At this year's Squamish Days Fastpitch tournament a couple of speed-throwing heroes made sure there were lots of zeroes in the hits column. The highlight of the tournament was Saturday night's (Aug. 11) game between the Vancouver Rangers and Rossini's Jazz, also from Vancouver.
The game featured fastballs from two of the world's top-ranked pitchers. Nick Underhill, playing with Jazz, ranks fifth in the world by the International Softball Congress (ISC), and the Rangers' Lucas Mata, ranks first.
"There were countless strikeouts," said tournament organizer Ken Hall. "It was quite the pitching display." The packed crowd at Brennan Park witnessed Underhill's Jazz defeated Mata's Rangers 1 - 0.
As the contest wrapped up the buzz was less about the upcoming championship and more about a couple of chuckers who put on a clinic.
"It was great to see two top-ranked pitchers going at it," said Hall.
This showdown between speedsters would have been repeated on Sunday (Aug. 5) when the two teams faced each other in the afternoon but unfortunately for the crowd and the Rangers, Mata, who hails from Argentina, had to travel to Thunder Bay, Ontario to compete in an ISC championship series.
In the open championship game Monday night the Jazz defeated hometown favourites the Squamish Wizards 4 -1 thanks in part to the pitching of Underhill.
"The final basically came down to Underhill striking out the Wizards," said Hall.
The first place Jazz received $600 and the second place Wizards got $300.
In the recreation league division the first place Cat and Fiddle Pub from Burnaby received $900, while the second place Squamish Diggers got $600.
On the ladies side of the action the Lind Valley Heat defeated the Vancouver Springs 7-3 to take first place. The highlight for organizer Carrie Aseltine was watching the tight contest between the Okanogan Angels and the Vancouver Springs.
The 0 - 0 tie was packed with the excitement and tension usually reserved for a hockey game and was an exhibition in defence. The seven teams that entered were the most the tournament as ever seen, said Aseltine.
"This year went even better than last year, we had some blowouts and some close games," said Aseltine. "It seems to get easier every year and that helps when you're trying to launch a league."
Aseltine and Hall both wanted to express their thanks to all the volunteers and sponsors who made the tournament a success.Some of the games were delayed pushing the schedule back about an hour and a half, said Hall, but there was little organizers could do about it because some contests last longer than others.
"We're at the mercy of each individual game," said Hall.
"Plus the field has to be groomed [and] the junior teams did a wonderful job making sure the teams had a nice new field to play on.
"I think next year will be even better. Hopefully more teams will be coming out for the open division [which] will be good for the crowd, and great for softball."
