The London Meteors and London New Zealand men’s fastpitch teams headed to Zeist in Holland on the weekend of May 25-28 to take part in the annual Zeister Slot Tournament and to help the GB Men's Fastpitch Team prepare for the 2012 European Championships later this summer, which will be played in Holland at Amstelveen, near Amsterdam.
The decision was made to take two teams to Zeist so that new players could be introduced to competitive fastpitch and so the GB coaching and management staff could see some new faces with selection for the summer in mind.
Different rosters
The Meteors team was made up primarily of British-born players, some from the slowpitch community with limited experienced in fastpitch. But the roster also included more experienced players such as Curt Taylor and GB Head Coach Russ Snow, plus two guest Dutch players to help shore up the squad.
London New Zealand, coached by father and son combo Stan and Barry Doney, was made up largely of Kiwis and Aussies living in London, many of whom have been part of Meteors and GB teams in the past.
The plan for both teams, since both were stretched with regard to pitching, was to battle through the round-robin games on Saturday and Sunday while conserving their main pitching resources (Russ Snow for Meteors and Mark Elson for LNZ) for the playoffs. The hope was for both teams to end up with a top-six finish to avoid playing either of the top two teams in the tournament, who were expected to be the European Champion Danes and the Dutch.
Saturday
At the end of Saturday’s play, LNZ were 2-1 after wins against the Young Czechs (6-1) and the host club Phoenix (12-0), with a loss to Denmark (10-3).
London Meteors. on the other hand, lost all three games, but that didn't tell the whole story. The Meteors only lost 3-0 to Denmark and dropped a disappointing extra-inning game to Lakenheath (composed mainly of Belgian and Dutch players) where the lead changed hands three times. Their other loss was to the Dutch by 10-0.
Sunday
On Sunday, LNZ played the Dutch first off 
and kept their powder dry, eventually losing 17-2 before bouncing back in the afternoon with a 13-3 win over Germany.
Meteors started Sunday by losing 11-4 to the Young Czechs in what was a must-win game if they were to solidify a top-six finish. Meteors eventually beat Germany 5-2 for their first win of the tournament and had to hope that other results would go their way.
And as it turned out, they did. The final round-robin standings put LNZ in third place, behind the Danes and Dutch. This was a fantastic result for LNZ and Stan Doney could not have been happier with the way the team played.
London Meteors, meanwhile, did manage to squeeze into sixth place and this set up the “Battle of Britain” in the quarter-finals to be played on Monday.
LNZ, with GB pitcher Mark Elson on the mound, was favoured to win as they had more experienced players. But the London Meteors would have Russ Snow on the mound.
Showdown
LNZ took a first-inning lead when the British showdown began on Monday. Stan Doney reached first on an infield hit and eventually came round to score, so after one complete inning LNZ were 1-0 up.
London Meteors tied the game at 1-1 in the third inning, took a 5-1 lead in the fourth and then stretched the lead to 8-1 in the top of the sixth inning. LNZ showed their experience and battled back, but left it too late. The final score was 8-5 for London Meteors to settle the “Battle of Britain”.
The Meteors then immediately took on the Dutch in the semi-finals. The game was a pitching duel between Russ Snow and Holland's Arjan Bannen and Meteors lost 2-0 on a controversial fair ball call on a ball hit past third base that allowed the only two runs of the game to score.
The Dutch then went on to win the final, 5-4, against the Danes.
Benefits
All in all, the results were satisfying for both LNZ and Meteors, with some expectations being exceeded.
Guest player Jorge Domingez (.583) and Mark Elson (.357) led the batting for LNZ, while Darryl Patterson (.500), Steve Fullan (.333) and Russ Snow (.333) led the way for the Meteors.
The top batter in the tournament was Enrique Javier of the Dutch team, who batted an incredible .786.
The Tournament MVP was Frederik Terkelsen of Denmark and the Top Pitcher was Petr Frajlach of the Young Czechs.
The award for Most Stolen Bases surprisingly went to 44-year-old Steve Fullan of Meteors with four.
The GB staff will now take the next week to decide on the final 17-man roster to play at the European Championships from July 24-28 in Amstelveen.
LONDON METEORS
Geoff Clayton
Steve Fullan
Darryl Hermann
Michael Lee
Jean-Paul Mauger
Simon Mortimer
Darryl Patterson
Chris Snelling
Russ Snow
Curt Taylor
Michael Williams
Chris Yoxall
LONDON NEW ZEALAND
Sam Allen 
Barry Doney
Stan Doney
Mark Elson
Steve Hazard
Wesley Knapp
Mick Lock
Ryan Martin
Luke Peters
Ken Pregnell
Hayden Rypia
Ross Smith