Vancouver, BC
The 5th Annual Vancouver Challenge Mens FP tournament continued on Saturday
under cloudy skies, but with no rain at South Memorial Park in Vancouver. A
good size crowd was treated to a full day of senior mens fastpitch action
that concluded at approx. 10:00 pm local time.
Results from the Saturday round robin games were as follows:
So Cal Bombers 4 - Prince George Black Bears 1
WP - Tony Peeples with relief from Ryan Brand (5)
LP - Heine Shannon
Darren Box and Glenn Ormsby lead the Bombers with solo home runs.
Vancouver Grey Sox 4 - Prince George Black Bears 1
WP - Rick Smith
LP - Richie Clark with relief from Mike Egerdeen (4)
Kevin Schellenberg lead the Grey Sox attack with a 3 for 4 performance at
the plate.
Portland CR 5 - Richmond Stealers 4 - (11 innings)
WP - Mike Piechnik (6) in relief of Roberto Bahler
LP - Darren Strang (6) in relief of John Bishop
A hard fought game that took 11 innings to settle. Portland battled back
from a 3 - 1 deficit to tie the game in the 7th inning on 4 consecutive
hits. Brian Ree was 3 for 5 and Kevin Rasmussen 4 for 5 to lead the
Portland offense.
Vancouver Grey Sox 11 - Saskatoon Diamondbacks 0
WP - Sean Whitten
LP - Zack Flath with relief from Jason Hill (5)
Gerry Kennedy lead the Grey Sox attack with a grand slam homerun.
Prince George Black Bears 7 - Richmond Stealers 6 (8 innings)
WP - Heine Shannon
LP - John Bishop (5) in relief of Darren Strang
Another tough extra inning loss for the Richmond team. Prince George staged
some dramatics in the come back victory, they trailed 5 - 1 early in the
contest, tied it in the 7th and won in the 8th.
So Cal Bombers 10 - Squamish Wizards 0
WP - Travis Price
LP - Jim Peers
The So Cal bats exploded in this one sided contest. Nate Devine contributed
2 home runs and 5 RBIs for the Bombers.
So Cal Bombers 7 - Vancouver Grey Sox 6
WP - Tony Peeples (4) in relief of Ryan Brand
LP - Nick Underhill with relief from Rick Smith (6)
An exciting game for the fans who witnessed two high level teams battle it
out on the diamond. So Cal jumped out to a 4 - 1 lead, only to see the Grey
Sox tie the game at 4 by virtue of a 3 run blast off the bat of Kevin
Bobroske. Full marks to the Bombers who regrouped after giving up the early
lead and prevailed in this contest. Darren Box contributed 3 RBIs for the
Bombers who also received a mammoth 2 run blast off the bat of Nate Devine.
Portland CR 4 - Squamish Wizards 3
WP - Mike Piechnik (4) in relief of Mark Bennett
LP - Jim Ullock
Full marks to the scrappy Squamish side, who after being beaten handily by
So Cal Bombers returned to the diamond and played a very solid game.
Portland for the second consecutive game rallied for the victory. Trailing
3 - 1 in the 5th the Portland side erupted for 3 runs and held on the rest
of the way to notch the one run victory.
Portland CR 9 - Saskatoon Diamondbacks 7
WP - Mike Piechnik with relief from Roberto Bahler (4) and Mark Bennett (6)
LP - Jeff Farion
Portland jumped out to an early and commanding lead of 9 - 3 thanks to a 2
run and 3 run home run from the bat of Marc Santillano. The pesky Saskatoon
side chipped away at the lead and brought the deficit to 2 runs in the final
inning and had 2 runners on base with none out before Portland was able to
shut the door.
Standings at the conclusion of the modified round robin:
1st - So Cal Bombers 3 - 0 / +11
2nd - Portland CR 3 - 0 / + 4
3rd - Vancouver Grey Sox 2 - 1 / + 10
4th - Prince George Black Bears 1 - 2 / - 5
5th - Saskatoon Diamondbacks 1 - 2 / - 5
6th - Richmond Stealers 0 - 3 / - 6
7th - Squamish Wizards 0 - 3 / -12
The top 6 teams now advance to Sunday's single knockout playoff round. The
matchups and game times are as follow:
9:00 am - 3rd (Vancouver Grey Sox) vs. 6th (Richmond Stealers)
9:00 am - 4th (Prince George Black Bears) vs. 5th (Saskatoon D'Backs) -
Diam. 2
11:00 am - winner of Vancouver / Richmond vs. 2nd - Portland CR
1:00 pm - winner of Prince George / Saskatoon vs. 1st - So Cal Bombers
3:00 pm - FINAL - winner of 11:00 am game vs winner of 1:00 pm game
Ball park tidbits - despite cloudy skies no rain fell throughout the day. A
good sized crowd enjoyed the park atmosphere and the action provided by the
teams. For the second consecutive day Softball Canada National team coach
Don Bates along with team leader Harvey Stevenson were in attendance
scouting. The silent auction attracted plenty of interest from the
attendees, some of the items up for grabs included an autographed Justin
Morneau bat, a limited edition signed Eddie Feigner and Gordie Howe print,
and a signed copy of the Eddie Feigner autobiography. A core group of hard
working and dedictaed volunteers are successfully operating the event.
Final results will be provided at the conclusion of the event. More
information / game updates can be found on the Vancouver Challenge link on
our website at www.vancouvergreysox.com
Larry Kancs
President
Vancouver Grey Sox
www.vancouvergreysox.com
vancouverchallenge@hotmail.com
