Irish Slowpitch National Team Manager Senan Dormer has announced the Irish Roster for the upcoming COED Slowpitch Championships to be played in Ljubljana, Slovenia from July 12 – July 16, 2022.

The European Chamoionships will be the first Slowpitch Championships since 2019 at which Ireland took a bronze medal. This years tournament is also a qualifying event for the inaugraly COED Slowpitch World Cup which will be held in 2023.

The Ireland squad for the tournament see’s 10 uncapped players included in the roster which is an exciting mix of youth and experience.

As with all Ireland squads, these are self funded and we would ask our members to support the fund raising activities of the players.

As teams begin to return to training and tournaments and leagues on the horizon, Softball Ireland have today issued the “Softball Ireland Injury Policy”.

The policy has been developed by the Softball Ireland Medical Committee (Dr. Andrew Craven and Dr. Melanie Cunningham).

Softball Ireland (SI) takes the health and safety of its members seriously, especially in the case of head injury or in the event of a player becoming unconscious during a game or training session. This policy has been developed to assist the regional associations, national teams, clubs, and players promote good practice regarding general safety and injury to players, with a specific focus on head injuries.

SI expects all regional associations, national teams, clubs, and players to follow this policy and the guidance contained within it in full.

We would encourage all teams, tournament organisers and Regional Boards to become familiar with the document and implement it as appropriate. 

The “Softball Ireland Injury Policy” is available under the resources section of the Softball Ireland website (www.softball.ie) and throught the following link – http://www.softball.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Softball-Ireland-Injury-Policy-2021-v1.0.pdf 

For further information, or clarification on any aspects of this policy, the medical committee can be contacted by emailing: medical@softball.ie.

The 2022 Brian Walshe Cup will be held on Saturday April 23, 2022 in ALSAA, Dublin. The 2022 BWC will be the first tournament hosted by Softball Ireland post COVID restrictions and we are looking forward to returning to normal with a big turnout in 2022!

Team entry cost is €175 with registration closing on Friday 15th April at 5pm. Game Balls will be provided by Softball Ireland on the day.

For International Women’s Day 2022, Softball Ireland wish to highlight the female leaders in our sport who continiously help us govern, grow and develop softball in Ireland

Heather Foust – Usual Suspects

I started playing softball at age 10 back home in Texas and joined softball in Ireland in 2019 playing with the Suspects.

To pay the bills, I am a Manager in the Financial Services Advisory department at Grant Thornton. My main focus is internal audit and AML so you could say I’d be fit to ensure the accounts at SL are appropriately managed. Over the last couple of years I’ve met and made lots of friends through softball and built a real family with the Suspects.

I truly enjoy playing the game and have always wanted to help build the sport across the country. It’s great to be part of something bigger and hope that by being a member of the committee I can assist in achieving great things. Impatiently waiting for a full season!

For International Women’s Day 2022, Softball Ireland wish to highlight the female leaders in our sport who continiously help us govern, grow and develop softball in Ireland.

Gillian Fitzpatrick, Board Member, Softball Ireland

I’m still relatively new to the game – but this is my second year on the board of Softball Ireland. I like to think I add a bit of an outsider’s perspective! It’s important that we build and nurture a strong board, and for me that means drawing on different experiences, backgrounds, and areas of expertise.

I founded my own advertising and marketing company, Bolter Media, last year and currently act as its MD. I work with start- and scale-up brands who have put significant blood, sweat, and tears into developing their products and services – and then struggle to know how they’re going to acquire their customers. That’s when I come in.

If you’re looking to make a splash with a new brand, I always recommend the following: streamline your messaging, develop brilliant social media platforms, be confident, and don’t panic. That last one is really important!

Playing softball offers me a nice bit of respite from the madness of running my own business. It’s competitive but it’s also an accessible sport – you don’t need to have played before and or be typically ‘sporty’ to get going. And this year, after two years of Covid-19 disruption, we’re hopefully now going into a more normal season. I can’t wait!

For International Women’s Day 2022, Softball Ireland wish to highlight the female leaders in our sport who continiously help us govern, grow and develop softball in Ireland.

Jacinta Kelly, Treasurer Galway Softball

Playing softball since 2005 with the Galway Tribes. Started playing through people from work as they were short of girls and asked me to give it a try. I always like trying new things so I gave it a go and I’m still playing.

In my day job I’m the VP of Finance for a travel technology company, OpenJaw Technologies Limited. I’m a Chartered Accountant so probably inevitable that you’ll be asked to be treasurer at some point. Over the years I’ve met and made lots of friends through softball of all ages and nationalities, it really is an inclusive sport. We’ve had players from 16 to 70 play with us.

It’s also nice to give something back to the club by being part of the committee. I’d encourage anyone to give it a try.

Ireland will participate in the Mens Slowpitch European Championships in Colorno, Italy from June 14 – June 18, 2022 and the Co-Ed Slowpitch European Championships in Ljubljana, Slovenia from July 12 – July 16, 2022, the first time either Championship will be held since the beginning of the pandemic.

Senan Dormer, Slowpitch National Team Head Coach, has confirmed that trials for the Mens and Co-Ed national teams will be held on March 5, 2022 and March 26, 2022 at Castleknock College from 1100am – 1400pm each day.

To offset the costs of renting the grounds for the trials, players will be asked to contribute €5 p/p on the day.

Male players will also be asked to indicate if they wish to be considered for both the Mens/Co-Ed European Championships or wish only to be considered for one tournament.

Players wishing to register their interest in advance of the trials or have any queries on the programme should email Senan Dormer: Senan_dormer@yahoo.co.uk

Softball Ireland looking forward to supporting Senan, his coaching team and the players challenging for European gold in 2022.

*Note: A player wishing to represent Ireland at European Championships needs to be in possession of a physical Irish passport AND be able to present it to officials at the European Tournaments.

Softball Ireland in conjuction with Softball Leinster are delighted to launch the inaugral Winter HitTrax Slowpitch League which will be played weekly in Strike Zone from February 1, 2022.

The season will consist of 6 teams playing 1 hour double headers over the course of six weeks at the Strikezone complex. There are No restrictions on roster, field as many players as you want in the line-up, however, the league is co-ed, so there will be a minimum number of female players and a player may only be registered on one roster (no borrowing).

Registration is based on first come, first served basis and teams may be registered here – https://www.klubfunder.com/Clubs/Baseball_Ireland/TicketSales

The cost of the six week event is €180 per team (covers the cost of rental).

About HitTrax
Strike Zone, Baseball Irelands indoor training facility, has recently added a HiTtrax unit. HitTrax accurately measures the speed and trajectory of the hit ball while calculating the realistic outcome.

The Softball Ireland (SI) Medical Committee were made aware on Sunday August 8, 2021 that a player in the SL region had received a positive test for COVID that morning.

Softball Ireland understand the player and family are doing well at this time and on behalf of the membership wish the player a speedy recovery in the coming weeks.  

Softball Leinster sought guidance from the SI Medical Committee on the application of the updated COVID RTPP which was issued to the membership in May 2021.

Following notification of the positive test, the SI Medical Committee reviewed games played by the relevant player 7 days prior to Positive test. Following review of all the relevant information and in accordance with the SI RTTP, the SI Medical Committee, SI Board and Softball Leinster (SL) Committee agreed that:

1. All teams considered as contacts of the positive test would be stood down from all Softball activities for a period of 14 days from the date of the positive test;
2. All Leinster Softball League games would be be suspended for 2 weeks, to return on August 23, 2021;
3. Teams may train within in their respective team bubbles, however there should be no friendlies or multi team training;
4. The Dublin IOST event scheduled for August 21, 2021 is postponed to September 2021.

The SI Medical Committee have subsequently had the opportunity to review updated government advice and the restrictions around item (1) above has been amended to:

1. * All teams in the club of the player receiving the positive test are stood down from all Softball activities for a period of 14 days from the date of the positive test. All other teams may train in accordance to restriction (3).

Softball Leinster, the SI Medical Committee and SI Board continue to monitor the matter and will update the membership as further information becomes available.

We appreciate that players are disappointed with the joint Softball Leinster and Softball Ireland decision to temporarily suspend the leagues but the health of our members is our number one priority and we hope that this quick circuit break will prevent further spread and play will return without risk to the community.

We encourage all players and teams to adhere to the rules to protect each other, allow the sport to return quicker and prevent further spread in the community. 

The rules set out at the beginning of the season call for the shutdown of the whole region’s league. This is due to the possible mixing of players between premier league and rec league and also the weekend competition.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank teams and players for maintaining the RTPP rules which have allowed so many games to have been played already this year and remind members to maintain social distance in dugouts, Umpires to wear masks and that members do not go to into other team dugouts when games return.

Thank you for your patience and continued support.

Softball Ireland have updated the Return to Play Protocol to version 3.2. To view the protocol you can follow this link: http://www.softball.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/si-rtpp-v3.2.pdf or visit the COVID-19 Hub using the menu above. The FAQ section of the COVID-19 Hub has also been updated today, with more information on what events are permitted in both ROI and NI.

The significant changes in Version 3.2 of the Return to Play Protocol include:

• Spectators now permitted at events, provided social distancing is adhered to
• Tournaments can now have more teams participating, depending on the number of diamonds available
• Cross-border travel is now permitted, provided a lateral flow test is performed and negative prior to travel

For the full details of the changes, please refer to the RTPP.

For all COVID-19 related queries, you can email covid@softball.ie for more information.

It is with great regret that the Softball Ireland Board, on the recommendation of the Softball Ireland Medical Committee, have agreed to cancel the 2021 IOST Tournament due to be held in Limerick in August 2021.

The decision to cancel the tournament was not a decision taken lightly by the Board. However, the Board believe that the onerous health requirments to host the tournament coupled with lack of social activities would result in the tournament not replicating the high standards set in 2019.

We are delighted to announce that Softball Ireland will host a 1 day tournament on August 21, 2021 in place of the IOST Weekend – details on the August 21 event to be announced in the coming days.