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By Sefton Chatfield
On a rain-soaked Wednesday evening earlier this autumn, the Portsmouth Dodgers West beat the Division 2 Chichester Falcons to clinch their first Solent Softball League title since 2007 – or so they thought.
The Dodgers have played in the league since its inception 20 years ago, and in a fitting end to the game, Dodgers pitcher Alan Medland, who has played for the team for the full 20 years, struck out the final batter.
However, a protest had been sent in regarding one of the Dodgers’ games earlier in the season, and the League Committee voted to uphold the protest, meaning that the Dodgers’ win against the Sluggers was overturned, and they now had to wait on the OAPs, who still had five games left to play and were the only team that could catch them.
But another protest was then made regarding a game involving the OAPs. After the Committee voted that the outcome of that game should be a draw, the OAPs could no longer catch the Dodgers, and the league title was finally confirmed as theirs.
It was a bit of an odd end to the Division 1 season, but it was finally confirmed that the Portsmouth Dodgers West had won the league championship for 2015. The Killa Whales were the team to be relegated and will play in Division Two in 2016.
Division 2
Division 2 went down to the wire. As the season came to the final few games, the Southsea Sharks, Chichester Falcons and Hursley Hurricanes were all in with a chance of the title and promotion to Division One.
With one game left, the Sharks were sitting at the top of the pile, but the Falcons had two games left, and winning both of them would mean they would take the title. However, in a strange twist, losing both games meant a possibility of being relegated. The Hurricanes, who were in the relegation slot at the time, had three games left, and winning all three meant they would be the league winners.
The Falcons did indeed lose their two games, one of them at the hands of the Hurricanes, who now had the head-to-head advantage over the Falcons should they both finish in a tie for the relegation spot.
In the end, Hursley were defeated in one other game and drew the other, while the Sharks won their final game, taking the Division 2 title and the promotion place. The Chichester Falcons will be playing in Division 3 in 2016.
Division 3
The league’s newest team, the Portsmouth Dodgers East, have been a force to reckon with in Division 3 this season. After winning their first-ever league game, the Dodgers have been leading the division along with the Spitfires, who have pushed them at every chance.
The Baffins Brewers kept themselves in the hunt, but tailed off with a few games left, leaving the title chase as a two-horse race, with only two points in it.
Fate (aka the schedule) would bring the two teams together in what was the penultimate game of the season for both teams. A Dodgers win, and the title was theirs. A Spitfires win, and they would only need to win their final game of the season to take the title.
The Spitfires appeared to have their game against the Dodgers wrapped up, with a 10-3 lead heading into the sixth inning. But the Dodgers slammed in a 10-run inning. The Spitfires had to score four runs to win, but could only muster one, and the Dodgers East had done what no one had managed before: winning a title at their first attempt.
It has been a great season in the SSL in our 20th anniversary year, and we will look forward to making next season even better.