By Gemma McArdle
Leeds had the pleasure of welcoming 20 teams to the 2013 Leeds Softball Tournament held this year on the weekend of June 29-30 at a newly renovated Grange Park in Wetherby, with eight Comp teams and 12 Rec teams, featuring returning regulars and new teams alike.
Leeds is usually known at the ‘wet one’ and last year had players sporting the mud look, but this year it was the beetroot look. The sun definitely had its hat on and it came out to play all weekend.
Comp competition
The eight competitive teams playing this year were last years winners, the Souls, plus the Terriers (Leeds), Abaci (Leeds), Bullfrogs (Manchester), Legends of Filth (Edinburgh), Touring Tarts (Mixture), Sheriffs (Nottingham) and the Outlaws (Manchester).
All comp teams were to play each other once and then split up in to two groups of four playing for the Comp Cup and the Comp Plate.
The winners of the Comp Plate were the Outlaws from Manchester after beating Abaci 13-11.
The Comp Cup final was between the Touring Tarts and the Terriers. The Tarts beat the Terriers on the Saturday but the Terriers were geared up for revenge and won the final 15-0. Final MVPs were Jarl Luscomb and Beryl Hockey from the Terriers and Andrew Rawson and Mel Wright from the Outlaws.
Rec competition
The 12 recreational teams were split in to two groups of six. In Group A were Dynamite (Leeds), Maidenhead, Meerkats (Manchester), Cougars (East Midlands), Tigers (Manchester), Team 20 (Mixture). In Group B were Firecrackers (Leeds), Coyotes (Leeds), Thunder (Manchester), Pyros (East Midlands), Royals (Leicester) and Misfits (Nottingham).
For the recreational teams, there were three trophies up for grabs and the top two teams from each group played for the Cup, the middle two for the Trophy and the bottom two played for the Plate.
The Rec Plate was a hard fought battle between the Leeds Coyotes and Manchester Meerkats, with the Coyotes winning 17-14.
The Trophy final was a contest between the young Pyros and the virgin tournament team the Misfits, and the youngsters came out on top with a 12-6 victory. The Misfits sported fancy dress for the whole weekend but that did not put the Pyros off one bit.
The Rec Cup was played between Manchester Thunder and the Cougars. The Cougars made it through to the final by scoring 80 runs in their previous games to Maidenhead's 68, as both teams were tied after the round-robin stages. But the Cougars made sure they were crowned the winners after a 17-13 triumph. Final MVP awards went to Tanya Thompson and Jason Smith for the Cougars, Joshua Saunders and Amy Greenwood for the Pyros and Barry Jones and Liz Bridger for Coyotes.
ASA coaches
The Leeds Softball Association had the pleasure of welcoming Cheryl Trapnell and Steve Shortland from the ASA to the tournament. Some teams had pre-booked a training session but the word soon spread and teams were boasting about their sessions, which meant for Steve and Cheryl a very busy Sunday. Both were awarded a special thank you plate from the LSA.
MVPs
Not only do Leeds give out MVP awards for the finals, they also award overall Rec and Comp Male and Female awards, which are won by the people who receive the most MVP nominations throughout the whole weekend.
This year's Comp winners were James Pearson from the Terriers and Amy Tanner from the Tarts and the Rec winners were Matt Tomlin from the Pyros and Julia Barlow from Maidenhead.
Success
All in all the weekend was a success. The rain stayed away, new and old friends got together and everyone was sporting the sunburnt look.
I would like to thank all the teams that entered and I hope we will see you all again next year.
A thank you also goes out to Grange Park, BASU and PFE Firstaid.
I'm looking forward to next year already!