The second week of play in the Great Britain Fastpitch League (GBFL) took place on Saturday 4 May at Farnham Park on a cool day of wind, sun, cloud and rain, but it continues to look like the race for the title in both the Women’s and Men’s Divisions will be tight.
Women’s Division
London Angels continue to lead the Women’s Division with a 5-1 record after the second week of GBFL play, but the Angels lost their unbeaten status in the last game of the day, going down 13-1 to the Barbarians, a team who are new to the league this season.
The Barbarians, who also beat the Oxford Diamonds but lost a 9-8 thriller to the Free Agents, now sit in second place with a 4-2 mark, just a game behind the Angels.
The young Free Agents team had a great day. In addition to their one-run win over the Barbarians, they edged out a 10-8 victory over the Diamonds and held the London Angels close, losing by only 6-4. Those two wins moved the Free Agents up to third place in the standings with a 2-4 record.
Moving down to fourth place were the Oxford Diamonds, one of the pre-season favourites to challenge the Angels, who lost all three games in Week 2, though two of them were close. The Diamonds currently sit on a 1-5 record.
With a number of close games in Week 2 and with every team looking capable of beating or losing to the others, it will be no surprise to see the standings change from week to week across the season.
Scores were:
Barbarians 11, Diamonds 2
Angels 6, Free Agents 4
Angels 7, Diamonds 3
Free Agents 9, Barbarians 8
Free Agents 10, Diamonds 8
Barbarians 13, Angels 1
Standings after Week 2 are:
Angels (5-1)
Barbarians (4-2)
Free Agents (2-4)
Diamonds (1-5)
Men’s Division
Meteors were the leaders in the three-team Men’s Division after Week 1, but it’s the Stags who are top of the league after Week 2, with two wins and a loss on 4 May.
In the first game of the day, the GB Under-19 Men’s Team recorded their first win of the season, and it was a convincing one, as they took down the Stags by 17-7. But the Stags rallied to win their next two games, beating Meteors 5-2 in a well-pitched contest, then winning a return game against the GB Under-19s by 7-5.
The other game of the day was a 12-3 win for Meteors over the Under-19s, and so the Stags hold just a half-game edge over Meteors in the standings after Week 2 by virtue of having played a game more.
These two teams look like they will be close together all season in the race for the division title. But the GB Under-19s will continue to improve under the coaching of Ian Tomlin, and it’s certainly too early to count them out.
Scores were:
GB Under-19s 17, Stags 7
Stags 5, Meteors 2
Meteors 12, GB Under-19 Men 3
Stags 7, GB Under-19 Men 5
Standings after the second week of play are:
Stags (4-2)
Meteors (3-2)
GB Under-19 Men (1-4)
Upcoming games
The GBFL will convene again on Saturday 11 May, then take a break when Diamond Series 1 occupies Farnham Park on the weekend of 18-19 May. GBFL games will then be played on both 25 May and 1 June before a long hiatus until the final day of the season on 12 October.
Anyone who wants to join a GBFL team for the season can still do so by contacting admin@fastpitchsoftball.co.uk.
Photos by Alan Le Marquand and Hugh Scorgie