Pioneers have won the 2014 National Softball League Championship, following the last NSL competition results at Diamond 3 on 26-27 July, and will be the top seed at the Premier Nationals, scheduled for 30-31 August at Farnham Park.
In the end, the Pioneers wound up with a decisive four-game lead over second-place Blue Steel and five games over Chromies and H2O, who finished in a tie for third place.
With a record of 20 wins and only two losses, Pioneers achieved one of the highest winning percentages in NSL history.
Premier Nationals qualifiers
Eight of the 12 teams that competed in the NSL this year have qualified for the Premier Nationals, and seven of those teams will be looking to displace the Chromies, winners in 2012 and 2013, as National Champions.
The winner of the Premier Nationals will get a place in the next European Slowpitch Super Cup in 2016. But winning the NSL, as the Pioneers have done this year, is another potential route to the Super Cup – one that H2O have taken this time because Chromies were National Champions in both of the qualifying years.
The eight teams that will contest the Premier Nationals are:
Pioneers
Blue Steel
Chromies
H2O
Maniacs
Thunder
Slammers
Legends
The four teams to miss out are:
Mariners
Dragons
Knights
Warriors
Results
Results that counted towards the NSL standings from Diamond 3 were:
Saturday 26 July
Blue Steel 8, Thunder 2
Maniacs 5, Knights 1
H2O 9, Thunder 0
Knights 7, Dragons 6
Sunday 27 July
H2O 22, Knights 5
Knights 14, Slammers 9
The Chromies and Mariners did not play at Diamond 3 and the Knights did not play at the BA Tournament, but all of the nine other NSL teams played in all four events in 2014.
A number of fixtures which did not arise during the round-robin phase at the four NSL events were decided by playoff results between those teams.
Final standings
The final NSL standings are as follows:
| TEAM | W | L | T | GB | RF | RA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pioneers | 20 | 2 | 0 | --- | 213 | 97 |
| Blue Steel | 16 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 206 | 142 |
| Chromies | 15 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 197 | 121 |
| H2O | 15 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 200 | 126 |
| Maniacs | 13 | 9 | 0 | 7 | 195 | 202 |
| Thunder | 11 | 11 | 0 | 9 | 149 | 144 |
| Slammers | 10 | 12 | 0 | 10 | 200 | 160 |
| Legends | 10 | 12 | 0 | 10 | 173 | 166 |
| Mariners | 7 | 14 | 1 | 12.5 | 179 | 226 |
| Dragons | 6 | 16 | 0 | 14 | 100 | 208 |
| Knights | 6 | 16 | 0 | 14 | 135 | 218 |
| Warriors | 2 | 19 | 1 | 17.5 | 108 | 245 |