by John Austin
ESF Slowpitch Development Commissioner
As part of the ongoing relationship between
the ESF and the ASA and our efforts to develop slowpitch softball, the ASA extended an invitation to the ESF earlier this year to participate in Team USA’s promotional tour ahead of the annual Border Battle with Canada, which takes place at the Women's Fastpitch World Cup of Softball and is televised internationally on ESPN.
In my ESF Slowpitch Development role I was happy to accept this invitation be a shadow assistant coach to the squad and joined Team USA in Bismarck, North Dakota for the start of a ten-day tour of the Mid-West.
I was joined on the tour by Marc Stein, a slowpitch tournament organiser from Austria, as the ASA had extended him a private invitation.
McQuade Tournament
The full USA squad consisted of Team USA (the official national squad) and the Futures (players tipped to be Team USA members in the future). Bismarck hosts one of the largest (single-sex) slowpitch tournaments in the US, the McQuade. This year saw a massive 457 teams participating in a number of categories, from recreational up to Major level. It was a hectic start to the tour,with a number of “meet and greet” gatherings and autograph signing sessions.
The eve of the tournament saw Team USA play an exhibition game against a military All-Star team (which Team USA won easily), followed by a “Home Run” Derby which was won by Team USA member Brian Wegman with a very impressive 17 home runs out of 20 attempts. Both exhibition events were supported by around 2500 to 3000 very enthusiastic spectators.
Following the completion of the exhibition activities, the squad members were allowed to return to their private teams to compete in the McQuade Tournament. What followed was a weekend of truly sublime softball skill and athleticism, only matched by the enthusiasm of the spectators. It was a pleasure to witness.
From Bismarck, we headed south to Sioux Falls, South Dakota (six hours on the tour bus). There, the busy schedule continued with a number of PR activities that included hospital visits, kids' clinics and an exhibition game against a local All-Star team (played on a baseball field, making my first base coaching a little more interesting!), followed by the usual autograph signing and “meet and greet” social activities.
On the bus
Following the whirlwind stop in Sioux Falls, it was on the bus again for a 12-hour (four-movie) bus trip to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Once there, the established routine continued -- training, PR activities (including hospital visits), interviews, ball and poster signing sessions, and practise games etc at the ASA’s very impressive “Home of Softball” complex.
During the tour’s four-day stay in Oklahoma City, there were two televised slots on ESPN. One was reserved for the Border Battle itself, and the other was the mid-week clash of Team USA verses the Futures. It produced probably the best game of slowpitch softball that I’ve been lucky enough to witness. In an absolute nail-biter of a game the Futures defeated Team USA 38-37. That’s 75 runs, folks! Now if you take away the maximum of 10 home runs per team, that still left a mouth-watering 55 runs from open play in seven innings!
Main event
In the run-up to the main event, there were a number of full practice games. The Futures defeated both a local All-Star team and Canada (despite an Irishman as first base coach!) and ended their tour 3-0. Given the youth and talent on display from this squad, the future of Team USA looks very bright indeed. The Current Team USA bounced back to win against a Legends All-Star team, and in the dress rehearsal of the Border Battle itself, defeated Canada.
After nine hectic days on tour the Border Battle showdown had finally arrived. Canada, without a win in their warm-up games, started as rank underdogs but proved worthy opponents and at one stage were within four runs of victory on the “run ahead” rule. But they couldn’t cross that finishing line and succumbed to a sucker punch 20-run inning from Team USA that ultimately saw them go on and win 32-21.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the ASA for their extremely generous hospitality during the tour. It was second to none. I’d also like to thank the squad members and management for making me feel so welcome and also for allowing us unrestricted access to the players.
I’d also like to thank the ESF for enabling me participate in such an educational trip, which will go a long way towards developing slowpitch softball within Europe.