By Matthew Waller
Due to popular demand, the Greater London Softball Mixed League's Lastball 13 Tournament on Saturday 17 August at Riverside Lands in Chiswick was expanded to 26 teams, making it probably the largest single-day softball tournament in the country.
While it would be churlish to complain about the summer weather, the lack of rain certainly made it hard to fence all eight pitches, at least until a mallet arrived!
The tournament was split into three sections, Blue, White and Red, depending on which GLSML division the teams played in.
Blue
In Blue Division (teams from Minors 2 and 3), the Base Jumpers led through the group stages and beat Base Invaders in one semi-final. Pimlico Pirates and The Mob finished joint second in the group, but the Pirates emerged victors in the second semi-final.
In the final, Base Jumpers beat the Pirates by 18-3.
White
In White Division (teams from Majors 3 and Minors 1), Fuzzy Ducks, who were playing up after their performance in Firstball, finished joint top of the group and defeated Thundercats in the semi-final.
Dazzlers didn’t do so well in the group stages and faced Meteors 2, also joint top, in the other semi-final, in a repeat of Firstball’s final. But Dazzlers got their revenge and went on to win a tight final against Fuzzy Ducks 8-7.
Red
In the Red Division (teams from Majors 1 and 2), the two finalists were the same as in this year's Firstball – Mescalitos and Secret Agents, who beat SPAM and Muppets respectively in their semi-finals.
The final was a close-run thing, but eventually Mescalitos triumphed 16-14 to reverse the result of Firstball.
Then it was on to the post-tournament party and the awarding of the (this time correctly engraved) trophies.
Results
Red Winner: Mescalitos
Red Runner-Up: Secret Agents
White Winner: Dazzlers
White Runner-up: Fuzzy Ducks
Blue Winner: Base Jumpers
Blue Runner-up: Pirates