by Matthew Insell
The Cardiff Softball League will start the 2012 season, its seventh since re-forming in 2006, with a record number of nine teams and the longest schedule in its short history. The league will start competitive fixtures on Wednesday, May 2, with the final round of games scheduled for August 29.
All eight teams from last year have returned, and one new team will bring the total number of teams to a record-breaking nine.
Committee changes
Changes in roles on the Cardiff Softball League Committee took place over the winter, and where required, members to fill new roles were elected by a combination of votes from team captains and members of the existing Committee.
The Committee for the next two years now consists of Mark Munnery (League Head), Matthew Insell (Communications), Mike Smith (Treasurer), Jonathan Phillips (Technical Officer) and Angharad Roche (Social Secretary).
The Committee would like to particularly thank Sally Milliner (outgoing league Head) and Martin Holden (outgoing Treasurer) for their service since 2006 and all the hard work they have put into developing the league.
League news
Last year’s League and Cup winners in Cardiff, the Sophia Gardens Red Sox, have been renamed the Cardiff Red Sox.
As mentioned above, the league will welcome a new team this year (name still undecided). The team has been formed from new players that came along to open training sessions in April, and looks to have a good mix of experienced players from the UK and North America as well as those new to the game.
The league will be hosting an umpire training course for any interested players at Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Cyncoed Campus on Saturday, May 5, delivered by BASU Trainer Pete Saunders.
In June, Cardiff will host its first Softball Tournament. Members of the Cardiff Red Sox have been busy organising the Diffodil Softball Tournament, due to be held on June 2-3 at Cardiff Harlequins Rugby Club. For further information on this D-grade tournament, visit http://www.diffodilsoftball.com.
All in all, it's shaping up to be another exciting summer of softball in Cardiff!