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Tournament Preview from the Kenosha News
Firday, July 7-9
Kenosha News, Friday, July 7, 2006
By David Marran
There will be no shortage of fastpitch softball talent on display this weekend at the annual Bristol Progress Days Tournament.
The event will feature three nationally-ranked teams and one of the top pitchers in the country. The tournament, which has been going on for more than four decades, began Thursday with competition in the Intermediate (16-years old and younger) Division. The Monore Division begins tonight with the Major Division beginning Saturday.
Major Division games will be played at the Bristol Ball Diamond and Lumby�s Bar in Salem. Minor Division games will be at Bristol Park, Bristol Grade School, Lumby�s Bar and Brighton.
There is no admission and concessions will be available.
�It�s nice that we were able to get 17 teams,� said Glen Nelson, a member of Earl�s, who has played in this tournament for years. �(Fastpitch) is starting to come back with the younger crowd, which has been nice. It�s nice to get the young kids involved.�
Tonight�s Minor Division games have Woodstock taking on ELF (7 p.m. Bristol Park), Brat Stop playing Oakvue Farm (7 p.m. at Brighton), American Family playing Old Settlers (8:30 p.m. at Brighton) and 75th St. facing Knockers (8:30 p.m. at Bristol Park). Schneids, Dykstra and Cougar Lanes have first round byes and will begin play Saturday.
Minor Division play continues Saturday and resumes 9 a.m. Sunday. The title game is 5:30 p.m. Sunday at Bristol Park. The six-team Major tournament will consist of pool play on Saturday and single-elimination on Sunday. Pool A has Earl�s, Richwarp and New Image while Pool B has Blackhawk, The Bar and Mobil.
The field is full of heavyweights with Kenosha�s Earl�s Club, which recently won this tournament 13 years in a row. The Bar and New Image all ranked in the International Softball Congress� preseason poll.
Earl�s, which once won this tournament 13 years in a row, was ranked 16th, New Image wsa ranked 23rd and The Bar wsa 28th. New Image, based out of Monford, took fourth in the North American Fastpitch Association AA World Series last year and is led by dominating pitcher Jeramie Holman.
�They are an incredible team,� Nelson said. �It�s a good deal for us to get a team like that. (Holman) is well known and it should help us draw more interest.�
Following round robin play Saturday from 11:15 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., the top team in each pool will receive a bye Sunday. Elimination games begin at 11:15 a.m. Sunday. The championship game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Sunday at Bristol Park.
