Profiles

Oh Canada, Toronto Gators win ISC World Tournament in Kimberly
First-ever Canadian sponsored team to do so
By Bob Tomlinson – Publisher, The Fastpitch Chronicle newspaper
From the September 1993 issue of The Fastpitch Chronicle Volume 6, Number 1

Just when many fastpitch enthusiasts and experts were beginning to think and say that the National Health Care Discount team was the best fastpitch team ever assembled, that team had their bubble burst.

And a very loud burst it was.

The Toronto Gators, a team of Canadian fastpitch stars(and one Aussie) assembled in the off-season by owner Jack Fireman, led by an amazing pitcher, popped that NHCD bubble.
Darren Zack, the pitcher who in 1992 set the new standard for strikeouts in the World Tournament set another standard that will take a monumental effort to break. Zack won eight games in this year’s tournament, but the final two were the most dramatic, 6-1 and 2-1.

A bases-loaded single in the bottom of the seventh inning by leadoff batter Brian Paton won the game for the Gators and a celebration of both Canadians and Americans, along with one Australian started and lasted about 1 ½ hours.

Paton stepped to the plate in the bottom of the seventh with Steve Price at third, Bob Rath at second and Terry Challis at first. He was facing the top lefthander in the game, Mike Piechnik.

Paton took Piechnik’s first offering and then laced the next pitch over the drawn in outfield.

Clark Bosch was due up to open the Toronto seventh but manager Bob Richardson called on Steve Price to pinch hit. He rose to the occasion and rifled a double to left center. That brought up Rath who hit a shallow fly ball to rightfield. Price tagged up at second as rightfielder Tod Stevenson charged the fly ball. Price appeared set to tag and take off and force Stevenson to make a perfect throw. Stevenson, in a hurry to make that throw never got the chance. He dropped the ball in his haste and Price cruised into third while Rath, always hustling, made it to second base.

That brought up the #9 batter, Terry Challis. A dangerous hitter who would bat lead off on most teams, Challis posed a big threat. NHCD manager Russ Boice chose to walk the lefthanded hitting Challis to face the top of the order with no outs.

The rest is history!

The final game really started in the sixth inning of the winner’s bracket game the day before. The same two teams met there and it was Zack against Michael White. The details of that game are “Chronicled” in the game summaries elsewhere in this issue but it was some dugout bantering by a NHCD player that really intensified the situation. People who live around gators will tell you very quickly to never rile one up. If they get a hold on you they take you down and keep you under. The biggest Gator, Zack got riled up. On Sunday he took NHCD under and kept them there.

The Gators made it to the championship by beating Larry Miller Toyota in the first game and Zack tossed that one as well.

In the first championship game, NHCD scored first in the third inning when David Boys singled and was followed by a single off the bat of Bill Boyer. Tod Stevenson hit into a fielder’s choice back to Zack that retired Boys at third. When the play started, those in attendance at last year’s ISC tournament in Salt Lake City quickly thought back to how that same situation presented itself when Zack and the Vancouver Magicians were hooked up in a game with NHCD. In Salt Lake City Zack threw the ball away and opened the doors for the NHDC Express.
Not this time, however, as Zack made the good throw.

Marty Kernaghan then stepped to the plate and lined a single to center that sent Boyer racing for home and a 1-0 NHCD lead.

Marty Grant was in the circle for NHCD and after Saturday’s game the Gators were determined to get even. In the top of the 4th, it looked like that one NHCD run had riled up a cluster of Gators. Paton singled and Adam Smith followed with another single. With runners on first and second, Grant Skinner stepped to the plate. Standing far off the plate, Skinner tried to bunt in an attempt to get the runners to second and third. He missed on his first attempt and then took a pitch for a ball. The next pitch was ay inside but Skinner tried to bunt it anyway and missed again. After being successful on the inside of the plate twice, Grant threw a drop ball on the outside corner and Skinner got his bat on it and hit a high bouncer to Sorenson at first. That was as good as a bunt. With runners at second and third and the outcome of the game hanging on a thread, Bruce Casselman stepped to the plate. The great hitter set himself for the task ahead and he was up for it. He laced a Grant offering up the middle and suddenly the huge crowd at Sunset Park exploded. The Gators had taken the lead against NHCD.

Zacks’ expression changed even more. As one stood near the Gator dugout it was easy to see and hear and see that he meant business. He had his victim down under and was intent on keeping them there.
Grant was doomed!

Zack faced three batters in the 4th and three in the fifth.

Still leading 2-1 and heading to the top of the sixth, the Gators sent nine batters to the plate and scored four more runs. Adam Smith started it off with a single. Skinner followed with a single of his own. NHCD called time out and brought in Michael White.

Casselman greeted White with single and Smith raced home for a two-run cushion. Don Burnett stepped in and hit a sharp grounder toward shortstop David Boys who threw the ball away at first base allowing Skinner to score and Burnett went to second. Shane King, an Australian, went down 5-3 and White hit Clark Bosch. Rath hit into a fielder’s choice that saw Casselman get retired at the plate. However, that pesky #9 batter and eventual ISC World Tourney MVP, Terry Challis was due up. He already had one single in the game and he then delivered another one that sent two more runs home, making it 6-1.

Zack struck out Steve Schott, got Steve Kerian to hit a fly ball to Paton in center and fanned Boys to end the game in the 7th.

The big questions were: 1) Could Zack throw three straight games against two of the finest teams in the game? 2) How did the first loss after 18 straight ISC World Tournament victories affect NHCD?

Yes, Zack can throw three straight games and win and it was quite obvious that something was amiss in the NHCD dugout. That aura that was once there, was not here in the beginning of the final game.

After Mark Sorenson homered off Zack in the 4th inning of the final, putting NHCD on top 1-0,l it reappeared somewhat but when the Gators knotted the score in the 5th on Challis’ triple and a Smith single, the crowed chanted – “Gators! Gators! Gators! Gators!”

That NHCD sense of superiority never returned to that dugout. It was gone!

A new champion was crowned and it was the first-ever Canadian team to win the ISC title 0- The Toronto Gators!
Zack won eight games, a new record and was named the Top Pitcher for the second year in a row. That “eye of the tiger” look disappeared immediately after the final out was recorded and was replaced with a look of satisfaction and pure enjoyment.

Challis, the #9 batter was named the tournament MVP. He entered the final day at .467 and went 3x8 including a triple in the final three games. He wound up with a .434 batting average.

Amazingly, Zack and Challis were the only Gators named to the First Team All World List. Bruce Casselman and Shane King were named Second Team.

To the Gators, personal awards and accolades meant little. A new champion reigned over the ISC World – those champions were Jack Fireman’s Toronto Gators!

Writer’s Note: Darren Zack would go on to shatter his 8 win record by winning 10 in a row at the 1995 ISC World Tournament in Sioux City, Iowa, also won by the Toronto Gators….. Marty Kernaghan and Bill Boyer of NHCD have both been inducted into the ISC Hall of Fame …..Mark Sorenson will surely be an ISC Hall of Fame member in his first year of eligibility …..Michael White will surely be a first-ballot ISC Hall of Famer when he comes eligible …. Tim Wahl has been elected to the ISC Hall of Fame and his induction is set for Kitchener in 2007 .... Several other players in that game will be future ISC Hall of Famers as well ….

In Honor of Irv Kawarsky - Historian for The Fastpitch Softball News Bulletin and The Fastpitch Chronicle

By Bob Tomlinson - Fastpitch Chronicle publisher and webmaster - 4/9/07

Here is the About the Author information from the back cover of Irv's book The History of Iowa Men's and Women's Fast-Pitch Softball 1924-1991.

Irv Kawarsky grew up in East Des Moines, Iowa where he first became interested in softball while playing in the playgrounds of Longfellow Elementary School. As he got older he and the neighborhood kids would go out to the Old East High School stadium to watch the adults play ball.

He became quite fond of watching the Iowa Pack team play as they were one of the top teams in Iowa at the time. In 1938 he made it a point to follow the team, as they had Al Linde, who would be the second inductee to enter the National Softball Hall of Fame in 1958, as a pitcher. Irv followed the Packers in 1939, when Franz Linden was their pitcher. In 1940 and 1941 he continued his interest when Earl Varchminn was their hurler.

World War II was just beginning and the services were beckoning men his age. After being discharged, Irv enrolled at Drake University where he earned a B.S. in Education and Masters degree in Physical Education and Health. One of the requirements was to write a thesis, which he wrote on the History of Softball in U.S. with emphasis in Iowa.

Irv taught in the Des Moines Public Schools in Physical Education and he also coahed track. He coached girls softball at Roosevelt High School from 1974-76.

Irv wrote for Softball Illustrated, a monthly magazine, Fastpitch Softball News Bulletin, Softball World, and currently writes a feature entitled "Looking Back in Time" for the Fastpitch Chronicle newspaper out of Poynette, Wisconsin.