Another ISC Canada East season has come and gone with the completion of the Ontario Challenge Cup in Chepstow Sept 22-24. What a hidden gem of a park! A terrific spot for our fall qualifier and we will look forward to returning in the not-too-distant future!
Nick Heisz had the idea to bring the OCC to Chepstow and we thank him and his host committee for making all of us – teams, players, officials and volunteers – feel most welcome.
Led by Ty Sebastion in the circle, Walton Brewers went undefeated to win their first OCC and qualify for the 2024 ISC World Tournament at Softball City in Surrey, BC. Ty was 5-0, pitching 35 innings, allowing only two runs and seven hits while recording 86(!) strikeouts. His “K-line” was 18, 19, 17, 16 and 16 and he allowed only one hit on Sunday, spinning a no-hitter in the championship game.
Remarkably, out of 22 games, we only had two run-rule games with tremendous parity amongst the teams.
Trevor Topping put together a terrific blue crew mixing in local umpires and some up-and-comers in the ISC ranks. Thank you to David Harnock, Dave Thompson, Kevin DiDomenico (congrats on your Level IV), Kelly Murphy, Kevin Gilchrist, Paul Cowtan and Mike Murphy.
Our scorekeepers, who do a fabulous job and enable us to provide the comprehensive score reporting, were Vince & Jane Mullins, Mary Anne Stroh, Steve Kuhl, Ken Wettlaufer and John Vleeming. Thank you! And thanks to Dennis Dosman for helping to arrange scoring coverage.
Reflecting on the season that was, it was another marvelous year for Canada East teams, with four ranked in the top 10 and 11 in total in the 36 teams in the ISC rankings. At the ISC World Tournament, our teams finished second, third and fourth with Bear Creek Express, Niagara Stompers and Hill United Chiefs coming in behind the juggernaut New York Gremlins. In ISC II, Georgian Bay Giants – making their ISC debut – finished second while Sudbury Relics were second in the Legends division and Cobourg Force tied for third.
We want to congratulate Sheryl & Mike Skelton, this year’s recipients of the Denny Bruckert Memorial Dedication Award – we would be hard-pressed to think of two more deserving people. And to cap it off, their teams – Toronto Batmen and Cobourg Force – won the Canadian National Championship and the Canadian Masters Championship respectively.
We made a giant leap forward in the coverage again this year thanks to Luciano Lo Frano and Karole Doreste at Softball Premier TV. Thank you to everyone who tuned in! We deeply appreciate you spending your time with us at home when you can’t join us at the park.
As ever, we say thank you to the teams, players, sponsors, umpires and supporters who continue to make every trip to the ballpark meaningful and enjoyable. More than ever, being able to re-connect at the park in person in something that we treasure.
We’ll see you next June in Mitchell for the 2024 ISC Canada East Qualifier!
