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In the United States, the national pastime is baseball.
In Canada, New Zealand and other areas, fastpitch softball is the sport of the summer.
At Heritage Park in Frankenmuth on Saturday, 13 teams from the eastern part of North America met for the 19-and-under International Softball Congress North American East Championship.
Of the 13 teams present for the three-day tournament, only two come from the United States.
Grasel Graphics of Frankenmuth and Munger are the two Michigan teams in the tournament and both teams had a good showing for an area that concentrates mostly on baseball.
"The tough thing about softball in the U.S. is the pitching isn’t up to par." Grasel Graphics coach Tom Stasik said. "Canada and other countries raise their pitchers young, and they are good at this
age.
The Frankemuth ball club started the tournament with three wins but dropped the last game 3-2 to Wroxeter, Ontario.
A win would have sent the team to the semifinals, but it instead falls to the loser bracket where three wins will be needed to move on.
Frankenmuth begins action at 9 a.m. today against Elmira, Ontario.
Grasel Graphics picked up wins against Glencoe (6-1). Elmira (4-1) and New Dundee (6-0) as pitcher Allen Phibbs got all three wins.
Phibbs made the trip from Hagersville Ontario with the other players to play for Grasel Graphics. He didn’t pitch in the team’s
loss.
Frankenmuth lost five players to a softball tournament in Ludington and was forced to bring in the three Canadian players to make up the team’s pitching
staff.
Pitcher Brent Fehrman ahs made the trip from Ontario to play for the Grasel Graphics team for three consecutive years, but this year he brought two of his club teammates.
Phibbs and his brother Andrews Phibbs made the trip on short notice but were still happy to compete on the American side.
"I was sitting at home earlier in the week when Brent called me and asked if I wanted to play for an American team in Frankenmuth." 18-year-old Allen Phibbs said "Fist we had to look at the dollar exchange from Canadian to the U.S. dollar and see if we could afford the trip.
"I’m glad I made it because I have had a lot of fun here. It’s a little different playing over here but the setting is nice. I toured the village and the people have been
nice.
"Stasik is happy with the addition of the players but wishes he could grow his own pitchers.
"it’s tough to find a good pitcher in this area because of the effects baseball has on the sport." Stasik said "Our fielders are good because of their baseball fundamentals and they play smart on the basepaths and in
hitting.
"But with all the sports that are offered around here, it’s hard to develop a pitcher. In Canada and New Zealand they play fastpich softball like we play Little
League.
"The area players didn’t have a problem with the fastpich style but noted that the hitting was slightly
different.
"It pretty much feels the same out here, " Frankenmuth outfielder Chirs Cramer said. "I had a little problem with the hitting but that’s about it. I played last year so the switch form baseball to softball isn’t that much
different.
"Grasel Graphics needs three wins to advance to the finals and two wins in the finals to advance. The finals are at 1 p.m. today.
The winner of the tournament advances to Kimberly, Wisc. to play Chilliwack, British Columbia, the ISC North American West winner. The finals take place on Aug. 20-22 in a best-of –five series.
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