The 2015 season started over the weekend of 24-26 April for fastpitch in the South of England, with the first day of play in the Great Britain Fastpitch League (GBFL) on Saturday at Farnham Park and a high-level clinic for fastpitch coaches on Friday night and for youth players on Sunday.
After the beautiful weather that had preceded it, the cold, grey conditions on the last weekend in April were a bit of a shock and a few players with short-sleeved tops in GBFL games looked distinctly underdressed. But the rain held off for the most part, and for the players in the GBFL, it was good to be back on the field.
Meanwhile, former Dutch and GB Women’s Team Head Coach Craig Montvidas, who is shortly off to America to coach the Pennsylvania Rebellion in the Women’s National Pro Fastpitch League, spent the weekend in the UK to deliver the two clinics and to work with some of the GB team coaches during GBFL games.
On Friday night at the BSUK office in London, Craig gave a clinic on game management to 10 coaches from GB youth fastpitch teams, and on Sunday he ran a four-hour clinic, mainly on throwing and catching – the foundations of playing softball – to eight female and four male players, most of them from GB Under-19 teams.
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League games
Nine teams took part in the first of five Great Britain Fastpitch League Saturdays on 25 April, including male, female and mixed teams, most of them with combinations of youth and adult players. A total of 11 timed games were played.
Everything ran smoothly for a league which is under new management this year, with Michael Lee, Kenny Pregnell and Lee and Jan Grafton replacing BSF Fastpitch Operations Manager Stan Doney, who has organised the league for the past three years.
GB Under-19 Women Head Coach Rachael Watkeys remarked that “this was the best organised GBFL day I’ve ever seen.”
There were some close games and some blowouts, and the pitching – the key element in fastpitch – varied from exceptional to shaky. But this will improve, as two or three of the league’s better female pitchers weren’t able to be there for Opening Day.
The best game of the day, between two almost entirely male teams plus GB Women’s Team player Chiya Louie, pitted GB U-19/Meteors 1 against GB U-19/Meteors 2, and was a duel between two top-class New Zealand pitchers, Jamie Love and John Brown. Jamie and the U-19/Meteors 2 team prevailed by a score of 1-0.
The team from Bristol, who only entered the league at the tail end of last year, were involved in two close games in Division 1, beating the GB U-19/Meteors 2 10-7, but later losing to the London Angels 8-6.
The GB U-19 Women’s Team, with the players preparing for the ISF Junior World Championships in the United States in August, lost to GB U-19/Meteors 2 and the London Angels in Division 1. But the U-19 Women played exceptionally well on defense and showed the benefit of the training that many of them have been receiving over the winter at BSUK’s High Performance Academy.
The GB U-16 Girls’ Team, the GB Junior Angels, with European Championships coming up in Sardinia in June, lost to Oxford, the GB U-19 Boys and The North in Division 2 games, but began to find their feet and scored eight runs against the North. Team achievements over the day included a double play, a hard-hit triple and some good bunts and steals, and the team will look to improve over the coming weeks. With GB U-16 pitchers not in the UK, the Junior Angels called on GB Men's Teams players Ryan Martin, who pitched two games for them, and Kenny Pregnell, who pitched one.
The North, a team made up of players from the small East Midlands Fastpitch League, which will begin play in June after the GBFL schedule finishes, had a heart-breaking 11-10 loss to the GB U-19 Boys in Division 2, but came back to defeat the GB Junior Angels 18-8 in the last game of the day, a game affected by rain that made life difficult for both teams.
There were two undefeated teams in Division 2 who share the early lead in the standings – the GB Under-19 Boys (most of whom also played in Division 1 games with the combined GB U-19/Meteors teams) and Oxford.
A highlight of the day was the first home run ever hit over the 285-foot slowpitch outfield fence in GBFL play at Farnham Park (fastpitch fence distances are considerably shorter). The blow was struck by GB Men’s Team player Kenny Pregnell, playing for GB U-19/Meteors 1, off the pitching of Gareth Jooste.
Scores and standings
Scores from the first day of play in the 2015 GBFL season were:
DIVISION 1
GB U-19/Meteors1 15, London Angels 0
GB U-19 Meteors2 7, GB U-19 Women 0
London Angels 11, GB U-19 Women 4
Bristol 10, GB U-19/Meteors2 7
GB U-19/Meteors2 1, GB U-19/Meteors1 0
London Angels 8, Bristol 6
DIVISION 2
GB U-19 Boys 11, The North 10
Oxford 6, GB Junior Angels 1
Oxford 13, The North 3
GB Junior Boys 13, GB Junior Angels 1
The North 18, GB Junior Angels 8
The standings after Day 1 are below. The GBFL will also play on 2, 16, 23 and 30 May, with a finals weekend scheduled in September.
DIVISION 1
GB U-19/Meteors 2 (2-1)
London Angels (2-1)
GB U-19/Meteors 1 (1-1)
Bristol (1-1)
GB U-19 Women (0-2)
DIVISION 2
GB U-19 Boys (2-0)
Oxford (2-0)
The North (1-2)
GB Junior Angels (0-3)
Clinics
The coaching and player clinics delivered over the weekend of 24-26 April by Craig Montvidas were part of a series of fastpitch coach education initiatives supported by BSUK through its High Performance Academy funding from Sport England, including pitching clinics for coaches and players delivered by two Dutch national team pitchers in February and March.
On Friday evening, 24 April, Craig covered a wide range of issues concerned with tactical and strategic awareness and in-game decision-making in a classroom setting for an audience of coaches from the GB Under-19, Under-16 and Under-13 fastpitch teams.
On Sunday, at Farnham Park, the theme of Craig’s clinic for Under-19 players was “If you can’t throw, and you can’t catch, then volleyball is a very good sport!” Throwing and catching, especially at national team level, is something players tend to take for granted, and of course all of them can do it – but not necessarily with consistency or in pressure situations.
A range of drills, including one drill where players had throw blindfolded over a distance of about 60 feet – which encourages greater tactile awareness of throwing mechanics – gradually stretched the players and showed that there is still work to be done on some of the softball basics that underpin winning performances.
Along with the players, GB and Academy coaches Rachael Watkeys, Robbie Robison, Liz Knight and Barbara Killer were in attendance and helped Craig run the drills.
The next fastpitch coaching clinic is likely to be held on Sunday 24 May, a pitching clinic delivered by Denise Davis, who runs a softball pitching academy in Massachusetts.
