With a 3-1 win on Tuesday, the Kings took the first game of the best of
three B side final over the Bulldogs. Game two is scheduled for Thursday at
9pm. While the Kings look to finish things off, the Bulldogs would like to
see the series extended just one more game.

On the A side, Tuesday night also saw the Black Sox get the game three
quarter final win over the Reds, 3-1, to advance to the semi finals. From
all accounts, a great game with chances for both sides. 

Only one of the semifinalists was an upset, the remaining three were the
higher seeded team in their matchup.

#1 Black Sox v #4 Classics
The Black Sox may have had a tough series against the Reds but the
Classics knocked off the top team in the league in the Cardinals. These
teams are no strangers as the Classics have knocked the Black Sox out in
the semi finals three times in the recent past; 2005, 2006 and 2008. The
Sox start looking for a little revenge on Thursday.

Regular season meeting: Black Sox over Classics: 8-1 and 6-2.

#2 Selects v #2 Smoke
Finishing only two points apart, and both in second place in their
respective divisions, these teams are closely matched. While the Selects
toughed out a series win over the Diamond Jaxx, the Smoke were the only
team to advance by winning two straight games over Bell Cartage. These
teams also have a history of meeting in the playoffs. Both the 2007 and
2008 quarter-finals featured a Selects v Smoke series. And I would be
remiss if I didn't remind the fans of the KFL of the 2007 best of three
series which took 4 games and a total of 33 innings before a winner was
decided.

Regular season meeting: 12-2 for the Selects. 

The schedule for these series can be seen on the playoff schedule page.

August 13-21, the ISC held its World championships in Midland, Michagan.
This year, there were four titles up for grabs, the ISC, the ISC II, the
Legends and the Youth, under 19.

The ISC championship this year was won by the Jarvis Travelers. Jarvis
went through a number of very good teams and even took a loss to the New
York Gremlins. But they bounced back and won their next four (including a
revenge win over the Gremlins) to take the 2010 title. The final was a 4-1
win over the Kitchener Rivershark Twins.

The ISC II, a tournament consisting of teams previously eliminated from
the main draw, saw its final game contested by two Ontario teams as the
Wellington Sox triumphed 5-3 over the Wyevale Tribe.

Over in the Legends tournament, well, I will let a first-hand account that
was sent to me, tell the story:

With a nail-biting, come-from-behind victory, the Cobourg Force won the
inaugural ISC World Tournament Legends Championship. Darren Zack was on the
mound in the 2-1 win over Byron Center Michigan. Kitchener Fastball League
players on the Cobourg roster included Sam Forbes, Don Stebbings and Dana
Seiling (Classics), Paul Clemens (Reds) and Al Taylor (Black Sox).
 
The Force got behind by a run in the top of the second inning and then
struggled to catch up. In the bottom of the sixth, Sam Forbes singled home
Randy Wicke from second base to tie the score. Pete McCormack led off the
bottom of the seventh for the Force with a triple. Doug Willoughby singled
him home with the game winner.
 
The Force went 6-0 during the tourney. Darren Zack won three games
including a no-hitter; Wayne Wells won a pair and had a one-hit shutout;
Don Stebbings threw a no-hitter in his victory.

In the Youth tournament, a number of Ontario cities were represented
including Kitchener. The final came down to the Oshawa Double BB Midgets
and the Scarborough Champion Indians with Scarborough winning 6-0.

So congratulations to all players and a special congratulations to all KFL
players who went down and represented their teams and leagues proudly.

The first round of the playoffs are turning out to include some very tough
match ups.

The Reds managed to take the first game against the Black Sox 8-2 but the
Sox came back on Monday to win game two with an almost identical score,
8-1. Game three goes next Tuesday.

After all that talk about the close games the Selects and Diamond Jaxx
have had, they split their first two games with scores of 8-3 and 13-3.
Their deciding game will be Thursday night.

The Cardinals, after finishing first in the regular season and only losing
three times all year, dropped the first game of the playoffs to the
Classics. They managed to come back and take game two to even the series.
Game three for these teams is tonight.

And the Smoke, not wanting to prolong their series any more, finished off
Bell Cartage to become the first team to advance out of the quarter finals.
Two very close games, 3-2 and 2-1, now have them waiting to see who their
semi final opponent will be.

Over on the B side, the Bulldogs (eliminating the Wizards) and the
Moonshiners (eliminating the Barons) will now advance to the semi finals.
The Bulldogs will face the Predators on Thursday and the Moonshiners will
take on the Kings tonight. The winners of these two games will go
head-to-head in the best two out of three, B side finals starting next
week.

Just a reminder to all teams and fans that the schedule starts back up
again tonight.

Mon Aug 23
Budd 1
9pm Reds v Black Sox game 2

Tues Aug 24
Budd 1
7pm Bell Cartage v Smoke game 2
9pm Classics v Cardinals game 2

Budd 2
7pm Diamond Jaxx v Selects game 2

Wed Aug 25
Budd 1
7pm Kings v Moonshiners  (B Side semi)
9pm Cardinals v Classics (IF)

Thurs Aug 26
Budd 1 
7pm Selects v Diamond Jaxx (IF)
9pm Smoke v Bell Cartage (IF)

Budd 2
7pm Predators v Bulldogs (B Side semi)

Tues Aug 31
Budd 1
7pm B Side Final game 1
9pm - Black Sox v Reds (IF)

Thurs Sept 2 – Hopefully the first game of the A side semis.
9pm B Side Final Game 2

Last night saw the end of the KFL's 2010 regular season. Fourteen teams
joined us this year and gave us a fantastic effort. But only the top four
in each division are moving on to the playoffs. Here is our breakdown of
what you can expect over the next couple weeks.

#1 Black Sox vs #4 Reds
A classic rivalry with years of history behind it, these two teams always
bring their top game when they see each other. The Black Sox, finishing
with 30 points and in second place overall, had a great season and hope to
continue that success in the playoffs. But the Reds always play tough and
despite finishing fourth in the Black division, fully intend on advancing
to the semi-finals.

Regular season meeting: 11-1 for the Black Sox.

#2 Smoke vs. #3 Bell Cartage
The Smoke had an interesting season as they finished second in the Red
division but only had a +/- run differential of 5. They finished the season
with an 7-game undefeated streak, but will run into a tough team in Bell
Cartage. Finishing third in the Black division, Bell had started the season
on a five game undefeated streak but then played .500 ball the rest of the
season. They hope to find that first-of-season spark and bring it into the
playoffs.

Regular season meeting: 2-0 for the Smoke

#1 Cardinals vs #4 Classics
The surprise team of the year to everyone but themselves. The Cardinals
won the B side championships last year, intending to make a point that they
belonged playing for the title and this year, they kept on winning. They
started the season losing their first two games then went on a tear with a
9-game winning streak, got beat once, then finished with a 7-game winning
streak. But they are going to have to face the Classics in the first round.
A team of veterans, the Classics may very well know exactly how to handle
these kids. Should be a good series.

Regular season meeting: 7-2 for the Cardinals.

#2 Selects vs #3 Diamond Jaxx
Well, look what we have here. A rematch of one of last years semi-finals.
Instead of writing out a bunch of stuff about how close these teams are,
why don't I just list the scores from their last two years of games. 2-2,
2-0, 6-4, 2-2 and 2-1. Look for this series to be hard fought.

Regular season meeting: 2-2 tie.