A European Men's Slowpitch Team – with British players making up half the squad – will come together in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada on or around 20 July to take on the might of Team USA, Team Canada and others in a tournament leading up to the annual USA v Canada Border Battle.
The team, which will represent Europe and the European Softball Federation, has been put together to raise the profile of European slowpitch by competing against the strongest men's slowpitch players in the world, the elite professionals of the game. The team was conceived and the 14-player squad will be led by GB Slowpitch Team Head Coach Steve Patterson, and will be making history as the first-ever pan-European softball team.
Kellie Whittaker will serve as Team Manager.
“This is and continues to be a project of passion,” Steve Patterson said, “to prove that if you really want to make something happen, it can be done.” A quote on the Team Europe Slowpitch Facebook page comes from Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.”
The Border Battle
The Border Battle, which has been played annually for the past five years, is an annual clash between men's slowpitch All-Star teams from the United States and Canada, often featuring the big boppers who serve as reps for major bat manufacturing companies. The result is that huge home run power is on display during the game, mitigated only by home run limit rules, and scores can be very high.
The United States has won the competition four out of five times, but the only Canadian victory, in 2010, was by a score of 30-29. Altogether, 228 runs have been scored in the five Border Battles to date, an average of just under 46 runs per game.
Now being held in Canada for the first time after previously being staged at ASA Headquarters in Oklahoma City, the 2014 Border Battle will be the centrepiece of a three-day tournament held from 24-26 July – and that's where Team Europe Slowpitch comes in.
The tournament
Teams taking part in the tournament along with Team Europe will include Team USA, Team Quebec, Canada Selects, Team Canada and the HR Sports All-Stars – a formidable line-up indeed.
After a series of training sessions, social events, friendly games against local opposition and a visit to the Rogers Center in Toronto to watch the Blue Jays play the Boston Red Sox, Team Europe will engage with the tournament starting on Thursday 24 July. Team Europe's scheduled games are as follows, with UK times shown:
24 July at 5.00 pm v Team Quebec
24 July at 10.00 pm v Team USA
25 July at 3.30 pm v Canada Selects
25 July at 11.00 pm v Team Canada
26 July at 5.00 pm v HR Sports All-Stars
A Home Run Derby for players from all six teams will be held on Friday night/Saturday morning UK time, and the tournament climax, the 2014 Border Battle between the US and Canada, will start at 9.00 pm UK time on Saturday 26 July.
All games from the tournament will be webstreamed.
The players
The players on Team Europe Slowpitch have been drawn from five different countries: Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Germany. The squad will be:
Luis Arrevillagas (GB)
Steve Ashton (GB)
Ziga Bauer (Slovenia)
Brian Connolly (Ireland)
Eoin O'Connor (Ireland)
Glennsig Polonius (Netherlands)
Brett Gibbens (GB)
Steve Hazard (GB)
Eric Kelly (Ireland)
Michael Lee (GB)
Randy Reiph (Netherlands)
Dan Spinks (GB)
Wolfgang Walther (Germany)
Chris Yoxall (GB)
Although the European Softball Federation is supporting the project, it has not been able to provide funding, and so all the players are paying their own way. A number of players, including Michael Lee from Great Britain and Dutch players Randy Reiph and Glennsig Polonius, will be travelling to Canada straight from the European Men's Fastpitch Championships currently taking place in the Czech Republic.
Coming together
Head Coach Steve Patterson regards team bonding to be just as important as practice, and a number of activities have been organised in Canada to help the squad gel as quickly as possible, both on and off the diamond. Although approximately half the squad got a chance to play together in games against American senior teams at Farnham Park on 21 June, they'll be meeting the other half of the team for the first time in when they arrive in Kitchener.
Support for the team from the British softball community has been strong. Steve Patterson said: “We are grateful for the amount of support we've received since sharing the idea for his project. Friends, family, teammates and rival softball players have shown their support in so many ways. It just goes to show how much passion the British have for slowpitch softball. We can’t thank them enough.”
It's also clear that Canadian softball fans and the tournament organisers are excited to have a European team in the tournament. For the European players themselves, this will be a pioneering venture into the unknown – but possibly the start of a productive slowpitch relationship between Europe and North America.
Reports from Team Europe's games at the tournament will be available on this website.
The opportunity to support the project through a donation is still available by visiting: http://www.gofundme.com/9uree4.