CANCELLED: 2010 Midwest Fastpitch All-Star Series - September 25-26, 2010
September 19, 2010
Decatur, IL
CANCELLED: 2010 Midwest Fastpitch All-Star Series - September 25-26, 2010
It is with great disappointment and frustration that I must announce that next weekend’s Illinois vs. Wisconsin All-Star Series has been CANCELLED. Unfortunately, Wisconsin was unable to secure a team with the short notice provided (4-5 weeks). We were hoping to have this event to build on for a multi-state All-Star tournament next year.
We will begin planning for the 2011 event immediately. I would like to thank everyone for their support in getting everything in place for this year’s event. We had the Illinois team ready… fields, umpires, balls, PA announcer, statistician, concessions, beer tent, promotions, programs, and certificates of participation all ready to go. Unfortunately, Illinois is left without a team to play and therefore have no choice but to cancel a week from the event.
I do want to thank those in Wisconsin that were supportive of the event and did their best to secure talent. I will be posting something soon asking for representatives from any state interested in organizing and participating in next year’s event. We have a lot of work to do to make sure that this event is a success in the future.
Lastly, I have been contacted by a few that were frustrated with the list of players selected by the Illinois Committee this year. First, I was not a member of the selection committee. Second, we asked for any nominations about a month ago and worked off of the list received. I understand that some may have missed the posting, but we had about one week to obtain names and make selections. We want to include as many deserving individuals as possible in this event. If you know of someone or feel that you should be included in this event, please send me an e-mail and I will be sure to throw your name into the mix. I personally think the selection committee did a great job of ranking and selecting players that had an impact on their respective teams this past summer 2010. This was not to be a hall of fame game but instead the most relevant, ACTIVE players from 2010.
We will be discussing our selection process as wells as necessary rules/restrictions during the offseason. It will be an even greater challenge next year as more states become involved. I would like to reiterate that one of the future goals is for this event to help promote the game in a way that it can be used as a vehicle to increase male player participation rates in local leagues, weekend travel teams, and youth programs. As the year unfolds these initiatives will be announced.
Please pass on the unfortunate news of this cancellation to anyone that you know was planning to attend!
Dave “Hooda” Perkins
