Saskatoon ball players face off against world championsÂ
Three local softball teams will be facing some stiff competition this week.
New Zealand's World Championship-winning national team is currently on a cross-Canada tour, and chose Saskatoon as one of its stops.
"Our league here, that's the Saskatoon Diamondbacks, Bruno Merchants and Delisle National Leasing, those are three of the top teams in western Canada, if not Canada. So, New Zealand picked Saskatchewan because of the talent level we have here," said Saskatoon Amateur Softball Association President Brian Kosteroski.
The series of games will be a taste of what the city can expect to see at next year's International Softball Federation World Men's Softball Championships. Held in Saskatoon, the championships promise to bring some of the world's best players to the province.
"There'll be 16 teams coming here to Saskatoon. and I expect USA, Canada, Argentina, Venezuela, Japan, China, will all be here," Kosteroski said.
The New Zealand National Team will be playing the Saskatoon Diamondbacks and the Delisle National Leasing Diamond Dogs Wednesday night at Bob Van Impe Stadium. The first round of games took place Tuesday night.
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Over 800 fans (812) came out and have enjoyed a beautiful night and world class softball
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Game 1:
New Zealand beat the Diamondbacks 7-5 in game one of their doubleheader
Line scores for game one New Zealand scored 7 runs on 10 Hits the committed 3 errors left 6 on base Saskatoon had 5 runs on 10 hits committed 2 errors and left 7 on base
 dbacks lose 7-5 unsure of official winning pitcher but Ethier took the loss throwing 4 innings Farion in relief
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Game 2:
14 - 1 in 5 innings for NZ Black Sox over Bruno
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Come out tonight to Bob Van Impe Stadium to see some great softball. The weather is nice and you will be able to see some of the best players this city has to offer playing against the defending ISF Men's World Champions from New Zealand. Action starts at 6:30 tonight with the Saskatoon Diamondbacks playing the first game of a doubleheader against New Zealand and the Bruno Merchants playing the second game starting at 8:30.
Tickets can be purchased at the Bob Van Impe Box Office starting at 5:00pm
Adults - $ 7.50 Seniors / Students - $5.00
Children 16 & under free
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By Mark Loehndorf, The Starphoenix
It has been almost impossible to make any plans around softball activities theses day, as the rain has wiped out almost all outdoor softball play over the last couple of weeks.
However, the Saskatoon Amateur Softball Association is still going full-bore ahead with their planned, two-night series, featuring the defending International Softball Federation men's world champions New Zealand Black Sox. Action gets underway Tuesday, with the Black Sox taking on the Sr. Diamondbacks at 6:30 p.m., followed by the Bruno Merchants.
The next night they will again start off at 6:30 p.m. with the Diamondbacks, and will follow that with a game against the Delisle National Leasing Diamond Dogs.
The Kiwis, presently sitting at 4-2-1 on their international tour, are bringing 17 of their best players, including fan favourites Bran Rona and Donny Hale. They are led by new head coach Mark Sorenson.
While new to the position, Sorenson is a certainly a veteran of international play. Revered at his peak as one of the best players in the world, Sorenson played in six world championships, his first as a 16-year-old in 1984 at Midland, Mich., and his last 20 years later at Christchurch in 2004. Sorenson played on four gold medal winning teams, and captained the Black Sox between 1989 and 2001.
While they may be loaded with great players, the Kiwis face some tough local talent, including three players who recently returned from the senior men's national-team camp in Brampton Ont.: Jeff Farion, Brennan Pokoyoway and Devon McCullough.
Farion is a hard-throwing left-handed pitcher who will take to the circle for Delisle.
Pokoyoway, who plays in the infield for the Diamondbacks, was part of Team Canada at the 2012 Pan American Championship. He hit .500, including two home runs, in the playoff round at last year's Canadian championship. McCullough has been getting nothing but better, since he pitched for the junior national team four years ago. This winter he was voted the 11th best pitcher in the world on a poll conducted for the top men's fastball website in the world, Al's Fastball. He's joined in the Diamondbacks' circle by Trevor Ethier, a member of Canada's last world championship team.
National men's team head coach Don Bates, who lives in Saskatoon, will get a good look at the three local Team Canada hopefuls. Their performance could go a long way toward helping one or all of them join him at the ISF World Championship here in Saskatoon next June.
The weather wiped out what would have been three of this season's biggest events leading up to the international series: The Padres Tournament, the Erical Eclipse Tournament, as well as the SMSL city playoffs.
Vanessa Kosteroski and her SMSL executive made the heart-wrenching decision to cancel playoffs completely on Sunday. Kosteroski said they were going to try to run them Monday through Thursday this week. However, after pushing plans back day by day and still with standing water on fields all over the city, they finally pulled the plug.
The SMSL executive is still looking forward to the warming trend that has been predicted, as they will host 38 minor teams in provincial championships on the July 4-6 weekend.
The six championships include: U18 A and B, U14A, and U12A girls divisions as well as boys U16A and U18A.
The SASA takes over during the two weekends following minor provincials, hosting 27 adult teams in five different categories
