By Hugh Scorgie
The Great Britain Fastpitch League has been plagued by poor weather this year, and the latest GBFL weekend on 5-6 August at Farnham Park was no 
exception, with only some of the scheduled games being played.
The league’s first weekend of the year, on 1-2 April, was cancelled outright because of weather, and the following two weekends, in mid-April and mid-May, were not great for fastpitch. But with an extra weekend set aside at the end of September, we hoped to get the league completed, and with this in mind the decision was made to play on the weekend of 5-6 August despite the forecast.
Without this, the league would have been down to just four weekends in total and it would have been close to four months between the final two weekends, which was just too long.
Women’s Division
In the end, however, the decision to play was questionable. The Women’s Division, with games only on the Saturday, was particularly badly affected, and only three of the nine scheduled games could be completed.
This was enough to establish that The Mix, who defeated London Angels by 12-0, would win the women’s title with a weekend in hand, but the number of games lost was disappointing.
Here are the Women’s Division scores and standings:
Heat 10, Cardiff Celts 3
Barbarians 12, Free Agents 0
The Mix 12, London Angels 0
| TEAMS | WON | LOST | DRAWN | PCT | RF | RA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Mix | 9 | 1 | 0 | .900 | 117 | 24 |
| Barbarians | 8 | 2 | 0 | .800 | 106 | 44 |
| Heat | 7 | 3 | 0 | .700 | 97 | 61 |
| London Angels | 5 | 5 | 0 | .500 | 98 | 88 |
| Cardiff Celts | 1 | 9 | 0 | .100 | 50 | 165 |
| Free Agents | 0 | 10 | 0 | .000 | 29 | 115 |
Men's Division
With fields available on both days, the Men’s Division was able to prioritise divisional play and get the games played that were necessary to complete the schedule, though at the expense of interdivisional competition.
In Men’s Division 1, the Meteors were short on players due to a clash with the European Co-ed Slowpitch Super Cup. But with pitcher Dylan Tonkin available and with help from players from the Women’s Division, the Meteors were competitive, though unable to win: the Heat eventually batted their way past the Meteors, as did the Stags.
The Stags, buoyed by the addition of Kiwi pitcher Taine Slaughter, quieted the bats of both their rivals, finishing the weekend with two wins from two games. This gives the Stags an unassailable lead going into what will hopefully be a fine final weekend weatherwise at the end of September.
Here are the Men’s Division scores and standings:
MEN’S DIVISION 1
Stags 4, Meteors 0
Stags 7, Heat 0
Heat 6, Meteors 4
| TEAMS | WON | LOST | DRAWN | PCT | RF | RA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stags | 6 | 2 | 0 | .750 | 44 | 24 |
| Heat | 3 | 5 | 0 | .375 | 43 | 44 |
| Meteors | 3 | 5 | 0 | .375 | 35 | 54 |
MEN’S DIVISION 2
Strays 11, Hawks 2
Eagles 11, Hawks 10
Strays 9, Eagles 1
| TEAMS | WON | LOST | DRAWN | PCT | RF | RA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strays | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 100 | 21 |
| Hawks | 2 | 6 | 0 | .250 | 55 | 84 |
| Eagles | 2 | 6 | 0 | .250 | 50 | 100 |
MEN’S INTER-DIVISION
Heat 10, Hawks 5
Hawks 3, Stags 0
Stags 11, Eagles 2
Meteors 5, Strays 4