OUR 4th SEASON

ECTB ENTERS ITS 4th Year at ECTB Stadium at Bi-Centennial Park. This year promises to be our better then the previous three. We will continue to provide the best in Stadium Tournament Play in both baseball and softball! Additionally, the Philadelphia Force will compete in its 3rd season of professional play in the NPF.

 2007 in Review:  This year was a very exciting one for the Staff at the Stadium. First, we completed the replacement of ALL seats, a project that began in 2005. We also improved both the Press Box and Storage facilities. In May, the Philadelphia Force moved their Front Office operation into new offices at the Stadium. We had a full slate of ECTB and USSSA Baseball tournaments that have made ECTB as the premier Tournament venue in the Northeast Region of the USA. We also concluded our Second Year as Home to the Philadelphia Force, a premier franchise in professional softball that competes in the National Pro Fastpitch League, www.profastpitch.com.  What a great year the Force had, coming down to the final Home game! The fans were treated to a good year as the team doubled its wins from 2006 of 12 Wins to 24 Wins in 2007. Congratulations to the team and we here that in 2008, they will be making a run for the Championship! A full schedule of games beginning with Spring Training is available now on their website so just click the “Force” icon on our Home page or go their website at www.philadelphiaforce.com

 The Stadium was also the home of the Allentown Juniors again, as they competed in some of the best local League Baseball sponsored by the Allentown Parks and Recreation Bureau. We also were part of delivering once again one of the most prestigious Men’s Fast Pitch Professional events played in the USA, the Bob Walsh Memorial. This event featured eight of the top ten rated men’s teams in the world.

The biggest highlight of the ECTB season was the ECTB NCS for 11U-1819U. Every Championship game was played in the Stadium for the FIRST Time ever. The response was fantastic. Almost 24 Teams or more filled every Age Bracket and the level of play was fantastic. We also were fortunate enough to have Service Electric TV 2 televise seven of the Nine Championship games. “In 2008 ALL games will be televised,” announced Terry Schadler, President of ECTB, Inc. We also hosted, for the second time, the USSSA NIT in the 11U-15U in May. Would you believe that five homeruns were hit out of the park in the 13U series?  Our thanks to Andy, Don, Tom, Barry and the entire TV 2 Staff, for making 2007 another memorable year. This also marked our second year in the production of DVDs of those games, making them very affordable to our teams that competed.

Preview of 2008   The Philadelphia Force will return in early May of 2008 to contest a Full 32 Home game Schedule at the Stadium. The Allentown Jr. along with selected Local Allentown High School Games will be played in the Stadium in the spring of 2008. Naturally, There will be an entire season of ECTB baseball beginning in early April and running thru Mid- November of 2008.

USSSA National Invitational Series will return in May. All of the Champions from this year 2007 are expected back to defend in the next age category. That would be Beaver Valley Red winners of the 2007 the 11U and the 13U, Pittsburgh Wild Things, winners in the 12U and 14U. and PA Panthers in the 15U. This tournament attracts the best travel teams in the USA to compete right here in the Lehigh Valley. The Bob Walsh Memorial Tournament, featuring the very best Fast Pitch Men’s teams in the World will return the third week of July. Jon Adams will continue to be the Director of this prestigious event.  Jon can be reached at jasa60@aol.com. We have been hard at work to bring you the best season ever at the Stadium. Terry, Tom & the entire ECTB staff look forward to seeing you this year at the stadium and wish you the best of luck in 2008!