Rule Change Impacts Masters “Add Player ranking will be determined by the highest level played in the current and preceding year“

The 2010 SPO AGM was held Saturday, Oct 16 at the Best Western Lamplighter Hotel in London. The morning began with various workshops including a very informative presentation by representatives of our insurance company. They presented some very interesting facts on the coverage of our policy. We will be posting this information on our website in the near future. Following the workshops, the SPO Delegates met for the General Meeting part of the day. First came the many reports, including the financial statements. which is necessary for a not-for-profit organization. Next came the discussion and voting on proposed rule and Bylaw changes. The changes voted in for 2010 can be viewed here 2010 AGM In the elections, Don Buchanan (Barrie) and Wayne Griffiths (Port Hope) were acclaimed as Directors for the next two years. Bob Weedon (Chatham) was acclaimed as Secretary/Treasurer.

Following the business portion of the day, the Awards Luncheon was held. At this event three special Awards were presented:
SPO Director of the Year – Sam Fenech & Tami Hore (Zone 5 – Brampton)
SPO Tournament Director of the Year – Ryan Rochon (Zone 4 – Welland)
SPO Tournament of the Year – Niagara Summer Tournament – Tournament Director Jon Horbach (Zone 4 – Niagara on the Lake)
Congratulations to these four people for these well-deserved honours.

2010 Annual General Meeting
Bylaw & Rule Changes

The following changes were approved by the membership for play in 2011.

1. Bylaw 19.6iii : Add “Player ranking will be determined by the highest level played in the current and preceding year.

The current rule limits the number on high level players on Masters 35/40 teams This clarifies how the level is determined.

Rationale: Clarifies what constitutes the  level  of a high level player.

2. Playing Field: Pitching distance is 50 – 60 feet.

Increases the size of the pitching box from 5 feet to 10 feet.

Rationale: Allows the pitcher more distance if desired.

3. Mercy Rule:  Currently reads – All E divisions and Masters 50+, 55+, 60+ & 65+.  A maximum of 5 runs per inning may be scored. (Exception: 7th inning)
Add ” A team 17 or more runs ahead after 3 1/2 if the home team or 4 innings if the visiting team shall be declared the winner.”

When a team is 17 or more runs behind in the 4th inning, the team behind will always be at least 12 runs behind in the 5th inning so there is no need to play the 5th inning..

Rationale: Clarifies the situation when using the 5 run per inning rule.

After 2nd Place Finish In the Miken Super Series Event #1 the Mudcats came through undefeated to take their first ever tournament title in Event #2. The win also jumped the Mudcats into 1st place on top of the Series Standings.

The Mudcats won their first 4 games on Saturday using some stellar defence.  In only one game did they score 20 runs.  The Mudcats battled through all the games showing heart and solid defence to play in the undefeated game Sunday morning.  Again the defence came through to have the team take a tough match from a game Sunoco (Grand Valley) club.

Sunoco came back around to beat the Pirates and  face the  Mudcats in the final.  After Sunoco put up a 10 run top of 2nd inning to take a 7 run lead Mudcats answered right back with a 8 run bottom half inning of their own and never looked back winning the finals by 4 runs.

Mudcats Coach Mike “Eeyore” Landry stated “we are very excited by the good start for 2010 and are ready for the challenges ahead in the rest of the series.”

No matter how bad the weather, Event #2 had to be better than the cold rainy and windy first weekend. Well this weekend it was not as windy and much warmer but we did have a lot of rain Saturday morning and early afternoon. By Sunday afternoon it was downright hot and sunny. Whatever the weather, the action on the field was fantastic. In fact over half the games were decided by 5 runs or less and nearly 1/3 were decided by 2 runs or less.

Super Series #1C  Results

Mens C SPC (London) beat Mudcats (Hamilton) in a competitive championship that required the IF game to determine the Championship.

With the Super Series growing so large it had to be split, this past weekend the C Division held the first event at Slo-Pitch City in Dorchester. Saturday started out not only cold but with intermitten rain showers and strong winds. By afternoon the rain had ceased but it was still cold and windy. Sunday began very cold but the winds had died down to reasonable level. Despite the cold weather, the action heated up as the day progressed.

Next C division event is in two weeks (May 22-23) again at Slo-Pitch City.
The first event for Mens A, B and Womens Competitive is next week (May 15-16) at Slo-Pitch City. “We can only hope the weather is warmer for these upcoming events since it couldn`t be much colder.”

1 May 15/16 All Doug Tarry Sports Complex St. Thomas

2 June 26/27 All Slo-Pitch City Dorchester

3 July 17/18 All Doug Tarry Sports Complex St. Thomas

4 August 14/15 All Slo-Pitch City Dorchester

5 (Provs) August 27-29 All London area

A series of weekend tournaments to provide Masters teams of all levels (Competitive, Intermediate & Recreational) an opportunity to compete on a regular basis.
All participating teams must be registered and insured members of SPO.

Registration fee is $105 ($100 + GST) (After May 1 $113 ($100 + HST)). Included in this fee is a SPO team registration including insurance. The registration is done online and all information including the fee must be received by SPO by May 1, 2010 (or 14 days prior to a team’s first Masters Circuit event if they do not compete in the event #1). Once the team has been approved, the Team Contact will receive a password to access the Team Contact area. Roster submission and Event entry are accessed in this area.

Entry fee for each regular Masters Circuit event will be $315 ($300 + GST). (After May 1 $330 ($100 + HST)). Tournament applications must be submitted using SPO’s online registration service.
Tournament entry (including payment) must be received by SPO ten (10) days prior to the event. Late entries may be accepted but a late penalty fee of $100 will apply.

Tournament format: Depends on the division.
35 & 40 Comp – In an effort to get these divisions going again, a total of eight players from A and B will be permitted on the rosters with a maximum of four A players. 2010 rosters will be used in this determination. A minimum of four teams will be needed to run the division on the weekend.

35 & 40 Int & Rec – Rosters may have a maximum of two players from A and B (Max – one A player). Depending on the number of teams, we will divide the divisions into two or three groups.

50 – A Comp and Int division based on a round robin format.

55, 60 & 65 – One division within each of these classifications. Round robin format.

Rosters:
Team rosters (for use in event 1) must be submitted prior to May 11th.
Maximum roster is 20 players.
Teams may adjust this roster for each event but a tournament roster must be submitted by the Wednesday before each event.
To assist forming rosters a list of players looking for a team will be available to the Team Contacts.

Special Rules:

Courtesy Runners:
35 & 40 – 4 per game
50 & 55 – 7 per game (same runner can’t run twice in a game)
60 & 65 – unlimited

Home Run Rule:
35 – 5
40 – 5
50, 55, 60 & 65 – 3

Point Structure:
1st – 12 points, 2nd – 10 points, 3rd – 8, participate – 5 points.

Prizes and payout structures: Prize money will be paid for each event. Top 3 teams in each division will earn a berth to the appropriate USSSA World Tournament for 2010 or 2011.

Special Procedures:
Any team that forfeits the start of a game during a tournament will be suspended from the remainder of the tournament and will receive no points.
A player ejected from a MC game may not participate in his/her team’s next SPO sanctioned game with further review by the SPO Disciplinary Committee.

Participation:
Teams must compete in at least two of the first 4 events to be eligible for the Provincials
Teams must compete in 3 events (one must be the Provincials) to be eligible for the Masters Circuit Championship.

In 2009 Slo-Pitch Ontario started series of weekend tournaments to provide Masters teams of all levels (Competitive, Intermediate & Recreational) an opportunity to compete on a regular basis. All participating teams must be registered and insured members of SPO.

Divisions
Womens 35+, 40+
Mens 35+, 40+, 50+, 55+, 60+. 65+

For 2009, which is now over, we had over 40 teams register.  Information for the upcoming season should be available early in 2010.

2009 Final Results

The 2009 Provincial Championships are now complete. Over the 3 weekends we had plenty of action and 25 Provincial Champions were determined. Weatherwise we started with a little rain but for the last 2 weekends it was some of the best weather we have had all year. Thank you Mother Nature.
This weekend involved 4 divisions. Beside champions in Mens E (Tournament) and Womens C & D, Mens E (League) instead of just 1 Champion for Mens E League there were 3 Championships awarded including awards and prize money for the top teams in the groups.

Results:
Mens E Tournament – Provincial Champions: Bad Sunday
Mens E League AAA – Provincial Champions: The Crew
Mens E League AA – Provincial Champions: Cement Heads
Mens E League A – Provincial Champions: Bennigins
Womens C – Provincial Champions: Dorner/Jersey`s
Womens D – Provincial Champions: Essex Legion Ladies

Congratulations to all teams and thanks to all the volunteers for their hard work.

What a great weekend. The weather couldn`t have been any better if we had planned it ourselves..
On the diamonds 7 divisions including the top divisions in Mens and Womens competed at both Slo-Pitch City or Southwest Optimist to be crowned Provincial Champion.

Results are
Womens Competive – Provincial Champion: Higgins ProTeam/Ward & Patch
Wommens E (League) – Provincial Champion: Xpress Mortgages/Tilco Electric
Womens E (Tournament) – Provincial Champions: Rona Building Products
Mens A – Provincial Champions: SPC Orioles
Mens B – Provincial Champions: Dilligaf
Mens C – Provincial Champions: Vertical Giants
Mens D (League) – Provincial Champion: Smack Daddy`s Renegades
Mens D (Tournament) – Provincial Champions: Unleasged

Complete results will be available shortly after the conclusion of the Provincials.

What a great weekend! Who said old people can`t have fun or men and women can`t play together. This weekend it was the Masters teams along with the Coed teams. In all 16 different Provincial Champions were declared.

Results are
Masters 35+ AAA – Provincial Champion: Essex Legion Br 201
Masters 35+ AA – Provincial Champion: Ultra Lawn
Masters 40+ AAA – Provincial Champion: Bandits
Masters 40+ AA – Provincial Champion: Wrightway Wrelicks
Masters 50+ – Provincial Champion: Sommerville Sports 50
Masters 55+ – Provincial Champion: Windsor Chiefs 55`s
Masters 60+ – Provincial Champion: Windsor Chiefs 60`s
Masters 65+ – Provincial Champion: Windsor Chiefs 65`s
Womens 35+ – Provincial Champion: Dorners/FX Painting
Coed Competitive – Provincial Champion: Desert Rats
Coed C – Provincial Champion: BS & B Radiators
Coed D – Provincial Champion: Insert Team Name Here (That`s really their name.)
Coed E (Tournament) – Provincial Champion: Johnny B
Coed E (League) AAA – Provincial Champion: Sooner or Later
Coed E (League) AA – Provincial Champions: – Ball Breakers
Coed 3-Pitch – Provincial Champion: T-Bars

For Immediate Release

Slo-Pitch Ontario is proud to announce that the Association has entered into a partnership/agreement with the United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA). This agreement will provide Slo-Pitch Ontario teams the opportunity to participate in tournaments throughout the United States and World Series Events, most of which are hosted in Florida at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex. The agreement will also give Slo-Pitch Ontario the opportunity to branch out into other sports if the market warrants it.

“This is great news for Slo-Pitch teams in Ontario!” declares Tom Buchan, CEO of Slo-Pitch Ontario. “It will provide our teams the opportunity to play at an international level in all divisions. The USSSA are definitely leaders in the game and have proved that with their tremendous success. The leadership and expertise of Mr. DeDonatis and the USSSA in the sport of slo-pitch softball, as well as other sports, will do nothing but improve our programs and services.” says Buchan.

“It is with great pleasure and enthusiasm that we welcome Tom Buchan and Slo-Pitch Ontario as the exclusive representative of the USSSA in Canada for slo-pitch softball and all of our other sports.” stated Don DeDonatis, CEO of the USSSA. “We are excited to have the opportunity to host the Ontario and Canadian teams into the USSSA events. We are also looking forward to bringing some of our events into Ontario.”

Although 2009 will be a transition year in many ways, it is the hope of Slo-Pitch Ontario and the USSSA that a number of teams will participate in the 2009 USSSA World Series Events.

After months of discussion and research, SPO has decided to follow the lead of the USSSA and adopt their bat policy. As well, after months of research and development with Worth and discussions with the USSSA, SPO has developed a new softball program for our Association that will be launched mid-summer 2009.

“We are extremely excited about this arrangement which will provide the players within the SPO program the ability to compete internationally, plus the unique combination of USSSA bats and the new Worth softball line up will provide players enhanced performance on a level playing field. We look forward to 2009 and beyond as this arrangement will bring a new enthusiasm to the sport of Slo-Pitch in Ontario.” says Randy Beatty, GM of Worth Canada.

With the changes to the bats and balls, as well as our affiliation with the USSSA, it should be an exciting year for SPO!