2011 Erie, PA Ed McCormick Invitational with BallParkRadio
July 31, 2011
Erie, PA
We hope to be updating the above link all day Saturday and Sunday and if all else fails, we will try and post game results on
NEWS-2.
As always, we will concentrate our reports in three areas this weekend:
Number 1: The main site for the tournament is the Schedule and Results Page. This is where we will post the actual schedule of the tournament and where we will post the results of the tournament given to us by the tournament organizers. As always, we are using a Game Summary Sheet to collect this information. These are filled out by volunteers at the ball park who score the game and take notes on each game. Thanks in advance to this dedicated group of volunteers from Erie which include softball players from the local community college. We will be going back and forth between the hotel and the ball park every two hours to pick up the sheets and to then key them onto this main results page.
Number 2: This page you are reading now is our running blog of our own comments on what is going on in the park all weekend. We update this page back at the hotel right after we update Number 1.
Number 3: We will use NEWS-2 as a back up mainly but will also post some short status updates from the ball park using our blackberry. The main updates will be the two above using our lap top back at the hotel.
We do not plan any major updates using Twitter this weekend.
Pictures on Facebook in our Ballpark Album - see the last 9 pictures in the group from Erie.
See all the great pictures Jamie Clark took during the weekend in Erie: www.hotshotphotos.lifepics.com
Ballpark Radio broadcasts with Kyle Smith from Erie PA this weekend - July 30-31, 2011
Ballpark Radio will be on hand to broadcast four games from the Erie
Pennsylvania tournament, July 30-31, 2011, featuring the top three
ranked teams in the world on Saturday.
Kyle Smith will be driving down from the Toronto area to provide the
live play-by-play at Erie for the second year in a row.
A big thank you to the four teams involved in Saturday’s games for
sponsoring the broadcasts, and to Bill Hillhouse for hosting Ballpark
Radio, enabling fastball fans around the world to tune in, free of
charge.
SCHEDULE OF BROADCASTS
Saturday, July 30, 2011
4pm EDT – Chicago/NY vs. Bakersfield Silverhawks
8pm EDT – Jarvis ON Travelers vs. California A’s
Sunday, July 31, 2011
11:00 a.m. EDT – Semi-final game
1:00 p.m. EDT – Championship Game
Fans can tune in at www.ballparkradio.com, or listen on their smart
phones, via the TuneIn App, for iPhone, Android or Blackberry.
Details here:
http://www.ballparkradio.com/?p=1933---
Jim Flanagan
BALLPARK RADIO
Email: jim (at) ballparkradio.com
Web:
www.ballparkradio.com
10pm Friday evening and all set up at the hotel in Erie, PA
Uneventful trip from Toronto other than an extra step at the border that I had not anticipated. Crossed at Buffalo at supper time on the beginning of a long weekend but the line up was surprisingly short and moved through quickly. The border agent asked me where I was going and why and I told him to beautiful Erie PA to Bill Hillhouses annual fastball tournament and he smiled and waved me through. I got about a car length and 3 boot stomping guys flagged me down and to pull over along with six other cars. This was after I had cleared the border check. They lined up all 7 cars almost touching bumper to bumper and ordered everyone out of their cars. "Leave your car in park and leave your car unlocked and go sit behing the yellow wall" one young pup ordered. There were metal seats behind the thin yellow wall and we could see what was going on. A big truck pulled up with two more young pups in it and they drove down one side of the 7 cars and then up the other side. Quickly figured out that they were xraying all 7 cars. Also came to the conclusion that the thin yellow plastic wall was not really protecting 7 car loads of innocent toursists. I doubt if the truck was really protecting the two guys in it either, I am positive their eyes glowed like cats eyes. I saw one of the guys flash other 3 storm troopers a quick 2 fingers then 4 fingers and sure enough they popped the trunk of car 2 then car 4, found nothing in either then gruffly ordered the 7 car loads of impatient tourists into their cars. Welcome to border security 2011. Feel free to write to these guys and point out that most old guys in a Buick are not that big a threat normally. Same goes for the old guy in the Jag and the 5 car loads of families trying to get off on their vacation.
I was actually in the hotel a little after 9pm and even in the basement parking lot ran into a ton of fastball players also checking in. Two of the biggest fans in the game were at the front desk to welcome me, Tim (Maz) "the Mayor of Meadville" and Marg Ryan who is on the grand tour of Erie then South Bend with Gerry and Betty. A ton of ball players checking in.
Kyle Smith, the Voice of BallParkRadio is in the house!
7am Saturday morning - sun is out and it looks like its going to be a hot one!
8am - Breakfast at the Avalon - it looks like most or all of the Jarvis Travlers are here for this one.
Turns out 3 of the regulars are missing.
But Rona, Wolfe, Hale all here.
9am - blazing 85f in the park this morning but a good sized crowd in attendance.
11:11am
scores updated on the website results page and now typing the report to upload.
Jarvis won over Midland and Chi/NY mercied Ashland.
1:52pm just back from the park and posted the two scores of games ended at 1pm and will type up reports next.
Nice to see ISC Prez Dean Oscar in the park this afternoon.
Record number of fans from Meadville PA today thanks to the efforts of Tim "Maz", all old time fans of the game who did not know the game is alive and well in Erie but thanks to Maz, now they know. Super bunch of guys.
PA Power over Midland, 3-1
Albaugh over Silverhawks 3-0
4:30pm just back from the ball park and loading up the last two game results
California A's 6
PA Power 3
ended 3pm
Albaugh 8
Stock Pack 1
ended 2:45pm
A good sized crowd out on Saturday evening for the action!
and that is Ed Otterman on the dish for this game
As Kyle Smith and I left the park together very late Saturday night it came as no surprise to us that the Man Who Never Sleeps, Billy Hillhouse was beside us in the driveway out with a truck full of BBQ equipment! That entire BBQ area where everyone was enjoying hot dogs and hamburgers all day must have been set up by Billy and Jamie early in the day and now they had broken it down and were hauling it home. And for sure they will be up before everyone else in the morning and bring it back to the park for another day of feeding all the guests visiting their town and park! Well done Billy and Jamie!
I think most people who go to these tournaments understand that most of he work organizing it and setting it up to make it happen is done by a very few people and in this Erie tournament everyone knows its Billy Hillhouse doing most of the work. Everyone should know that his "partner in crime" is his wonderful lady Jamie who is another one who never sleeps. She has met with and welcomed every ball player and every fan in the park. She has been selling 50-50 tickets, flipping burgers in the BBQ area, taking pictures and running around doing a hundred things to ensure the success of this tournament. Billy has to play some ball and when he is not available, he does not worry, Jamie is looking after it. They make a great team and this community of Erie are lucky to have them and the fastball community is indeed very lucky to have them.
Trivia: I did not know you could walk into a bar beside the ball park at midnight and buy 24 cans of beer for $24.00, amazing. Just saying!
Blue Crew: I did not have an umpire list this year in Erie so neglected to show who worked each game, sorry guys, just too many things to do on a busy two day tournament but I did notice the great job you were doing in the heat all weekend. It was nice to see Lou Davis here from Nova Scotia getting in some competitive men's games before the big show in Quad Cities in two weeks. Ed Otterman was in from Ontario and worked the dish on some games I watched. Jay Hart of Dunnville ON was invited by Billy to be the UIC this year which was a nice touch. Jay is on the disabled list this year due to a work related injury and cannot umpire this season at all so for a frustrated umpire sittiing at home he said he was very honoured to be invited down for the weekend in the UIC role.
7am Sunday and its going to be another bright hot sunny day in Erie, PA!
9am games Sunday morning underway on time, see
NEWS-2 for updates from the park.
Midland vs Bakersfield was a totally weird game, see my notes from the park.
Albaugh vs PA Power was a marathon 7 inning game, almost 3 hours.
No update on Adam Folkard other than word is he will need an MRI before being cleared to play again.
Highly doubtful that he will play at all today.
As the Midland vs Chicago NY was just getting started Mulalley hit a monster shot that is still going over the Bud Light tent,, a two run home run to put Chi up 2-0. over Midland.
PA Power were sitting under a tree on diamond 2 as I drove out of the park, exhausted from their marathon almost 3 hour game.
The two 9am games ran long, especially the game on diamond 2 between PA Power and Albaugh, and essentially in this heat may have been a war of attrition. The winner wins but moves on to play again totally exhausted.
Both winners of the 9am games lost their next games in a mercy.
Midland lost to Chicago NY 9-1 in a mercy.
PA Power lost to Jarvis in a mercy.
I saw the very beginning of the Midland vs Chicago NY game but both games were over when I got back from the hotel where I was typing up the game reports from the two 9am games.
The championship game started just before 2pm and unfortunately did not last long, with Jarvis going down 10-1 in a mercy to Chicago.
4:05pm left the park after the championship game after saying good bye to a lot of old friends and a lot of new friends. Many will meet up next weekend in South Bend, IN for the ASA Major's but AlsFastball is sitting that one out, getting ready for the ISC World Tournament in just two weeks.
A lot of first time visitiors in Erie this weekend, all of whom seem to be saying they will definately be back next year. Everyone loves the little park nestled in between industrial and residantial neighbourhoods. Even many of the ball players mentioned what a great park it was to play in. More on that later.
A lot of hard core fans here this weekend, some came from a long distance. Tim Maziraz, aka "Maz" came from just up the road in Meadville, PA so he did not have a long distance to travel, this time, but Maz goes to every major fastball tournament on the books and coming up next for him are the ASA Majors in South Bend, IN next weekend and then he will drive over to Quad Cities for the annual
ISC World Tournament. With any luck we will see him in Owen Sound for the Canadians end of August.
I single out Maz here as for the second year in a row, he has managed to recruit a large number of new fans or old fans, back to the game of fastball. In Tavistock ON just a few weeks ago, he was selling the charms of Erie PA and Billy's tournament to many of the regulars there and low and behold they came to Erie, for the first time. On top of that, he wandered around Meadville PA and found guys who used to watch fastball and told them about Erie, and low and behold they came by the bus load!
We need more people like Maz, but for now, glad we have him. Thanks a million Maz!
After two very long games this morning starting at 9am, we had two mercies in the two games that were supposed to start at 11am but started before and after the noon hour. The championship game got started by 2pm and was not all that long as it was another mercy. Dissapointing to some as the ball all weekend was actually very good for the most part. But mercies happen and its nice for some of the teams to get it out of their system. Just that none of these guys like to lose.
1. Brad Rona of Jarvis Travelers 2. Steve Mulalley of Chicago NY 3. Kyle Smith of BallParkRadio above Larry Lynch of Chicago NY
The
master schedule and results has had scores upldated and now working on the details on that page. And this is now complete but we may add some additiional stuff as we receive it or make corrections as we go.
All the updates with line scores etc. came from a small group of volunteer score keepers who did an outstanding job of keeping scores and taking notes on each and every game. Thanks a million to the hard working team who sat in the sun and wrote it all down. Very much appreciated by AlsFastball and the many fans following from home.
The entire fastball community owes a big vote of thanks to Bill Hillhouse and his wonderful lady Jamie for organizing this annual tournament and making ball players and fans feel at home in their great town of Erie, PA. So many people came up to me and said they were so impressed with the amount of work that was obvious from Billy and Jamie and they wanted people to know that. I told them to be sure and tell both Billy and Jamie that personally as all too often we take these efforts for granted. Our game of fastball is alive today because of hard working people like this who care about the sport and the people who play it and the people who follow it.
Jordan with new mohawk cut
Kooser on the Job
Kyle Smith of BallParkRadio ready to go on the air
