Ten teams from the GLSML's top two divisions contested the GLSML Red Group Firstball, played on Saturday, May 14 at Riverside Lands in Chiswick. After a busy day of softball, it was Mescalitos who retained the title they won in 2011.
Sadly, this report is not only six weeks late, but also incomplete, since a White Group Firstball was played as well, but no information on the results are available. Nevertheless, the report is a good read!
Split into two groups of five, the Red Group teams started the tournament with four games in five hours to jostle for optimum seeding in the afternoon's knockout playoffs.
Pool A
In Red Group A, Mescalitos, 2011 Champions, kicked off their tournament campaign against the club's second team, Mezcalitos Ninos. Ninos, wanting to prove a point to their sibling team, threw down the gauntlet by refusing to take the “lower-division handicap”. Notwithstanding this bold call, they were able to hold their own for the first few innings before Mescalitos pulled clear.
Mescalitos then made short work of the under-strength SPAM and Breakers, before Oddsox provided the defending champs with a wake-up call by jumping out to a 5-0 lead before narrowly succumbing by 9-8.
There was a three-way tie for second place in Group A, with the Ninos edging out the Oddsox and Breakers on conceding the fewest runs. The Breakers may have brought up the rear of the playoff bracket, but with their young, female NSL talent on board in Prudence Cathaway and Andrea Valenius, they will undoubtedly enjoy better showings this summer.
Pool B
Mescalitos' unblemished round-robin record was matched in Group B by the Mighty Muppets, perennial contenders and last year's Firstball runners-up.
Muppets' most prized scalp was undoubtedly the Secret Agents, a composite team featuring NSL talent hand-picked from the club's two Division 1 teams, Mi5 and Mi6. While undoubtedly a team of All-Stars, the question remained whether the composite Secret Agents squad would gel in time to become an All-Star team.
They certainly made life difficult for themselves, losing to Muppets 7-4 in their second game and requiring a walk-off three-run HR from Duncan Waugh to beat GLSML Division 3’s Chargers (who commendably had agreed to play against Red-grade teams). In fact, the Agents found themselves coming from behind for the remainder of their results in the group stages, finishing second overall with a 2-1-1 record. Comer's Homers and Chargers rounded out the playoff-bound teams with 2-2 and 1-3 records respectively.
Playoffs
While the Mescalitos continued their roll in their quarter-final and semi-final games, the competition on the other side of the bracket was intensely dramatic.
Once again the Secret Agents pulled out a come-from-behind victory against the Oddsox, courtesy of Julie Calver’s walkoff RBI single. Meanwhile, the Muppets went on to comfortably beat the Breakers 14-5 in their first meeting since the Division 1 promotion game at the end of the 2011 season.
The Muppets looked like a team on a mission in the semi-final, storming out to a 10-1 lead against Secret Agents after three innings. But the Agents made some adjustments to their field, which would prove fruitful as they held the Muppets to one run for the rest of regulation play. Meanwhile, the Agents nickel-and-dimed in the runs as they fought their way back to a one-run deficit going into the last inning.
With one out in the inning, Duncan Waugh hit a laser to right field which found its way to the fence, resulting in a game-tying inside-the-park homerun. This would send this dramatic semi-final into extra innings.
The Muppets managed to score the tie-break runner in the top-half of the inning, and were inches from victory before consecutive line drives off the bats of GB Development stars Richie Browne and Claudine Snape sent a jubilant Secret Agents team into the Final, their fifth come-from-behind result in so many games.
With thoughts perhaps still on the one that got away, the Muppets went on to contest the 3rd/4th playoff game against Comer's Homers, who rebounded from a semi-final drubbing to overcome their higher-ranked opponent and earn an impressive third place finish.
The Final
It was clear from the beginning of the Red Final between the Mescalitos and Secret Agents which team was fresh and which was physically and emotionally battle-worn.
Staying true to form on the day, the Agents allowed the Mescalitos a six-run lead in the first inning thrugh some good hitting and a series of fielding miscues. This outburst would prove to be all the run support that Mescalutos pitcher Perry Smith would need, as he managed to stifle the star-studded lineup of the Secret Agents, holding them to three runs over seven innings.
Matched against GB starting pitcher Dan Spinks, Perry Smith put on a pitching masterclass, making it look easy and even notching three strikeouts in the process. When it was all over, Mescalitos had retained their Firstball title by a final score of 10-3 and the Final MVP award went to Perry Smith for his performance on the mound and his contributions with the bat.
Great achievement
In retrospect, one of the finest if unexpected stories of the Red-grade tournament was the performance of Comer’s Homers.
This newly-promoted Division 2 outfit, having spent most of their time in White-grade tournaments in the past several years, put together some fantastic results against both the Chargers and BBG to finish 2-2, good enough for third in Group B.
They then went onto resoundingly beat fellow Division 2 promotees Mezcalitos Ninos 14-4 in the quarter-finals in what was rumoured to be a hotly-contested match. While it seemed their great run was abruptly cut short by the Mescalitos in the semis, they went on to beat the Muppets by the score of 14-8 in the final game of the day, finishing in third place overall – a fantastic achievement for this dedicated group of softballers.
Final rankings
1 – Mescalitos
2 – Secret Agents
3 – Comer’s Homers
4 – Muppets
5 – Mezcalitos Ninos
6 – Oddsox
7 – Breakers/Chargers
8 – BBG
9 – SPAM