This week in Fastball by Dennis Dosman

July 1, 2010

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Happy Canada Day to everyone...and "Maz"....Happy Fourth!!!!

The big news is the results of the Legends of Fastball Classic at Peter Hallman this past weekend.....

Great to see good friends back at the Ball Yard watching some great fastball

The later date, the ten team format, the addition of the Junior Future of Fastball Division, all made for a very entertaining weekend...busy but entertaining...and fun....

The ISC rankings may take a bit of a rejigging in the next poll,  but the fact remains that a lot of great teams were at Peter Hallman Ball Yard for a classic Legends of Fastball Classic.


Everyone at the park knew that the Kitchener Hallman RiverShark Twins were a great team, two ISC World titles the past two years, an Ontario OASA picked up at Hillside in Waterloo last year, and Canadian title won down the road in St Thomas, a couple of nice additions to the roster over the winter,

Everyone at the park wanted to see just how good this Jarvis team was going to be.  A solid club last year, good run at the Canadian Senior Men's last year in St Thomas and then the partnership announced a few weeks ago with Doc Simmon's Broken Bow Travelers, Would those spiffy uniforms that Doc's teams are famous for be filled with mojo or  would it be talent but no drive

And everyone at the ball park knew that  New York Gremlins looked great, they had  a lot of quality,  including hard hitting local favorite "Red" Levy,  Paul Koert, Bill Hillhouse,  Frank DeGroat, Landy Rodriguez....a solid team ...

Eveyone at the ball park knew that Midland Explorers were going to be building  a good club to challenge for the ISC World Championship being held in their ball park in Michigan with a few top quality signings...including KW favorite Craig Crawford.

And everyone at the ball park was wondering who in the world is the Chicago/NewYork Dominicana?  Where did they come from.....lots of big names, but is there "any chemistry"  Was the Midland tournament win a couple of weeks ago real?

And how good were the Ontario Intermediate clubs, the former ISC II clubs, would they stand in and hit the flame throwers on the ISC WT teams....would their pitchers be able to get their rise and drops  past the big hitters? Would their change-ups screw a few big batters into the ground?  The seedings had 6 of the top 10 ISC clubs looking to have the four former ISC II clubs for lunch...."What is the mercy rule?" said some of the fans as they sat down to watch a "Big Club" start to chew on a "Intermediate"....Well, a couple of those big clubs got indigestion.....

At the end of the weekend, the top clubs did make it to the semis and the finals, with Jarvis beating Dominicana in the championship game...outhitting them 7 to 6 and outscoring them 4 to 3....Trevor Ethier and Adam Folkard combined for the win,  Sean Cleary went the distance for NY/Chicago....

Settled?...is Jarvis now No 1?...What would the score have been with  Jeremy Manley on the rubber? ...3 and 0 in pool play and winner of the pitching award for the Legends tournament....Manley did not face Jarvis in the final....or should it be Jarvis did not face Jeremy in the final.....

And Jarvis lost to the NY Gremlins...Bryan Newton and Bill Hillhouse on the rubber against Adam Folkard and Trevor Ethier.  Nine innings later...NY 3 and Jarvis 2...If Jarvis is hoping to move to # one....how far behind do you place the Gremlins??

Certainly behind the Dominicana's who  reached the final with a 7 to 1 win over the NY Gremlins....Sean Cleary got the win, Paul Koert tagged with the loss

Jarvis outhit the Hallman Rivershark Twins 7 to 4 and picked up the semi final win 3 runs  to 2 with Ethier and Folkard the winning pitching combo...Grant Patterson and Todd Martin combined for the RTwins loss...So, if Jarvis is now #1...who is #2, Hallman Rivershark Twins or Dominicana



And those Intermediate Clubs...how did they do....how far will they advance in the rankings prior to Midland???

Well, lets look at the Elmira Expos....nice club, tight, young but  maturing, good leadership, looking like they are settling in...   .....taking on the #6 ranked Midland Explorers...and winning 11 to 5 on Saturday..

and earlier in the day....taking the R Twins to two extra innings tied at 1 after 7, held Kitchener in the 8th but finally failed to hold off the power hitting RTwins giving up 4 in the top of the 9th...what a performance by a great South Perth League team.

How high does Elmira jump in the next rankings??

Other very respectable scores in the battle between the seniors and the intermediates....Jarvis 3 Port Elgin 1, Chicago/NY  3 to 0 over Niagara Snappers, Jarvis 4 KW Cubs 2, a

The top batting average.....Elmira's Ryan Shannon...at 6 for 10.....600 to lead all batters in the tournament, Blake Miller was second at .570, Brad Ezekiel (4 for 8)and Grant Baechler (5 for 10) tied for 3rd at .500 .....Ben Wideman 5th at .440....some pretty good hitters in the South Perth League....

Home Runs....another story, only 9 homers...and 7 were in the park...only 2 made it beyond the 300 foot fence..(for those who were not there... yes 300 feet)  ..one bouced off the yellow pipe, hit the outfield homerun screen and bounced back in. Owen Sound felt it was a double,..but it was out...barely.... Outfielders were calling for cab rides, or looking for bicyles to chase down some line drives to the gaps...and speedy types like Ryan Wolfe were adding 60  additional feet to doubles hit to the gap, coming  to third base....standing..

 and I thought I spend a lot of time going around in circles during a ball tournament..

Of the 9 homers...5 by  "senior clubs"  Selects, Gremlins, Gremlins, R Twins and Jarvis, and 4 by the "intermediates"  Cubs, Cubs, Niagara and Elmira

Owen Sound Verge Select Brad Robinson picked up the award for outstanding hitting...couldn't really call it the Home Run award ....Brad had one home run, but his RBI production of 5...gave him the "Power Hitting" award....

And on top of all that action, ....we also had a great field of four junior teams, Fingal, Waterloo, Brantford, and Linwood on the 3rd Peter Hallman diamond.

Last year, on the Monkton weekend, during the Home Run Derby,  a few of us drove over to Mitchell, and watched a few OASA junior games.  It was great  to see so many junior clubs playing, several from the KW area, including the Waterloo Hallman Twins, the KW Predators, the KW Kardinals, the Maryhill Jrs, Linwood Juniors all from within a half hour of KW...add in Mitchell, and Tavistock,  seven local junior teams... ...so with so many local junior teams, the Legends commitee made a commitment to youth fastball and decided to add a junior division...perhaps a "Future of Fastball" to the "Legends of Fastball Classic" 

Four teams showed up, and Fingal, home town of Coach/Tournament Chair, ISC Hall of Famer Larry Lynch, took home the first championship with a win over the Waterloo Hallman Twins. 

After Saturday pool play three teams tied for first place, and on Sunday they decided who would be the better club on this weekend.

Fingal and Brantford had the breakfast game at 9am..1st vs 4th ..and Fingal had the game won in the first inning with 2 runs, added 5 in the second and 1 in the third..for a 8 - 0 five inning win..Corey Alverton was the winning pitcher for Fingal....Jeff Barver took the loss for Brantford....and another Statts hits the scorebook, the catcher for the Brantford Heat, Chris Staats, son of Al and Cheryl....and there was a Lynch on the Fingal squad, (nephew of you know who)

Linwood and Waterloo took the Sunday brunch game slot and Waterloo got the win over the juniors from the north side of the Region 8 to 0....The winning pitcher for the Twins, Cody Price, with Jake Albrecht catching,  Price had a single to help his cause.  Dave Juniper took the Linwood loss..Ben Hodgins the catcher...  Blake Underwood went 2 for 4, Home run and 3 RBIs. and Corey Tinline a double,

In the final. Chad Hargrove got the win, 8 to 5 over the Twins. Rob Vitullo and Cody Price combined for the loss.  Fingal's Matt Sault  went 4 for 4 at the plate, and RBId 5 of the 8 Fingal runs.

>From Sheila Brown's notes on the game....."Waterloo grabbed a 2-1 lead in the 2nd. but Fingal came back with 3 runs scored on Matt Sault's homer in the 3rd, Fingal added 3 more in the 5th but Waterloo answered with 2 in the bottom of the inning.  Fingal sealed the deal with an insurance run in the 6th after lead off batter Kristan Napp got on with a triple and came in on a wild pitch" 

Great weekend, busy, too much pie and ice cream, lots of fastball friends to meet again after a long winter.


For the complete results....see the attached .2010 Kitchener Legends schedule.... courtesy of Al's Fastball List..


Below is the page from AL's Fastball List with info about the Legends Induction this year....written by John Thompson...


http://www.alsfastball.com/uploads/File/2010 Files/LEGENDS2010CLASS.pdf

Note to the Scorekeepers and announcers .....
Before I go on to the Owen Sound Midgets, and the Frankenmuth ISC Qualifier....I have to point out the note that Al Doran has posted in his summation of the Legends...where he congratulated the scorers and announcers of KW....as "most outstanding group you will find anywhere"  I gotta agree...

We were up against it this weekend..a few of the crew in Port Huron for the ISC qualifier, some in Owen Sound for the Midget elims, the qualifier for the nationals, and a few with family commitments.....

  so we had rookies in both departments,  one new scorekeeper on diam one, great job, including the championship game...thanks Donna,  and two new announcers on diam 2, super job, Luke and Carrie, and over at the junior diamond...a rookie who took control of both jobs.....and lent the tournament his RV for the weekend....Graham, hats off...

Mal Swift, in from Oshawa for the weekend,  thanks for helping out  you sure filled in nicely both scoring, announcing and games control...Good to have you on board, hope you enjoyed your stay in KW......(BTW Mal, the 3rd line on "our" scoresheets is for the player who reenters, nice and tidy

  and you rookies, I told you it was the best seat at the park.....thanks for helping out...
..


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Midgets in Owen Sound

 Four Ontario teams can qualify for the Canadian Midget Championships in Stratford this August.   So this past weekend the Eliminations were held in Owen Sound...to determine 3....Stratford is in as host...

The qualifiers out of Owen Sound are ...Oshawa BBs, Sydenham Cyclones, and Walkerton Wild....these 3 will join the  Stratford Memorials in Stratford August 1st thru the 6th

Some scores for local fans....not all games are reported here..see the OASA web site for more details...

Wiarton 3, New Dundee 1....future Cubs out of New Dundee
Walkerton Wild 6, Elmira 1...Go Bruce County.....
KW Twins 4, Wingham 2.... KW and Wingham...both Doug Neil's home towns...I think he was cheering for Wingham
Stratford 8 McNab 2....Go Memorials..
KW Twins 7, Greenbush 0....Greenbush???  Ron/MaryBeth  is that our Greenbush?
Walkerton 8, Staffordville 1....Couple of Mildmay kids on that Wild team
Wiarton 8 Tavistock 0....Bags has some batting practice ahead of him with Tavistock
Owen Sound 11 Sebringville 1....Come on Sting... you can beat those Selects
Oshawa Pops 7 Elmira 2.... ...how does Pops stack up against BBs
New Dundee 7 Fullerton 3....ND gets a win
Oshawa Pops 5 Tavistock 4...That is better Tavi....swing those bats
Oshawa BBs 4 KW Twins 0....Oshawa Motor Carriers at Woodside vs. the Kitchener Evergreens in the 80s
Stratford 4 Owen Sound 2...Memorials looking good going into the Nationals in August
Walkerton 9 Napanee 2....Wow, Wild beat the Express...they must be for real...
New Dundee 3 Straffordville 6..ND Dodgers slip up
KW Twins 3 Oshawa Pops 0...Twins back on track
Oshawa BBs 6 Walkerton 1....BBs looking strong
Napanee 12 KW Twins 8....Twins need to get on track against their nemisis...come on Twins you can beat them..
Napanee 5 Stratford 4..The next three games tell a big story....Napanee and Walkerton....
Walkerton 4 Owen Sound 3
Walkerton 4 Napanee 2

A couple of weeks ago at Hillside in Waterloo a number of these teams entered the KW Midget/Sportszone Invitational.  Walkerton, Oshawa BBs, Stratford all looked strong.  Sydenham battled thru some great opposition to join them at the Canadian Nationals in Stratford in August...Hope many of you can make it to Stratford...

Give me a call if you have some time off to help out during the week in Stratford..

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PORT HURON...Joe Todd, for those who wondereed why he wasn't in KW for the Legends was at the ISC Qualifier in Port Huron Mich.  this past weekend

At the end of the day, after long delays due to rain....Hickson Reds won the qualifier and will be heading back to Michigan in August for the ISC World Tournament.....Other SW Ontario teams at Port Huron....Shakespeare Falcons, Alvinston Indians, Waterdown Hammer, St Thomas Storm, and Ingersoll Crush.....

..Looks like a line up for the Innerkip qualifier..


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ISC Qualifier Update...

I was talking to Easton Schnarr's mom Wed. night at Winston Churchill Ball Park in Waterloo and found out that Cobourg qualified in Napanee to go to the ISCs in Midland...

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Upcoming at Hillside Waterloo

The Great Lakes OASA Championship July 31st to August 2nd...

more informantion on this ... get in touch with the Cub's Brad Thomson    thomson.brad@gmail.com

>From the South Perth League:
KW Cubs
Wellington Sox
Elmira Expos
Kitchener Outlaws

Plus
Cobourg Force
Palermo Athletics
Waterdown Hammer
Ingersol Crush
St Thomas Storm

Brad is looking for some support from the fastball community....If you are so inclined....get in touch with Brad  or myself and support fastball with an ad in the Great Lakes Program.....Fans appreciate knowing the teams and the tournament schedule and  you can help with a $75 ad in the program....

DennisDosman@dosmanprinting.com


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The NEXT BIG THING.....UPCOMING in Tavistock....

Dave Bailey has set up the Tavistock schedule with 6 quality teams for the Invitational.....7 if you include the band that will be playing in the beer tent...(Brian Stere)

(this below is subject to last minute schedule tinkering)

Friday nite two games go at Queen's Park in Tavistock...Hallman Rivershark Twins, vs St Thomas Evergreen Centennials at 7pm and Midland Explorers vs Owen Sound at 9pm....At Optimist Park...8pm the Travelers vs the Elmira Expos..

Games again on Saturday at Queen's Park at 10, noon, 2, 6 and 8pm...with a North Waterloo Bantam Boys All Star game at 4pm.....At 2pm at Optimist Park...Elmira vs St Thomas

Sunday the playoff round, with  games starting at 10 am....

Again, great ball at a great ball park....only half an hour west of KW...just north of the ball park of the ISC bound  Hickson Reds, just  east of Stratford, site of the National Midget Boys Championship (under 19) and half an hour south of Monkton...right in the heart of fastpitch country....

Fences at 250 by the way..outfielders, no need to bring your maps and compasses,

WARNING 

 don't park too close to the outfield fence....last year there were a couple of  blasts to the arena wall...

A lovely drive to the middle of  fastball country....see you at the ball yard...

Dennis

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Dennis Dosman
Dosman Printing
519-888-0304
fax 888-9352
30 Avondale South
Waterloo, ON  N2L 2B8


Al's Legends Page with Schedule and Results