt said the championship - just the second for a Canadian based team ever - was also special for sponsors Jim Hallman and Bob Nydick, who merged operations this season with the formation of Kitchener and Orillia to form the basis of the Rivershark Twins.
“Our sponsors are really good guys - they’re more than sponsors they’re friends,” he said. “Sponsors are getting harder and harder to come by in our game and we have two of the best ones, so it was awesome to win it for them.”
The ISC championship was also the first time two Canadian-based teams squared off in the final.
“It was a pretty special week, that’s for sure,” he said.
