Passing of Hall of Famer Jay Bob Bickford

Bickford was 1980 MVP & Top Pitcher

The ISC is saddened to hear of the passing of Hall of Famer Jay Bob Bickford.

Jay Bob pitched from 1962 to 1987 for some of Arizona’s finest teams. He played on 13 Arizona State Championship Teams and was voted to the ASA All- American Team in 1971. He was named to the ISC All-World Team in 1977 and 1980 and was named as the ISC Most Outstanding Pitcher as well as the Most Valuable Player in the 1980 World Tournament pitching for Phoenix, AZ 7th Avenue Auto Parts He was also the Arizona State Travel League MVP in both 1977 and 1980. He was inducted into the Arizona Softball Hall of Fame in 2000.

Jay Bob was one of the most dominating fastpitch softball pitchers in Arizona history. He played for a number of years on the premier teams in the state and nation, including the Turquoise Kings from 1974-1978. During those years the Kings won five ISC Travel League championships and placed second at the ISC World Tournament in 1974. After the Kings, he played for the 7th Avenue Auto Parts, again finishing second in 1980.

We extend our condolences to the Bickford family.

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Roster deadlines for 2025

By Blair Setford • May 4, 2025

Reminder for ISC and Legends teams to send in their pre-season roster. NEW for 2025: Official ISC team rosters are limited to 16 players. The limit is still 20 for Legends. You can download the roster form from the ISC website on the Forms page. Team rosters are due four times per season and are to be sent to the email addresses on the form. 2025 Due dates are: May 15 (preliminary season roster to be eligible for ISC rankings) June 15 (PRAWNs declaration and OOR exception) July 1 (deadline for rosters to appear in championship tournament programs) Monday preceding start of ISC World Tournament (final and official championship roster) Each team must acknowledge that at least one team official has reviewed the concussion protocol training by checking the box on the roster form and including the name of the person in the identification box. This is a requirement for insurance eligibility. Please download the form, fill it out in Microsoft Excel or a compatible program, save it as an Excel file (.xlsx or .xls) and email it as an attachment to the email addresses shown at the bottom of the form. Please DO NOT send pdfs, files in formats other than Excel or photos of hand-written hard copies. Anything other than an Excel file will not be accepted.

ISC Legends MVP Award To Be Renamed

By Blair Setford • May 2, 2025

Following the untimely passing of Ward Gosse at the young age of 56 in January, the ISC is announcing that, with the blessing of the Gosse family, the Legends Most Valuable Player Award will be named in his honor starting this year. “Ward meant so much to the Legends division with the contributions that he made during his playing days,” said ISC Legends Tournament Director Keith Erkenbrack. Ward was a two-time Legends MVP – in 2018 and 2022 – leading the Sudbury Relics to both their titles. “We are very appreciative that Ward’s family has agreed to let us honor his memory.” Ward finishes with 14 wins in his Legends career, and has the three highest total strikeouts in a tournament in division history. Prior to his Legends participation, Ward threw a no-hitter in 1994 for St. John’s and was named to the ISC Second All-World Team with Fargo in 2006. In 2012, he was a member of the Parry Island Hawks team that captured the ISC II Championship and was named Tournament MVP and Most Outstanding Pitcher. The 2025 ISC Legends tournament will take place over the final days of the ISC World Tournament at Caswell Park in North Mankato, MN July 26 – August 2.