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News 2004
Team Rainey just returned from Decatur, Illinois June 19-20, 2004 where it was the consolation bracket champion at the Decatur Shootout, losing only one game, a close 2-1 loss to Wisconsin's ISC State champion, Bull/Townline. Team Rainey knocked off two top 20 teams in the tournament, # 7 ranked Midland Explorers from Midland Michigan and # 19 ranked Lafayette Pub of St. Louis Missouri.
This weekend (June 26-27, 2004), team heads to Portland, Oregon, for the Portland DeMarini Rose Cup Tournament, one of the most prestigious tournaments in the west. Five of the top 20 teams in the world will be competing, # 1 Broken Bow Spirit, NY, #6 Victoria Travellers Inn, #10 Vancouver Grey Sox and #13 Portland DeMarini (along with # 17 ranked Team Rainey)
Team Rainey's schedule pits them against the #1 ranked team in the World, Broken Bow Spirit at 5 p.m. Saturday, June 26, 2004. For more details, visit www.fastpitchwest.com/rosecup.htm
Team Rainey's schedule for Rose Cup Tournament, June 26, 2004
- 9am vs. Meraloma Club of Vancouver, B.C.
- 1pm vs. Morgan Transfer/United Van Lines, Olympia WA; and
- 5pm vs. Broken Bow Spirit
The 9am and 5pm games will be broadcast live on the internet. Click logo below for further details.
About this time of the year, many teams
are looking to pick up that third pitcher, or a good hitting utility
pitcher as they prepare for nationals. For Rod Rainey, a good travel
agent might prove more important, as Team Rainey prepares to hit the
road for one of the most ambitious summer schedules that I have ever
seen for a So Cal team. During the months leading up to the ISC World
Tournament (Aug 13-21), Team Rainey will be taking on the best teams in
the fastpitch world. And when I say the best in the world, that' no
hyperbole.
Team Rainey opened the year as the #17 team in the ISC World pre-season
rankings, with the ISC generally regarded as the top level of play for
men's fastpitch. That ranking was right on the money, considering that
they narrowly missed making the Sweet 16 at last year's ISC World by one
(playoff) game.
To this point in the season, Team Rainey has played in four tournaments,
coming away the winners in three. They started off the year with a win
in Norwalk, CA at the Panteras Valentine tournament with a win over a
tough So Cal Bombers team. (at a time when many top flite teams back
east were still waiting for the snow to melt). In May, they travelled to
St. George Utah, for the Red Rock tournament, where they won their pool,
making the Elite 8 before being upset in the quarterfinals, but not
before knocking #9 Houston H.I.S. (the team that coincidentally beat
them in that playoff game in last year's ISC World). Over the Memorial
Day weekend, they brought home the championship trophy from the
California International Tournament in Fresno, California, beating #13
ranked Portland Demarini twice. A week later at Santa Fe Springs, CA,
they claimed the California Area ISC tournament title, and with it, a
berth to the 2004 World Tournament in Fargo, North Dakota.
But this is really just the beginning of that ambitious schedule. On
Friday evening after work, (June 18), they will jump on a plane for the
Decatur Shootout in Decatur Illinois. The Shootout is a well established
midwest tournament for some of fastpitch's best. This year, it includes
ISC #4 ranked Circle Tap, a much improved team from last year, #7 ranked
Midland Michigan, #9 Houston H.I.S. and #19 St. Louis Lafayette Pub.
Adding Team Rainey to the mix, that's 5 of the top 20 teams.
A week later, Team Rainey will jump on planes headed for Portland,
Oregon for the Portland DeMarini Rose Cup Tournament, where they will
compete against the reigning ISC World Champion and current #1 ranked
team in the world, Broken Bow Spirit of Amsterdam, New York, with the
field of teams including #6 ranked Victoria Travellers Inn, #10 ranked
Vancouver Grey Sox and the #13 ranked host Portland DeMarini Merchants.
Again, that's 5 of the top 20 teams in the world.
Still not impressed? Stay with me then. On July 9-10, 2004, Team Rainey
will catch planes to Denmark, Wisconsin for the "Boys of Summer"
tournament, which will feature #2 ranked County Materials, #3 The Farm,
#4 Circle Tap, #9 Houston H.I.S., #11 Imaging Systems Knights of Fargo,
#15 RWP, MN, and #23 Bar on the Avenue.
So by late July, Team Rainey players might start feeling like the Tom
Hanks character in his new movie, "The Terminal", (a story about a
visitor to New York from Eastern Europe trapped in an airline terminal)
[A good movie, BTW]
But not done yet. For their final act before the World Tournament, Team
Rainey will travel to Allentown, Pennsylvania, a town steeped in
fastpitch tradition, for the Bob Walsh Memorial Tournament - an
invitation only affair limited to eight teams that has already stirred
up some controversy by leaving a couple of Pennsylvania teams off the
list) Who are the other seven teams in this one? Oh, how about #1 Broken
Bow, #2 County Materials, #3 The Farm, #4 Circle Tap, #8 Fedlock, #9
Houston H.I.S. and #12 Heflin Builders.
And all of that as the run-up to a final trip August 13-21, 2004 to
Fargo, North Dakota for the ISC World Tournament.
One could hardly accuse Team Rainey of ducking the top teams. If you
were keeping track, by the time they get to Fargo, they'll have competed
in tournaments with the #1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,15,19,20,21 and
23rd ranked teams in the world.
This kind of schedule requires tremendous dedication by the players and
a equally strong commitment to find the financial wherewithal required
by it. It's been a long time since fastpitch fans here in Southern
California have had a chance to watch one of their own play this caliber
of schedule. (We'll be doing our best at fastpitchwest to provide
coverage of their travels, in particular at the Rose Cup, which we will
be attend, and hopefully get them on the internet radio broadcasts from
that tournament)
We wish you well, Team Rainey, as you head to LAX tomorrow for the first
leg of that adventure. Win, lose or draw, we know you will compete and
are proud to have the opportunity to follow a local So Cal team play
with the best in the world.
-Jim Flanagan, www.fastpitchwest.com
