A 14-strong GB Slowpitch Team will shortly be headed to the Randy L. Larson Softball Complex in Plant City, Florida to take part in the 2017 WBSC Co-ed Slowpitch World Cup, to be played from Thursday-Sunday, 16-19 November.
The is the fourth straight year that the Slowpitch World Cup has been run in November in Plant City, headquarters of the WBSC Softball Division, after earlier incarnations in 2002 and 2005. This year, seven countries will take part, and the GB Team will face a strong field including teams from the United States and Canada as well as last year’s champion Bahamas.
Although one of two GB Slowpitch Teams in the competition managed to win the first-ever Slowpitch World Cup in 2002, GB has not been able to win the tournament since, winning silver medals in 2005, 2014 and 2016, and finishing fourth in 2015.
Last year, GB lost 22-11 to Bahamas in the final after putting on an astonishing offensive display in a 33-13 win in the pre-final against Curacao, a team they had lost to twice earlier in the tournament.
The teams​
The teams contesting this year’s WBSC Slowpitch World Cup are:
Bahamas
Bulgaria
Canada
Curacao
Great Britain
Turks & Caicos Islands
USA
These teams will play a full round-robin on Thursday and Friday, 16-17 November, followed by a two-day playoff system involving all seven teams, with the gold medal game scheduled for Sunday afternoon, 19 November.
The opening game of the round-robin, at noon on Thursday, will be a heavyweight clash between the United States and Canada.
GB will have two tough games to open the tournament, against Curacao and the United States, and will finish play on Thursday with a game against Bulgaria.
On Friday, GB will play the Bahamas and the Turks & Caicos Islands before finishing the round-robin late in the afternoon against Canada.
The players
The following players have been selected to represent Great Britain at the tournament:
WOMEN
Tasha Humphris
Kirstie Leach
Ruth Macintosh
Kimberley Miller
Hannah Pitman
Amy Rice
Claudine Snape
MEN
Mark Bowman
Manny Estevez
David Grey
Kelvin Harrison
Jon Reynolds
Matt Tomlin
Chris Yoxall
GB Slowpitch Head Coach Stephen Patterson and Team Manager Kellie Whitaker will constitute the staff.