BSF Tournaments Officers Liz Graham and Lesley Morisetti have announced the structure for National Softball League play in 2012, given the restriction on pitches at Farnham Park this year which means that NSL competition cannot be hosted at the Diamond Series.
Following a thorough discussion of options at the BSF AGM, and subsequent negotiations with tournaments and venues, Liz and Lesley have announced that there will be three NSL events in 2012, plus the Premier Nationals.
For this year only, all NSL teams can qualify for the Premier Nationals, with NSL competitions determining seeding. The Premier Nationals will be held at Parrs Wood in Manchester on 1-2 September.
The three NSL competitions leading to Premier Nationals will be the British Airways Tournament on 16-17 June at the BA Concorde Club in Cranford, the Pioneers Tournament on 30 June-1 July in Canterbury and a special NSL Weekend at Burleigh Community College in Loughborough on 7-8 July.
Places for all NSL teams are available at all three tournaments.
Mandatory events
The BSF has also announced that the BA Tournament and the Loughborough event will be mandatory for NSL teams that want to play in the Premier Nationals. This is because of the financial investment made by the British Airways Softball Club and the BSF to guarantee sufficient pitches on those weekends..
Between the three NSL events, the Premier Nationals and the three Diamond Tournaments, seven events will be available for A-grade teams this season.
However, Liz Graham told the Executive that plans to create an NSL2 competition for B-grade and top C-grade teams have been shelved for this year due to a lack of response from potential participants.
NSL Teams
Teams signed up so far for the National Softball League this season are:
BT
Blue Steel
Chromies
Dragons
H2O
Knights
Legends
Maniacs
Marvels
Misfits
Niners
Pioneers
Slammers