Top fastpitch softball teams in St Clements June 24 25 26
Top ISC ranked fastpitch softball teams will be competing
in the annual Peter Hallman Memorial Fastpitch Tournament
June 24 25 26th at the St Clements Ball Diamonds.
Hill United,
Toronto Gators, NY Gremlins, Scarborough Force are
ranked 1, 2 3, and 5 in the latest ISC rankings heading
into the first big fastpitch tournament of the summer.
Just out of the
top ten men’s fastpitch rankings are the North East
Drillers (11th), The Kitchener Hallman Cubs (12th),
Elmira Expos (13th), and the Toronto Batmen (16th).
Shakespeare
Falcons (23) and Wiarton Nationals (last years ISC II
winner and 24th ranked ISC team round out the ten team
major men’s entries into the Peter Hallman Memorial.
Six games are
scheduled for Friday evening the 24th starting at 5pm,
then 7 and 9 pm. Play will continue all day Saturday the
25th and championship playoffs are set for Sunday.
Hill United
comes into the 2016 season riding a 3-peat at the ISCs
as well as the AAUs in Orlando and the ASAs as well.
They have roster players from national teams including
Canada, Australia, and Argentina. The top bats in the
country. The top pitchers in the world. Their stats
show they score 8 runs a game…and allow 2.
The Toronto
Gators lost the ISC 2015 Championship to Hill United in
South Bend 6 – 4. Jack Fireman’s team is closing in on
HIll United with a bench full of talented ball players
including 8 members of Team Canada, Sean Cleary, Ryan
and Shane Boland, Brandon Horn, Ty Sebastian, Kyle
Crawford, Jeremy O’Reilly, and Justine Schofield, plus 6
members of the team are from New Zealand, Ben Enoka,
Thomas Enoka, Wayne Laulu, Thomas Makea, Dante Matakatea
and Brad Rona.
NY Gremlins have a great fastpitch resume as well making
it to final day championship day in ASA and ISC. Never
lower than 4th in ISC since 2010 the Gremlins will be
challenging any team in St Clements. Gregg Leather,
Bob Nydick and the management side of the Gremlins are
always busy finding and signing talent from around the
world. This year they have built a team of all stars
from countries including the USA, Argentina, Australia,
and Venezuela.
One other great
game to watch will be the Scarborough Force vs Elmira
Expos. The Expos, always a strong team, always ready to
knock a high seed out of a tournament eliminated the
Force in last years ISCs in South Bend. The Force/Expos
game is scheduled for 11am on Saturday morning. Should
be a good one. Mike Skelton’s team this year features
players who are on national teams from Canada, Andy
Skelton, Argentina, Bruno Motroni and Juan Potolicchio,
Venezuela’s Erick Urbaneja, plus New Zealand’s Jerome
Raemaki, and Fred Terkelson from Denmark. Other notable
fastball players include Donny Hale (NZ),plus local
stars Ben Wideman and Justin Krulicki.
Wiarton is
hoping to move up in rankings, they were the ISC II
champs last year.
For softball
fans who want to watch local teams compete, 3 South
Perth league teams the Kitchener Cubs, the Elmira Expos
and the Shakespeare Falcons will be strong competitors
for these top ranked fastpitch teams. Last year, not
only did Elmira knock out the Force in South Bend, but
the Hallman Cubs eliminated the Kitchener Hallman Twins
from the ISCs. Shakespeare Falcons had a good run with
wins over Wisconsin’s Bar on the Avenue Buzz, and
Illinois’ Dolan and Murphy. They lost to Kegel North
Dakota Black Hawks and like everyone else last year,
they lost to Hill United.
The younger
ball players will be featured in a four team Under 21
(Junior) tournament on Diam 3 in St Clements. A separate
division was set up for this year. Tavistock,
Stratford, New Hamburg and Owen Sound will compete for
the U21 division championship.
An Under 16
game between the North and South divisions of the North
Waterloo Minor Softball League will play a league all
star game.
And inside the
arena a youth pitching clinic is taking place.
All in,
fastball fans will see some great games and ball players
in St Clements.
The Peter
Hallman Memorial Fastpitch tournament is hosted in
partnership with Strong Start to Reading….an
organization to assist and develop reading skills for
young children in our area. More information is
available at www.strongstart.ca
Full food and
beverage service will be available to the fans at the
beer tent (Coors Light on tap) and Donna’s Diner will,
as always, have a full selection of Waterloo County pies
with or without ice cream.
50 – 50 draws
and a silent auction will take place during the
tournament to support the work of Strong Start to
Reading.
