The Great Britain Fastpitch League brought its regular season to a close on Saturday 30 May at Farnham Park with a full slate of games, including a number of close and exciting encounters.
The league will now take an extended break as the slowpitch tournament season gets into full swing and some players head off to compete for Great Britain in international fastpitch tournaments overseas. But the GBFL will reconvene on the first weekend of September for playoffs and finals.
Division 1
Two of the best games on the last day of regular-season play were two tense wins by the Meteors/GB U-19 2 team that confirmed their second place finish in the Division 1 standings. Meteors/U-19 2 squeaked out a 6-5 win over the Bristol Barbarians, then followed this up by holding off a strong challenge from the GB U-19 Women to win by a score of 10-8.
However, the Division 1 title went to the Meteors/GB U-19 1 team, who lost only once all season, a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Meteors/GB U-19 2 on the opening day of the season.
The London Angels finished in third place in Division 1. The Bristol Barbarians, in their first full season in the league, matched the Angels’ win total with three, including an 11-3 win over the Angels on the final day. But the Angels had two draws and thus had two fewer losses.
The GB U-19 Women were unlucky to lose a number of close games over the course of the five GBFL weekends, and also had two draws. But they managed only a single win and finished in last place in Division 1. Nevertheless, GB Under-19 Head Coach Rachael Watkeys had requested that the team play in Division 1 this year to get game experience against tougher teams and a good deal of male pitching that will stand them in good stead later this summer at the ISF Junior World Championships in Oklahoma City.
Division 2
Although they were only able to manage two wins and finished in fourth place in the Division 2 standings, the team that improved most over the course of the GBFL season was undoubtedly the GB Junior Angels, made up mainly of players from the GB U-16 Team that will compete in less than a month in European Cadette Championships in Sardinia.
The Junior Angels managed their second win of the season in the very last game of the day on 30 May, riding a grand slam home run by Laura Hirai to a 15-7 victory over Oxford. Over the course of the five GBFL Saturdays, some very young U-16 players with limited experience of competitive softball have grown in strength and confidence against older and more experienced opposition.
However, the runaway winners in Division 2 were the GB U-19 Boys, who racked up three more wins on 30 May, beating Oxford 17-2, the GB Junior Angels by 15-9 and The North by 15-10 to finish the season undefeated with an 11-0 record. The experience will send the team off in a good frame of mind to European Junior Men’s Championships in the Czech Republic in July.
The North finished in second place in the division with an 8-6 record, demonstrating the growing strength of fastpitch in the East Midlands. With the GBFL season now over until September, the East Midlands Fastpitch League season will get under way this month.
Third place in Division 2 went to Oxford, who played entertaining softball throughout the GBFL season and only lost one more game than the North.
The fifth place team in Division 2 never really got started this season. The original idea was to have two GB U-16 teams in the division, the GB Junior Angels and GB Junior Meteors. But largely because of exams and other commitments, the GB Junior Meteors were only able to play on one weekend of the season. But they did win a game, and finished at 1-2.
London Cup
Two of the teams from the GBFL – the London Angel and the GB U-19 Women – will be in action on the weekend of 6-7 June, competing in the first international tournament to be held at Farnham Park.
The Angels and U-19s will be competing in the London Cup, an international women’s fastpitch tournament hosted by BSUK and the BSF, where they will be joined by the Danish National Team and club teams from Paris and Stuttgart.
For both British teams, it may be something of a relief to play against all-female opposition and female pitchers after five weeks of playing mainly against men’s or mixed teams in the GBFL.
Summing up
It has been another good season for the Great Britain Fastpitch League, even if it does remain an odd mixture of male, female and mixed youth and adult teams.
The make-up of the GBFL reflects the relatively small numbers of fastpitch players in the UK – something that BSUK and the BSF are working hard to address – along with the need for GB players to get as much competitive experience as possible before international tournaments that come later in the summer.
In an ideal world, as in many other countries where fastpitch is a larger sport, we would have separate leagues for women, men, girls and boys, and teams would be predominantly club teams rather than national squads. That’s the goal, but it may still take a while to get there.
In the meantime, the 2015 GBFL regular season has featured mainly good weather – by no means a given in April and May – along with excellent organisation, a lot of good games and a great sense of community and spirit on the part of those taking part.
Scores
Scores of GBFL games on 30 May were:
DIVISION 1
London Angels 9, GB U-19 Women 1
Meteors/U-19 Men2 6, Bristol 5
Meteors/U-19 Men1 10, London Angels 0
Meteors/U-19 Men2 10, GB U-19 Women 8
Bristol 11, London Angels 3
Meteors/U-19 Men1 8, GB U-19 Women 2
DIVISION 2
GB U-19 Boys 17, Oxford 2
The North 13, GB Junior Angels 3
GB U-19 Boys 15, GB Junior Angels 9
Oxford 11, The North 6
GB U-19 Boys 15, The North 10
GB Junior Angels 15, Oxford 7
Standings
The final GBFL standings for the regular season (with finals to come in September) are:
DIVISION 1
GB U-19/Meteors 1 (11-1)
GB U-19/Meteors 2 (10-2)
London Angels (3-7-2)
Bristol (3-9)
GB U-19 Women (1-9-2)
DIVISION 2
GB U-19 Boys (11-0)
The North (8-6)
Oxford (4-7)
GB Junior Angels (2-11)
GB Junior Meteors (1-2)
Photos by Jan Grafton.