The day started with tea, coffee and danish pastries for all at the clubhouse, then some great games of softball on two nicely marked-out diamonds.
After an hour’s break for a excellent lunch provided at the clubhouse, it was on to the afternoon games, which completed the round-robin. With three wins and one loss each there was a three way tie at the top of the leaderboard with the Formby Fin and Wowcher Warriors making it into the final courtesy of conceding fewer runs per innings than the Manchester Meerkats who played the Manchester Fish in the 3rd/4th place playoff.
The final was played in glorious sunshine with the Warriors hoping to reverse a tight 13-10 loss in the round robin. The Fins managed to shut out the Warriors in the first innings whilst putting 5 runs on the board courtesy of some good base hitting and a home run from Luis Arrevillegas. Great defence from both teams thereafter kept the scores low and resulted in joint hosts the Formby Fins running out 10-4 winners after 6 1/2 innings.
At Sefton Softball Club we have been incredibly busy this summer, not only finding a new venue but obtaining a Sport England grant to promote the club and purchase equipment. We have also gone from a few people to two teams, competed in an invitational four-week Cup competition in Manchester and now have just run what has been described on the BSUK website as one of the best-organised tournaments to take place in the North West this year.
We have clear plans for the future, starting with an indoor league on Monday 30 September and are planning a four-team outdoor league for the summer of 2014. We also have plans to enter a team in the Manchester Softball League next season and will have a travelling team that will play in tournaments around the UK.
Preparations are already underway for next year’s Sefton Shield Tournament, where we hope to host 12 teams over two days.
Cherry on the cake
BSUK Development Manager Luis Arrevillagas said: “Last weekend's tournament was just the cherry on top of the cake for Sefton Softball -- they should be really proud of what they have achieved this year. The quality and attention to detail of the work they do is what makes them so successful."
“I can only imagine how big softball is going to get in Merseyside,” Luis added, “now there is a solid club to direct interested players to. I am really excited for them and excited to be able to support them in this adventure."
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