The British Softball Federation will host an international men's slowpitch tournament in London on Saturday 28 September, featuring teams from Austria and Ireland as well as a GB Slowpitch men's team and a fourth team to be confirmed.
The tournament will be played at Finsbury Park. The idea to hold it came from Austrian slowpitch organiser Marc Stein, who has hosted slowpitch tournaments in Austria and recently researched and compiled a list of countries around the world where slowpitch is played in an organised fashion.
Marc approached the BSF in February of this year to see if they would support the event, and the BSF Executive gave the go-ahead at the end of March. The BSF's new Tournaments Officer, Fiona Thorley, will be the main organiser.
As well as the men's tournament, additional games will be played so that a women's team from the GB Slowpitch Team can be involved as well.
With an international co-ed slowpitch tournament for recreational teams from the UK and Europe scheduled to take place in Birmingham on the same day, these two events could be the prelude to more international slowpitch competitions taking place in the UK.