Shark Attack!

Sefton softball is a mixed gender softball club based at Northern Cricket Club, Crosby. Established in 2012 we have been building a friendly group of people who meet onMonday evenings from 7pm. Our equipment has been provided by a grant from Sport England so we have everything you need. 

In July 2013 we were invited by the Manchester Softball League to bring a team to their cup competition to be held over 4 weeks in July and August. The draw was held on Tuesday July 2nd and Sefton Sharks' first ever match was initially due to be played against another guest team from Manchester baseball. However, when Manchester baseball were unable to field team they were replaced by the toughest possible opponents 2nd division's Dragons who only 12 month previously had been playing in the playoff division.

Our first match was on Tuesday July 16th at 7:30 and we were due to play on the flagship "show pitch" which features a dirt infield and boundary fences. Unfortunately, the day before the game a group of travellers decided to invade the pitch and setup home this causing problems for the competition organisers. 

Eventually it was decide that we would play on whichever pitch finished firsts hitch was fortunate because an accident on the M62 meant we had a car with 2 of our 6 girls stuck in traffic.

The match finally started at 8:30 with 9 boys and 4 girls plus two guest players taken from the Manchester Meerkats to give us 6 girls. 

I'll be honest and say that even the able help of Lee Coupland it was difficult balancing the substitutions without breaching the rules and so in future matches we will probably just take 6 of each and alternate who plays.

In the end I think we managed to give everyone pretty much the same amount of playing time within the limitations of the rules and to say that everyone played fantastically well is an understatement. Luis Arrevillegas the BSUK development officer and Harry Somers MSL were both glowing with their praise of Sefton as we gave the Dragons an almighty fright scoring some 20 runs with some absolutely huge hitting from everyone. 

There were so many great hits that I can't list everything here but home runs from Paul and Craig, great base hitting from Sarah, Cath and Kate and fantastic pitching from Mark and Darren were amongst the highlights against a very accomplished team who were relieved when Mark stepped up to the plate in the final inning with the opportunity of scoring a walk off home run to win the game but catching the ball really well only for the short stop to make a hood catch that ended the match Dragons 22 Sefton Sharks 20.

As the teams went down the line for the traditional congratulations at the end of the match it was obvious how relieved the Dragons were and they were glowing in their praise as they went down the line congratulating everyone.

Well played to everyone, our next match is on Tuesday July 30th against the MSL's newest team the Colt 45's.

Anyone wanting to play or train can get in contact via Facebook.com/sefton softball or turn up on Monday nights, 7pm, Elm Avenue, Crosby, L23 2SX.   

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