Final 4 and A Nationals Combination A Clear Success

With one hot weekend in Croydon, two successful national competitions and 14 A-grade softball teams taking part in the largest ever national tournament, it is clear that having the baseball and softball tournaments together proved a success. The competition gave us excitement, two long-time 'nearly' teams in the final and a significant improvement in the A-Nationals organisation.
Whether there will be cross pollination of players between the two sports we’ll have to wait to see but it was evident that many softballers enjoyed watching the baseball on show and that a good few baseballers took a delight in seeing women!

This year Slammers and Dragons contested the final, a fight between teams that have just fallen short of reaching the final previously (Dragons) or winning it when they get there (Slammers). Slammers proved themselves to be the champions, their first win in 11 years of coming close. The win will be especially sweet for the Slammers’ veterans: Bruce Saunders, Karen-Anne Cole, Tom Kelly and Greg Pinyan, who all have lived through so many near misses. In contrast the win is bittersweet for Mark Saunders, playing in his first final but losing – and to his brother too.

Manchester Dominates at B & C Nationals

It was very nearly a clean sweep for the Manchester Softball League at the B and C Co-ed National Championships, played on the weekend of September 11-12 at Keele University in Staffordshire.

Maybe it was the proximity of Keele to Manchester (a 40-minute jaunt down the M6), or maybe it was because Manchester teams are used to playing in the kind of persistent rain that turned many of the pitches into quagmires on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Or maybe – despite the fact that some Manchester folk will tell you their player base is aging and there aren’t enough replacements coming in – the talent in Manchester is still there.

Whatever the reasons, when the weekend was over, Manchester Mavericks were the B National Champions, Manchester Mutineers were the C National Champions and Manchester’s Jammy Dodgers were the C Plate winners. The possibility of a Manchester Grand Slam was only averted by the Nottingham Pyros, who took the B Plate trophy.

Despite the rain, which almost brought the tournament to a halt on Sunday morning, it was a highly successful weekend. A record 20 teams competed in the B Nationals – though the fact that only 10 teams contested the C Nationals is something BSF will need to look at. The facilities at Keele were excellent, as the University went all out to make its first-ever softball event a success. And the standard of play – especially in the finals of both tournaments – was extremely high.

And as usual with teams at B and C level – even though the competitions are taken seriously – sportsmanship and good humour were the dominant motif.

B and C 2005 Single-Sex Nationals a Great Success

On Saturday July 23rd Men’s and Women’s Softball teams in the UK travelled to Manchester for the 2005 Single-Sex Nationals. Over 80 games were spread across five pitches and two days, displaying some of the most enjoyable softball action in the UK. The weekend, organized and operated by the British Softball Federation and BaseballSoftballUK, offered participants the chance to slug it out against their rivals.

The tournament brought Men’s and Women’s teams from the B and C levels of competition to Manchester to fight for the National title. The five Men’s B teams that came to the tournament played each other in a double-round-robin format. The teams with the third and fourth best records after the two round robins faced each other for the third place crown and the first and second place teams met in a seven inning final.

The six teams that competed in the C division played a single round robin and entered a playoff. The sixth and third place teams after the round robin played each other for the chance to compete against the second place team in the semi-final round. The fourth and fifth place teams from the round-robin played each other for the chance to meet the first place team from the round robin in the semi final. The winner’s of the final four met in the championship game.

On the Women’s side of the tournament the B and C divisions were combined together for a nine-team round robin. After all the games were played the teams with the third and fourth best records played each other for third place in the B division championships with the first and second place teams playing for the National B title. The sixth and seventh place teams after the round-robin met for the C championship and the eighth and ninth place teams played in the runner’s up match.

Overall the entire tournament was a success. Softballers from all over the UK enjoyed the weekend filled with competition, camaraderie and the occasional can of beer.

Created on 09/14/2005 08:02 AM by liz Updated on 03/01/2007 01:35 PM by liz

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