ISC tournament might play games at Campbell Complex

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By Doug Green | Thursday, September 18, 2008 10:12 AM CDT | () comments

Quad-City Times

There could be one change when the International Softball Congress, or ISC Men’s World Fastball Tournament comes to the Quad-Cities in 2009.

The event, which is expected to generate $11 million in revenue, is scheduled to be played at Green Valley Complex in Moline.

But a proposal under consideration is that the ISC II Men’s Fastball Tournament of Champions — a separate tournament governed by the same body as the World Tournament — would be held at the Campbell Complex in Rock Island. Tournament officials want the split between the two complexes for safety reasons and press box room.

“Using a baseball analogy, ISC is Major League Baseball and ISC II is Triple-A, so it’s just a competitive notch below. If we would use all four diamonds at Green Valley, and that was the plan they had given us, two would be for the world tournament and two of them would be for ISC II. Men’s fastpitch softball is played by strong, talented athletes who throw the ball hard, pitch the ball hard, and swing the bat hard. And they hit long foul balls and they hit a lot of foul balls,” Ken Hackmeister, executive director of ISC, said.

Fans at Green Valley would be sitting with their backs to the other fields and would not be able to see foul balls from other diamonds. According to Hackmeister, a foul ball at Green Valley could land in the middle of a neighboring diamond.

Even though the tournament was held in Rock Island in the 1960s and ’70s, the Quad-Cities is being treated like a first-time host. The host team for the tournament will be the Quad-City Sox, an ISC world team.

“I think everybody on the Quad-City Sox is really excited about it. No. 1, we haven’t had a tournament here since 1968 or ’69, but our goal is to put the best team on the field and try to win a world championship,” Sox coach Steve Kaiser said.

Other cities under consideration to host the event were Midland, Mich., and Eau Claire, Wis.

“We know that there is a history and tradition that our sport is known here and we are hoping to capitalize on that history,” Hackmeister said.

The Quad-Cities will host in 2009 and has an option for 2011. They must accept or reject that option by Jan. 1. Midland will host the event in 2010.

“We typically award one tournament at a time, two years in advance. However, in this case, they asked for an option for 2011, and we gave it to them,” Hackmeister said. “It’s basically a flat bid, then we have requirements on fields, on number of hotel rooms, certain obligations that the hosts have to provide. They met all those requirements for the ’09 contract, so it’s safe to assume that if they choose to accept the option they will meet those requirements for 2011,” Hackmeister said.

The Quad-City Convention and Visitors Bureau helped bring the tournament to the Quad-Cities and expects it to do well.

“It’s an $11 million estimated economic impact if we draw the crowds we drew in the 1960’s,” Lynn Hunt, vice president of sales for the Quad-City Convention and Visitors Bureau, said. “The teams are coming from all over the nation and the world. We could have the Bahamas playing here, we’ll have Canadian teams playing, U.S. teams, for a nine-day period.”

At a glance

What: ISC Men’s World Fastball Tournament and ISC II Men’s Fastball Tournament of Champions

When: August 14-22, 2009

Cost: Adults $5, Seniors (age 60 and over) $3, 16 and under free, 9 day pass $35 through June 1, $45 after June 1, Seniors $25. Tickets available after January 1, 2009.

Information: www.iscFastball.com