Weekend Blog June 16, 2009-06-16
June 16, 2009
Midland, MI
Weekend Blog June 16, 2009-06-16
Well we are a day late and a dollar short, well maybe more than a dollar short, we made a side trip in to Birch Run near Frankenmuth on the return trip from Midland Michigan on Monday. You don’t drive into the second largest outlet mall in the world and get away with only spending a dollar, not in this family. But that is only part of the fun of making the annual trip to Midland for the Explorer’s Boulevard Lounge Tournament.
While on the topic of Birch Run, which is near Frankenmuth, they are hosting the ISC Development tournament there coming up soon, July 10-12 at Heritage Park in Frankenmuth, MI. Both age groups will be there. “
We would like to have more American teams enter. I am not sure if the under 23 players stick together or not, but we would like to see more of them, too. We have a team from Wisconsin, Illinois, Newmarket, Munger and Frankenmuth lined up so far for the 23's, and 8 Canadian and two American teams for the under 19. If there are individuals that would like to come and play from anywhere, we would probably find a spot on a team for them too.” tomstasik@gmail.com We had a simply great time in Midland this year. The ball was great, the weather was outstanding, and made fools of the weatherman on more than one occasion. I have said it before; Currie Stadium in Emerson Park in Midland, MI is the best fastball stadium in North America. This year’s tournament served dual purposes, it was one of the best Explorer tournaments in years and representatives from the ISC saw the complex and the city in action.
I first met the Midland Explorers, the 1994 edition, on the flight from Toronto to Halifax then over to Charlottetown for the 1994 ISC World Tournament (my first). I had struck up a conversation with a number of the Explorers and was convinced to come and visit Midland in 1995, for their Red Coat Classic. I did make the trip the following year and was totally impressed by the city itself, Emerson Park, the Currie Stadium within it, and most of all by the friendly people in Midland who support fastball. I had such a good time that I went back the same summer for the ASA nationals, a much bigger and longer tournament. Darren Zack played for the Explorers in the ASA’s that summer.
I was back to Midland again in 1996 for the ISF World Championships, ten days of ball with international teams where we got to hear the team from South Africa sing like I have never heard before. We saw local teams donate their fastball equipment to the visiting team from the USSR. We saw Canada leading Korea 18-0 after two innings in the pouring rain and the mercy rule was 20 in 2 so we had to play 3 more innings. We sat side with fans from New Zealand play a game on diamond 2 (Emerson 2) and joked with them, and then on the final day, we sat like armed camps in Currie Stadium as Michael White threw a perfect game for the Black Sox to defeat our beloved Canadian National Team. It was a week to remember, a week where I met so many of the fans I still call my friends to this day, and we all remember Midland.
I have been back to Midland almost every year since then and love the place, any fastball fan would.
Ever since those early days I have encouraged both the ISC and the good folks of Midland to plan for an ISC World Tournament in Midland. Finally we get our wish, the World Tournament and the ISC II Tournament of Champions will be held in Midland in August 2010. I can’t wait!
The Boulevard Lounge Tournament was a great tournament this year and has been written up by our hard working host, Kyle Beane, see http://tinyurl.com/nol6ua
I will add my own congratulations to the First Ontario Jarvis Gamblers who went undefeated in the ISC division and won the tournament. They defeated Argentina 2-1 in the final game. Argentina played well all weekend.
.Midland Explorers earn and accept WT berth as highest finishing US East Team
.Paul Koert of Jarvis named Most Valuable Pitcher
.Gustavo Guerinerri of Argentina named Most Valuable Hitter
The Michigan Twisters seemed to come out of nowhere to win the ISC II Division.
.Michigan Twisters defeated Bridgeport to win the tournament
. Twisters (highest finishing US East team) and Bridgeport (highest finishing non-US East team) have the first right of acceptance for berths to the ISC II tournament
.Rick Engle of the Twisters named Most Valuable Pitcher
. Jason Hoisington of the Twisters named Most Valuable Hitter.
Tim Murphy, pitcher for the Duncan (IN) Outlaws, who was hit in the head on Saturday night with a line drive. Tim stayed Monday night at the hospital in Midland, but was looking to go home today. Kyle heard from the Duncan manager, Matt Miller, that Tim and his family are very grateful for all the support and wishes from the softball community.
A lot of great ball played on the weekend so congratulations to all the teams that participated. A good crew for the blue team, although I missed my buddies from the East Coast, maybe we will see you in Monkton. I am glad that Kyle Beane took the time to single out many of the key volunteers on the weekend; Midland has a solid base of supporters.
Other weekend tournaments. There were lots of them.
June 12-14, Grafton, ON - Annual Jim Bradford Memorial Classic
Thanks to Steve Bedard for getting us a schedule well in advance and for his timely results. Our scouts tell us that Steve ran a quality tournament again this year and all agreed it was the best in years.http://tinyurl.com/nrjdqu
12-14, 2009, Montgomery, AL - Blue and Gray Tournament - ISC Qualifier Now this is an odd one. We did not even get a schedule and this is one of the traditionally big tournaments. We got the end result but not much detail. We did get a lot of inquires as after all, it was an ISC Qualifier – one would think we would know, I guess.
June 12-14, 2009, Green Bay, WI - Townline Tournament - ISC Qualifier We had been told this was cancelled and marked it as such on our tournament page and then someone said today it was played anyway. What goes on?
The PRE-ISF Tour – we continue to be impressed with the communities sending in reports of the International teams playing exhibition games in Canada and the USA. This week we will see the Canadian National Team playing exhibition games in Ontario. The schedule we have is at the following link and it has results linked in where provided:
http://www.alsfastball.com/uploads/File/2009%20Files/2009%20Pre%20ISF%20Tour.htmThere is a rumour going around that Team USA may be playing some exhibition games but we have yet to be told of any of them officially.
Coming up next weekend:
June 19-21
Three ISC Qualifiers THIS weekend and we have NO teams or schedules yet!
We have received a number of inquiries about the Portland Demarini Cup but we have not had a chance to send a reminder, until now! It would be nice if all tournaments send in their schedules in advance.
Yes, we do have schedules for both of the ISC II qualifiers in Ontario and I know we will receive timely updates next weekend.
NOTE: Al's Fastball will be on site, tentatively:
June 5-7 - Kitchener, ON - Legends Tournament
June 12-14 - Midland, MI - Explorers Tournament
July 2-5 - Monkton, ON - Annual World Fastball Invitational
July 17-26 - Saskatoon, SK - ISF World Championship
August 14-21, Quad Cities - ISC World Tournament and ISC ToC
August 30 - Sep 6 - St. Thomas, ON - Canadian Senior Men's Championships
