Day: 26 November 2018

Ireland women’s Fastpitch team jump 6 spots to 12th in Softball Europe rankings

Ireland move up six spots in European Rankings

Ireland have moved up to 12th in the Softball Europe 2018 rankings which is a just reward for their European Under 19 silver medal and Under 22 bronze medal in July.

Ranked 23rd in 2016, the young Irish squad had continued to deliver on the international stage in 2018 and shocked Europe by reaching the final of the U19s the hard way beating European powerhouses Netherlands, Germany, Russia and Czech Republic. Ireland carried this form into the U22 tournament when the mainly U19 team with the addition of a couple of more senior players eliminated hosts Slovakia and followed this up by beating Greece, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic and number 3 in Europe Great Britain for a hard earned bronze medal.

Speaking on the 2018 achievements Head Coach Melanie Cunningham said ” I am delighted for the players, the programme and Ireland that our hard work and success are recognized in the European rankings. We are a programme still in its infancy which first competed in 2015 and to jump 11 places in such a short period is an amazing achievement. I would like to thank the Players, our coaches, the Players families and all those who have made sacrifices to make this possible.”

Coach Cunningham added “We are a still growing as a programme and 2019 will give us an opportunity to build on this success as we compete in the European Championships. Our target is a top 6 finish in order to qualify for the final Europe/Africa Olympic qualifier and keep our Olympic dream alive. We also have a Junior World Championships in August to look forward to as well as a number of other important international tournaments. Our challenge is finding sponsorship and funding to turn this real potential into reality as the Irish Women’s Fastpitch team continue receive zero funding.”

Media

For more details please contact

Colum Lavery

E: president@softball.ie

T: +353867708576

About European Softball Rankings

Details on how European Softball Rankings are calculated and previous year rankings can be found here: http://www.europeansoftball.org/ranking/

Ireland Drop One Spot in Softball Europe Slowpitch Rankings

Ireland drop one place to 4th in Europe in Slowpitch Softball

Ireland have lost third spot to the Czech Republic and dropped one spot to fourth in the European Slowpitch rankings issued on November 25, 2018 a reverse to what happened in 2017.

Ireland’s 7th place finish at the Men’s European Championships coupled with the Czech Republics 4th place finish sees Ireland trail Czech Republic by 250 points as we go into the 2019 European Co-ed Championships.

Ireland will head the the European Championships that it can reverse the situation once more as they push for a European medal and automatic qualification to the inaugural WBSC Co-ed Slowpitch World Cup in 2020.

AGM 2018 Decisions – Treasurer Required

Annual General Meeting 2018 Decisions

The 2018 Softball Ireland Annual General Meeting was held on November 17, 2018. Thank you to all the members who attended and took part in engaged and positive AGM.

Below is a summary of the decisions on the day, the full minutes will be circulated shortly.

  • A detailed update on the proposed merger with Baseball Ireland was provided to the membership in attendance
  • Accounts to year ended September 30, 2018 approved
  • Elections/Confirmation of Appointments as follows
    • Conor Sayles was elected as Secretary
    • Jonathan Spielberg was confirmed as Softball Leinster Rep.
    • Jay Slevin was confirmed as Softball Ulster Rep.
    • Melanie Cunningham was confirmed as Fastpitch Rep.
    • Erin Brown was confirmed as Independent Board member
  • 2019 Softball Ireland priorities were noted
  • Constitutional amendments were approved

Treasurer Required

Softball Ireland are seeking a volunteer to take on the position of Treasurer – if you are interested in the role or need to know more about it please email president@softball.ie