The official ISC 2012 World Tournament web site is all set up and ready to go:
http://www.iscfastpitch.com/index.php?page=213
Please Bookmark this site as it has all the information you will need to follow the ISC 2012 World Tournament.
- Brackets AND official Master Schedules and Results - see the master schedules for ISC, ISC-II, Legends, and U21.
- Team Rosters
- News items including important information on the 2012 Hall of Fame Induction and Breakfast.
We may be adding new information to this page during the World Tournament.
Some handy Shortcuts:
ISC Results
ISC II Results
ISC Legends Results
U21 Results A reminder, remember to hit your refresh button frequently on any of the above buttons, we are changing these pages frequently.
SUNDAY UPDATE
So far so good, the Game Controllers are our experienced crew led by Doug Bach and their tent is next to our stats trailer. They are getting us line up cards before each game and are delivering the score sheets to Gary (the ISC Statistician) quickly after each game. Gary is scoring them on his computer and handing them to me, normally within 5 to 15 minutes after each game. The scores are being added to the schedule and results page right after each game and the box scores right after that.
Spectacular Opening Ceremonies tonight, one of the best ever.
MONDAY, AUG 13 UPDATE
Overcast and rain is forcast today but at noon things are still going well with five diamonds playing ball.
2:30PM and steady rain for over an hour but we are still playing.
A one hour and a half rain delay at 3:40pm. Play resumed and we will play until caught up.
WEDNESDAY - AUG 15 UPDATE
Another amazing day in the park, fantastic weather, warm so far.
We have had a number of unexplained power outages in the trailer this week, also affecting the scoreboard and all the lights on E-3 a few times.
This affects us eventually as the batteries on the lap tops eventually run down and we are dead in the water until the power comes back on.
Today the challenge was the loss of internet connection. Kyle Smith to the rescule and he re booted the modem in the stadium.
STAPLES STORY:
I happen to buy most of my computer equipment from Staples and so does the ISC.
Last year in Moline our trusty old HP printer died and Larry Fisher and Gary Baughman went to Staples in Quad Cities and bought a new HP 8500a.
This year the beautiful HP 8500A they bought died on us during this critical week here in Midland.
Gary Baughman and Jim Volk went today to the local Staples to explain the critical situation to the manager.
Imagine our shock when he said if we could produce the original warranty, he would give us $50.00 off of a new printer!
I for one, and Ken Hackmeister, Larry Fisher, Gary Baughman, and others are of a mind to stop buying anything at Staples.
We are still trying to fix the HP and Jim Volk and some of his other assistants have been trying to get us a replacement printer.
I am sure that once the HP is back in Iowa, Gary will probably get great service from HP and get it fixed but our problem is now and we are very
dissapointed with Staples and wanted to share that information.
An Update on the Staples Story:
We resolved the HP printer problem through a combination of diagnostics to clean and align the print heads and by purchasing a new USB printer cable.
We bought it from Office Max, not far from Staples and a much friendlier company.
STATS TRAILER
Many people have assumed we are back in the press box in Currie stadium. We are not there this year. For the first time we are on remote in a small trailer
in the outfield of the main diamond. Its about 60 feet past the outfield fence so we are a long way from home plate. We are in the Midland Explorers Booster Club trailer which is now slanted to give us a view of the full main diamond. This is a great trailer, designed by Lefty Bartos and used for many functions over the years.
We are utilizing three wireless networks, two in the park and one mobile courtesy of Gary Baughan.
This enables us to post score updates right off the score board immediately after each game (on the main diamond).
For all the other diamonds we get the scores from four game controllers, the same ones who have done this for years now, led by Doug Bach.
We post those scores as soon as the game controller hands us a game summary sheet.
The score sheets are all keyed into a computer as soon as they are received and then I am handed a hot stick with the html file on it with the game stats.
There are two statisticians, Gary and Hank. Gary does the ISC and the Legends games and Hank does the ISC II and U21 games.
Gary works beside me in the trailer and Hank has been working out of the game controllers tent next door to us.
Amazing Mexican dinner at Chez Blue tonight, many thanks Dave Selden!
Out of the yard at a very early 11:35pm, amazing!
THURSDAY, AUGUST 16 UPDATE
We got Gary's HP printer to start copying no thanks to Staples and he bought a new USB cord from the friendly staff at Office Max, our new computer supplier.
Mix of weather today, it looked at one point like a rain out but the players and the blue played on and its been cloudy off and on, so far. 5:50pm
Four tournaments going on in the dual complex today so lots of updates coming in.
#ISC2012 Stats Trailer in DEEP Left Field
FRIDAY UPDATE, AUG 17
A simply beautiful day in the park, bright sun, no humidity, perfect!
The volunteers here continue to amaze us, today we asked what they could do for us and we said a perch dinner would be nice and presto it was delivered!
Thanks Jeff Servinski!
Lots to write about but busy updating 3 tournaments.
Will mention we had a call today from a nice gentleman who complained the ISC web site had not changed all week and there were no results showing.
Turns out he had not hit the refresh key all week. We should have not assumed that everyone knows you have to keep hitting the refresh button on a page that keeps changing (we update the 4 main pages often). So, we added a reminder to each of the 4 tournament pages to keep hitting the Refresh Button.
Thanks to the many people all week who stop by to say hello and so many taking the time to say thanks for what we do. Some I know, others are complete strangers, but its always appreciated.
Cool in the evening but what a spectacular day!
Out of the park by 11:30pm, simply amazing!
Hate to think only one day left. Spending each day in Emerson Park and enjoying the City of Midland is indeed a treat.
CHAMPIONSHIP SATURDAY, AUGUST 18
Another spectacular day in the beautiful Emerson Park!
Thanks to our good friend Tim Maziarz, "the mayor of Meadville, PA" who made the trip to the Bully to buy the biggest and greatest dinner of walleye.
Two fish dinners, two days in a row, no wonder we don't want to leave town!
Congratulations to Argentina on winning the U21 tournament. These young men were very impressive. Prediction: they will win the ISF championship in Argentina this November.
Congratulations to Parry Island on winning the ISC II championships and a big Well Done to Ward Goss on winning the MVP!
Congratulations to the Cobourg Force in winning the Legends Tournament.
Congratulations to Darren Zack on winning the MV Pitching award. What an amazing day he had, won a 2-hit shutout 9 inning game then came back to win the Championship game. Nice to see most of the Zack clan in the park and to have some quality time catching up on things.
Congratulations to the Jarvis Broken Bow Travelers on their Three Peat. A great game to watch.
Congratulations to Donnie Hale, and amazing week that will prove to be re writing a lot of the stats in the record book.
Thanks to Jim Volk, the Tournament Director who never slept, always available and always working the entire complex looking after his many happy, cheerful and helpful volunteers; making sure all the ISC staff had what they needed to get the job done; all the teams coming and going to play their games; and supporting all the fans who came to see great fastball all week. Jim found time to have his wonderful grandchildren ride along on the golf cart many days, no wonder he was always smiling.
Thanks to Kyle Beane and David Lach, co-chairmen, for all your hours of hard work before and during the World Tournament and thanks to your hard working committee memebers. I hope you enjoyed it enough to take a rest then plan to do this again some year soon down the road.
To the many smiling helpful volunteers who greeted us each day and did the thousand things a day that made everyone feel welcome.
To Left and to Ike, thanks for leaving a legacy of love for softball that makes Midland the town to go to where everyone loves the game and everyone greets you with a smile. I expct that these two fine gentlemen also had a lot to do with the wonderful stats trailer we enjoyed using all week.
To all the people who stopped by to thank us for what we do, watch ball games and share with the world. Your comments were welcome and will be treasured.
Special thanks to those regulars who stopped by a few times each day to see if we needed anything and double thanks for making those trips to the "food court" to grab us a snack.
To all the ball players who came to play and waved a greeting as we worked or walked around, nice to see so many guys we know and enjoy watching play. A special thanks to my 1998 Team Canada members who stopped by. Nice to see so many of you still playing and playing so well.
Congratulations and "Well Done" to the Blue Crew for an outstanding job all week and a BIG THANKS for your hospitality at Chez Blue, your kindness was appreciated.
To our good friend Bob Otto http://ottoinfocus.com/ who wrote one good article after another all week. Bob is not only a good sports writer, but a dedicated fan of our sport and he is missed at the ISC's.
Thanks to Adam Bouton and his fellow writers at the Midland Daily News for their constant stream of good articles in the paper and online.
A big tip of the cap to Bruce Hackett and Meshion McDaniels, the official photographers who took a ton of pictures, almost 60,000 and still counting.
And to the always present Jamie Grems Clark who ably assisted Bruce and Meshion taking even more pictures. And speaking of great photographers lets not forget MaryAnne Baier, the in house photographer of the Blue!
To Gary Baughman, the ISC Statistician who works around the clock creating html files for me to post to the ISC site. Not many people know just how hard you work my friend. See you next year in Moline, wonder if we can borrow the Midland stats trailer?
Thanks to the ISC Game Controllers, the guys who fed us results all week and ran around Emerson and Red Coats looking for score sheets for us. Your hard work was very much appreciated. Led by Doug Bach, the team included Chris Bach, Colin Smith and Mal Swift, all good friends of mine and very experienced at their jobs. They had a number of volunteers who helped them out and as per the other volunteers, they did their job efficiently with a big smile on their faces.
Thanks to Ken Hackmeister for coming and spending the week with us, one more time. Ken has been the best boss I have ever worked with and as I have said before, the ISC is extremely lucky to have had him for so long. Good luck on your next adventures Kenny.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 19
Travel day, not the best part of the World Tournament.
Breakfast at Shirlene's Cuisine on the way out of town. Shirlene's is the best restaurant or at least its my favorite restaurant in Midland and this is the first time I have been here on this trip! Since I stayed at Valley Plaza this time it was more convenient to pop into Tim Hortons on the way to the ball yard each morning. Larry Lynch rubbed it in the other day when he told me he had breakfast at Shirlene's every morning so I had to have at least one meal here.
Home by 8pm and already some game changes from Gary Baughman, and he had a longer drive home than I did.
MONDAY, AUGUST 20
A few game changes from Gary Baughman and the Chronological Order of Finish, all added to the WT site.
Gary is working on the cumulative stats and it will be posted as soon as he finishes it off. First he checks each and every one of the 94 games.
Results HERE!
Al's Fastball News
fastball(at)pmihrm.com for all news items for AlsFastball
aldoran42(at)yahoo.com for ALL Large Fastball attachments
NEWS-1: http://www.AlsFastball.com/
NEWS-2: http://fastpitchwest.com/alsfastball
ISC World Tournament Aug 10-18
http://www.iscfastpitch.com/index.php?page=213
Watch for
