by Bob Fromer
During the week leading up to the BSF's Premier National Championships, played on September 1 and 2 on a blessedly dry weekend in Manchester, blogs had suggested that three of the four semi-finalists in the nine-team tournament were already predetermined.
It would of course be the defending National Champions Pioneers, plus H2O and Chromies, who would reach the semi-finals, and the only question would be the identity of the fourth semi-finalist.
Well, it didn't quite turn out that way at a fascinating tournament that suggested that the gap between the elite teams in the National Softball League and some of the newcomers could be narrowing.
What happened was that H2O, the most successful A-grade team all summer, cruised into the semi-finals undefeated and looked odds-on to win their first and long-coveted national title. But the Pioneers didn't make the semi-finals at all, Chromies were lucky to sneak into fourth place, and it was Blue Steel and Legends who deservedly occupied second and third place respectively after the full nine-team round-robin had been completed.
And that was desperately unlucky for H2O, who could have expected a slightly easier opponent in a 1 v 4 semi-final than the Chromies, a team with multiple national championships and European Slowpitch Cup titles behind them.
The second bit of bad luck for H2O was that home team in the semi-finals was determined by coin toss rather than by ranking, as should have been the case. So H2O were the visitors against Chromies in the kind of see-saw game where batting last is a real advantage.
Meanwhile, Blue Steel, who had easily defeated Legends 14-4 in one of the last round-robin games on Sunday morning, squared off against the same opponents just over an hour later in the second semi-final.
But before we get to the playoff details, let's see how we got there.
Saturday Round-Robin
About two-thirds of the round-robin games were played on Saturday, and some trends began to emerge.
H2O looked like the best team in the competition, as they won every game by wide margins. Their 10-3 win over Chromies was their closest game of the day, and they looked like a team that had everything: power hitting from Steve Hazard and Ethan Solomon, excellent pitching from Roger Grooms and Dan Armstrong, and strong defense all round. But with hindsight, maybe they would have preferred a couple of more testing games.
Pioneers looked fairly comfortable despite a couple of blips – a 6-4 loss to Blue Steel and an 8-8 draw with Chromies. Still, by the end of the day, they were 3-1-1 and well on course for the playoffs.
Chromies, on the other hand, suffered an early loss to a Slammers team that alternated pitchers with every batter, and then Chromies saw their batting dry up almost completely towards the end of the day, losing 10-3 to H2O and then 6-4 to Blue Steel. With a record of 2-3-1 at the end of Saturday, Chromies were staring into the abyss. Their ability to make the top four and the playoffs was no longer in their own hands.
Meanwhile, the team that no one saw coming, sitting in second place at the end of Saturday with a 4-1 record, was Legends. Their only loss was to Chromies and their four wins all came against teams that were to finish at the bottom end of the final standings, but Legends had given themselves a real platform for a playoff push.
And so had Blue Steel, who unaccountably lost 11-1 to Manchester Maniacs in their first game of the day, but later chalked up 6-4 wins over both Pioneers and Chromies. Despite an 11-3 loss to H2O, Blue Steel ended the day with a 3-2 record and had the comfort of knowing that all their games against the “big three” were behind them.
As far as the rest were concerned, BT finished Saturday on 2-3 and were still in with a chance, but the writing was on the wall for Slammers and Maniacs (both 2-4) and the Windsor Knights (0-6).
Sunday Round-Robin
Two things happened on Sunday morning that ratcheted up the drama in a major way – the Pioneers imploded, and as a result, the order and the identity of the three playoff teams behind H2O was in doubt until the last round-robin game had been played.
Nothing untoward seemed to be happening as Sunday began with Pioneers playing Legends on the main pitch. Buoyed by their results on Saturday, Legends played well against the defending champions, and managed to escape what could have been big innings in the first and second for the loss of only two runs. But one thing that separates the elite NSL teams from the rest is home run power, and a couple of shots over the fence had given the Pioneers a 9-5 lead as Legends came up for their last at-bat.
Ten hectic minutes later, after a flurry of base hits and a couple of Pioneers' errors, a jubilant Legends team had a walk-off 10-9 win. That meant Legends were almost certain of a semi-final place, but not so the Pioneers, who had only a few minutes to recover before taking on H2O in what was suddenly a crucial game for the team from Kent. Nerves clearly still jangling, Pioneers had a nightmare game as H2O slaughtered them 20-6, including a 14-run second inning. But it was not so much the loss as the 20 runs conceded that were to be Pioneers' downfall.
Meanwhile, the tournament was getting tighter. BT, calling on the experience of veteran players, defeated Blue Steel by 6-4 and Slammers by 6-5, and were back in the hunt. With Chromies winning both their Sunday games against the Maniacs and Knights, and Blue Steel beating Slammers and, crucially, Legends, the situation as the last round-robin games began was that Chromies, Legends, Blue Steel and BT all had a shot at one of the three playoff places behind H2O.
The crucial final game was BT v Pioneers, and Pioneers played the game with the bitter knowledge that their playoff place had already gone, by virtue of conceding 30 runs in the two games they had played early in the morning. Had BT beaten Pioneers, Chromies would have been eliminated as well, and BT, Legends and Blue Steel would have qualified.
But the Pioneers regained some dignity with a crisp and professional 8-1 win. Five runs in the top of the first set the stage, and BT's only run came in the bottom of the seventh inning. And that result eliminated BT and put Chromies through in fourth place for their fateful semi-final meeting with H2O.
Semi-Finals
Having been trounced 14-4 by Blue Steel just before noon, Legends once again showed their resilience when they took on Blue Steel again in the 2.00 pm semi-final and won 11-8 to put themselves, against all expectations, into the final.
“Player for player,” said Legends Captain Stuart McDonald, a lot of teams are better than us. But we have always been able to cause upsets.”
“We just didn't bat at all,” said Chromies Manager Doug Clouston after the team had lost its final two games on Saturday and scored just seven runs in the process, putting a playoff place in serious doubt.
“We're lucky to be here,” was Doug's message to the team 22 hours later, before Sunday's semi-final. “But we are here. We had a bad feeling walking off that field in Pardubice a few weeks ago,” Doug added [after losing the European Slowpitch Cup to the Slovenian team Lisicke], “but this time, let's walk off the field feeling good.”
What followed was a game between two fine teams where the difference was purely power. And while the Chromies' legendary home run threat Brett Gibbens blasted a two-run shot over the fence in left field in the first inning, and another to right-centre in the sixth, he was eclipsed for once by pitcher David Lee.
“I swear, in that semi-final, I was seeing the ball like it was a beach ball,” David Lee said afterwards. “I don't know what that was all about!”
What it was about was a ringing double to the left field fence in the second inning, and then three majestic home runs in the third, fifth and sixth, two over the fence in right centre and one to left centre, good for seven RBIs that were the difference in a 15-13 Chromies win.
From the very first inning, where H2O scored once and then Chromies scored twice on a single by Misha Sulcova and Brett Gibbens' first home run, H2O were chasing the game.
Their main power threat, Steve Hazard, went 4-for-4 with three RBIs, but all four hits were singles to left field, where the strong arm of Brett Gibbens could keep Steve and other baserunners under control. Meanwhile, Ethan Solomon went 3-for-4, but two of those hits were singles, and he drove in only a single run.
And yet H2O could still have won. With both teams scoring in virtually every inning, H2O were always behind, but never by much. They trailed 2-1 after one, 8-6 after four and only 10-9 after five. But Chromies scored five huge runs in the bottom of the sixth, and that was the difference. A double by Danny Gunn and Brett Gibbens' second home run accounted for the first two. Then, with two out, a single by Erik Kelly, a crucial error and then David Lee's third home run brought in three more. H2O came up for their last at-bat trailing 15-9.
They certainly didn't quit. Four straight singles to open the inning by Steve Hazard, Vicky Chapman, Ethan Solomon and Andrea Valenius plus an error brought in two runs and put runners on second and third with Dan Armstrong coming to the plate and no outs. The game was back in the balance.
But Dan could only bounce back to David Lee, and the momentum was gone – for a moment. The next batter, Jenny Patterson, hit a routine ground ball to short that went straight through Danny Gunn's legs. Both runners scored, it was 15-13, and there was only one out. The miracle ending loomed for H2O.
But pinch-hitter Brian Connolly flew out to right-centre field, and Amy Wells hit a soft line drive to shortstop, and it was yet another year of disappointment for H2O, so near and yet so far from winning the National Championship.
“They just came out and beat us,” Dan Armstrong said. “They hit five over the fence and we didn't hit any.”
The Final
When the Chromies and Legends lined up on the field before the final, it was clear that the applause from the crowd was a new experience for Legends, and one that they will cherish.
The odds against a Legends win were long, and having come back from the dead, Chromies were not going to let the title slip away. But Legends gave them a fight.
Chromies' power was on display from the beginning of the game against Legends' pitcher Kevin Quiney, as Brett Gibbens blasted a solo home run, Marketa Sulcova singled and Erik Kelly blasted a home run over the left field fence for a 3-0 first inning lead.
But when the Chromies' offense stalled for a couple of innings, and Legends put their first run on the board in the third inning – a triple by Kevin Quiney and a single by Jade Shaw – the score was only 3-1 and the possibility of yet another famous Legends upset was still there.
Moe Flett reached on an error to open the Chromies fourth inning, and David Lee put yet another home run over the right field fence to make the score 5-1.
But Legends rallied in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to just a single run. Consecutive two-out doubles by Duncan Waugh, Tori Hewlett and Roddy Hill, and a single by Vicky Green, brought the score back to 5-4.
Then the roof fell in on Legends in the bottom of the fifth as Chromies sent 13 batters to the plate and scored nine runs on eight hits. None of them were home runs, but there were doubles from Danny Gunn and Brett Gibbens and four straight singles at one point in the inning by Moe Flett, David Lee, Clare Butler and Hillel Horvitz.
The game was effectively over at that point, and a final two-run homer from David Lee in the bottom of the sixth inning – his fifth in two games – was the icing on the cake. The final score was 16-5 (Duncan Waugh hit a solo home run for Legends in the top of the seventh), but Legends could hold their heads high.
“I'm really proud of the team,” said Stuart McDonald after the game. “We've never finished higher than ninth before at the Nationals, and we don't have the long ball hitters to compete with the top teams. But we've played really well this weekend and I'm very proud.”
“Experience counts for a lot,” said Doug Clouston – “it means everything. The team was awesome. I doubted them yesterday, but we pulled it out of the bag again today. And we really wanted to get back to Europe.”
MVPs for the final were Chromies David Lee (who else?) and Moe Flett.
After the awards were given out, Manchester League Head Harry Somers reminded the crowd that this was the last Nationals that BSF Tournaments Officer Lesley Morisetti would be organising, though Liz Graham will continue to help with Nationals' logistics next year. The applause for Lesley was long and warm.
Harry Somers also hoped that having enjoyed the experience of a Premier Nationals in Manchester – including a rain-free weekend – teams would be inclined to come back again, since the MSL is keen to host more national events.
End of an Era
These Premier Nationals also marked the end of an era as Baker Tomkins (BT), one of the legendary teams of British Softball, called it a day after 20 years – though a new team may rise in its place.
BSF Hall of Famer Steph Jardine, the heart and soul of every BT team, wrote on Facebook: “After 20 seasons and countless tournaments, hard-fought games and fun times, we can officially retire Baker Tomkins Softball as a UK club and team by reminiscing with so many Facebook friends across the globe who played a part in our history, either playing with us or against us.
“Although we won Nationals titles, European titles, Advertising League titles, Triple Crown titles, GrandSlam titles, SSL titles, GLSML titles, women's, men's and co-ed titles across fastpitch, slowpitch and juniors, nothing will ever feel as good as that first year … a gobby team with more guts than skill that took on the established A-graders and won a charity tournament and a Triple Crown against all odds.
“We have so many friends through this team that it's just not possible to single out all of the outstanding individual contributions but I do have to thank the single, driving force that managed and mentored this team to giddy heights for so many years, despite having only discovered the game aged 40. Thank you Mo – without your ambition none of these memories would exist.”
Final Standings
1 – Chromies
2 – Legends
3 – H2O and Blue Steel
5 – Pioneers
6 – BT
7 – Maniacs
8 – Slammers
9 – Knights
All-Star Nationals
Running in parallel with the Premier Nationals at Manchester was a recreational League All-Star Nationals that had been postponed from a rained-out weekend in July.
Five leagues took part: Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, East Midlands and, for the first time on a national stage, Cardiff. And the newcomers from Cardiff were delighted with three wins during the double round-robin that got them to the semi-finals.
Once there, Cardiff succumbed 18-3 to a strong team from Leeds, while Edinburgh squeaked through in the second-semi-final with an 8-7 win over Manchester.
Edinburgh then repeated the high-wire act in the final, overcoming Leeds by a score of 7-6.
MVPs for the final were Jimmah James Mokoba from Edinburgh and Norma Kallstrom from Leeds.