Category: Softball Ulster

by Colum Lavery

Super Cup Entries Confirmed

16 Teams Confirmed for Slowpitch Super Cup

Softball Europe have confirmed that 16 Clubs in total have entered the COED European Slowpitch Super Cup for 2020. The tournament is due to be held in August 2020, however at this juncture in time no Federation has put itself forward as a potential host.

It is hoped that more details on the tournament will be provided at the Softball Europe congress in February 2020 so that Dodder Dynamoes and Belfast Brawlers, the two clubs representing Ireland at the tournament, can plan well in advance for the tournament. 

More details on the tournament and previous winners may be found at europeansoftball.org/cspesc/ including details of Dodders famous win in 2009.

Confirmed Tournament Entries

A1Pioneers*GBR
A2Bandits & Witches LinzAUT
A3Chucks SoftballAUT
A4AfterburnersBEL
A5Mortsel SkywalkersBEL
A6Akademics SofiaBUL
A7DNAceCZE
A8Sparks Mladé BukyCZE
A9Mannheim TornadosGER
A10UCE TravelersGER
A11London ChromiesGBR
A12Windsor KnightsGBR
A13Belfast BrawlersIRL
A14Dodder DynamoesIRL
A15Tex Town TigersNED
A16LokomotivaSRB
by Colum Lavery

SINCC Teams Confirmed

Softball Ireland National Club Championships

Softball Ireland are delighted to confirm that the Softball Ireland National Club Championships (SINCC) will be contested between the Softball Leinster Premier Division champions and current SINCC champions Dodder Softball Club and Softball Ulster champions Belfast Softball Club.

The SINCC game will be played during the Softball Ulster end of season tournament at 12 noon on  Sunday September 15, 2018 at Hydebank Playing Fields, Newtownbreda Road, Belfast BT8 6AS. Softball Ireland hope to be able to stream the game through the Softball Ireland facebook page.

Rosters for the tournament will be released on September 8, 2019.

Please follow our social media channels for updates in the build up to the tournament.

by Colum Lavery

2019 Softball Ulster Council Confirmed

Softball Ulster at its 2018 AGM Softball Ulster elected its Council for 2019. Softball Ireland wish to congratulate to Phil Wallace (Chief Umpire), Andrew Craven (Secretary), Rachel Bourgault (Vice Chair) and Glenn McKnight (Competitions Officer) on their appointments to Council. Softball Ireland look forward to continue working with Softball Ulster’s Chair Jay Slevin and her Council.

More details on the Softball Ulster 2019 Council may be found here

Softball Ulster Players
by Colum Lavery

New Softball Ulster Council

Softball Ulster at its 2018 AGM Softball Ulster elected its Council for 2019. Softball Ireland wish to congratulate to Phil Wallace (Chief Umpire), Andrew Craven (Secretary), Rachel Bourgault (Vice Chair), Glenn McKnight (Competitions Officer) and Kerry Gottschalk (Media Officer) on their appointments to Council. Softball Ireland look forward to continue working with Softball Ulster’s Chair Jay Slevin and her Council.

For more information on on Softball Ulster’s elections and their Council click here 

by Colum Lavery

Dodder Crowned National Champions

Dodder Softball Club were crowned National Champions for the second time in three in years after a dominant display against Ulster League champions Belfast Softball Club (BSC). Similar to the 2017 final against TNT, BSC left themselves with a mountain to climb after conceding 13 to Dodder in the first inning. After conceding a run at the top of one, Dodder came out firing and went through the order scoring 13 through a combination of base hits and some power hitting over the fences. From there on in Dodder controlled the game keeping the score board ticking over and ultimately winning the game in the fourth on the runs ahead rule.

The Leinster league continues its dominance over the tournament and Dodder will be one of Softball Ireland’s two representatives at the 2020 European Super Cup.

The facebook live feed of the game can be viewed here

Box Score
Inning: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Total
Belfast Softball Club 1 1 5 2 X X X 9
Dodder Softball Club 13 6 5 6 X X X 30
by Colum Lavery

Season Is Not Over Yet

Just because the league season is over doesn’t mean the Softball stops … we have an action packed September & October coming up, so don’t put away those gloves just yet!!!

Date What Time Where
       
September 24, 2016 SINCC Final 1000 Terenure Sports Centre
September 24, 2016 Softball Ireland Forum 1145 Terenure Sports Centre
September 24, 2016 T-Bolts Blitz 1400 ALSAA
October 1, 2016 Belfast End of Season 0900 Belfast
October 15, 2016 Masked Ball 1900 Hilton Hotel
October 29, 2016 Indoor Softball 0900 ALSAA

At the time of publishing, Softball Leinster have yet to confirm dates for the 2016 League Playoffs

by Colum Lavery

SINCC Confirmed for September 24, 2016

Softball Ireland are delighted to confirm that the Softball Ireland National Club Championship (SINCC) Game will be played on Saturday September 24, 2016 in the Terenure Sports Grounds at 1000. The game will be played between Dublin’s Dodder Dynamoes and the BSC Brawlers.
 
The SINCC will be followed by an Open Forum on the Future of Softball at 1230 and further details on this event will be sent directly to your Club Captain.
by Colum Lavery

Around The Leagues – Week 1

Week one of the Leinster and Ulster Leagues saw the sun come out to welcome back Softball to Ireland. The scores for week 1 of the Softball Leinster and Softball Ulster Leagues are below. Up to date league tables for the Leinster League can be found here and for Ulster League here

Softball Ulster

Ulster League Results

Week 1 Results
Date
Time
Home
Score
Score
Away
24/4/16 2pm Bucs 22 35 Brawlers
25/4/16 7pm Sliders 25 24 Angels
25/4/16 7pm Aces 32 12 Mariners

Softball Leinster

Premier Division Results

Match Score
19th April 2016 7:00 pm Castleknock College
SL All Stars – Kegs		 0 – 7
19th April 2016 7:00 pm Mount Temple
Batpak – Temple Bar Hippety’s		 21 – 5
19th April 2016 7:00 pm Santry Sportslink
TNT – Marlay Martyrs		 8 – 18
19th April 2016 7:00 pm Terenure Sports Club
Dodder Dynamoes – The Renegade Reapers		 31 – 4

Continue reading “Around The Leagues – Week 1” →

by Colum Lavery

Softball Ulster – 2015 Year in Review

2015 has been a successful year for Softball Ulster!

 SU League 2015

  • In 2015 we had seven teams competing in the league including the Angels in their first season of softball – with Sliders winning their third title in their first unbeaten season. We had 128 registered players a cross the seven teams – let’s continue to do our best to grow our sport. Any suggestions on how to do this are welcome.
  • The new league fixture structure in 2015 meant that league positions were not decided until almost the final games of the season which made the league more interesting for everyone! There were a number of upsets and generally a higher level of softball all around.
  • In the end, the league finished with the Sliders on top, Brawlers second, Cubs third, the new Angels entered the league in fourth spot, The Buccs climbed up to Fifth in their second season, The Aces avoided the wooden spoon in sixth and the Aviators finished in seventh after failing to capitalise on a promising start to the season.
  • SU hosted the Softball Ireland National Club Championships for the first time in our history in 2015. The Sliders represented Ulster and took on TNT of Dublin. They couldn’t quite win th e 2015 championship, even with home advantage… but one of these days an Ulster team will take home that silverware!
  • The Sliders also made a clean sweep of the MVP awards with Daniel Taylor, William Mitchell and Suze Kennedy all victorious and Maarten Blanken winning the Umpire of the year award. The MVP voting system was changed this year and seemed to be a success and we will continue to consider the decision making process in 2016.

Tournaments

There were a number of successful tournaments held in Ulster in 2015.

  •  SU SOS saw entries from the Homers, Sons of Pitches and the Irish National Fastpitch team as well as lots of interest from the Ulster league.  It was great to see interest from teams from further away and would be fantastic to see this continue – we will continue to work with SI and SL to encourage participation. SOPs ran out the winners of this one.
  • The Carrie Trundle Cup saw a mediocre fancy dress effort but was a great day of softball with BSC taking the honours. Our proposed competitions president (John Mitchell) already has some ideas about re-vamping this tournament in 2016.
  • The End of Season tournament was another success and saw the Cubs defeat a fast improving Aces side in the final and also saw SU host SINCC for the first time.
  • The two club-run tournaments were very popular and well run – congrats to the Cubs and the Buccs for organising The Teddy bear’s picnic (won by the Buccin’ Sliders) and Buccfest (won by BSC).
  • It was also great to see Ulster representation at most of the SL/SI tournaments this year. BSC attended The SOS/Brian Walshe blitz, Cas tleknock Niall Mellon blitz, Renegades 4 July blitz, EOS/Thunderbolts blitz and IOST, as well as both indoor tournaments, while the Cubs made an appearance at the Suspects pink blitz. Other SU members (mainly from the Sliders and Cubs) also went down as solo players or joined other teams in order to take part in blitzes. This was great to see and SU feel that it should be encouraged – and so in 2016 IOST weekend will be left completely clear of league games in Ulster. IOST is the most prestigious tournament in the SI calendar and we feel that everyone should have the opportunity to attend.

International representation

SU had its largest ever representation on an international level as Marian Neill, Shawna Walsh and Suze Kennedy of the Sliders all represented Ireland at the European fast pitch championships while Marian and Chris Barr of the Cubs also represented Ireland at the World Series event in London. Huge congratulations to all of you – it’s great to see our region represented on the international stage – let’s hope even more of us qualify in 2016.