If there was ever a prize for consistency, the A-grade co-ed slowpitch team H2O would surely win that accolade for their performances over the past few seasons. But consistency doesn’t necessarily win you the National Championship, a prize that H2O has never managed to claim.
With the 2013 Premier Nationals coming up this weekend, H2O, clearly the most consistent team during this year's tournament season, will be setting their sights on the title once again. But a lot of their opponents will be waiting for them to fail.
Quick impact
Formed in 2006 by Steve Patterson and Lee Cornwall, H2O immediately made their mark, winning the Pioneers Tournament that year with an unbeaten record. Built around youth, but with some experienced players in the mix, H2O has been a force to be reckoned from their debut season.
Now, eight years on, and with eight of the original squad still in place, can they secure a maiden title that has been in their grasp and yet eluded them so many times before?
Successful season
2013 has been another successful season for H2O. Six tournaments have produced five final appearances and two victories plus an extra-inning semi-final defeat, good enough to secure the National Softball League title. This gives the team a solid springboard to go into the Premier Nationals at Farnham Park on the weekend of 31 August-1 September – but H2O has gone into the Nationals before with that kind of success behind them.
And as one H2O player noted, “It also puts a target on our backs, as other teams will come gunning for us.”
Firepower
There is no doubt that H2O is built around the superb defence of GB Slowpitch and Men's Fastpitch Team player Steve Hazard at shortstop. But with offensive firepower from Steve, from Ethan Soloman, and from the evergreen Kirstie Leach, who probably out-hit everyone else on the team during the year, H2O could possibly hit their way to a title.
They also have GB Slowpitch Team pitcher Roger Grooms to keep the opposition quiet, and for those who think that pitching can make a difference in slowpitch, this is another important asset the team possesses. But do they have the confidence that they can actually win the big one?
Chokers?
Many in the small world of British slowpitch would say, somewhat cruelly, that H2O “choke” when it comes to the Nationals.
This idea is disregarded by the team itself, who know that the best way to quieten these people will be to secure the title. But does this reputation, deserved or not, leave a little seed of doubt in their mind?
If this is to be H2O's year, it will have to be done without one of the team's key offensive players, Vicky Chapman, who is expecting twins with her partner Steve Hazard. However, Steve Patterson, fresh from coaching the GB Slowpitch Team to their ninth consecutive European title, brings with him the experience and knowledge that can help some of the players to raise their game when it matters.
Banking on youth
H2O has always been a team keen on bringing younger players into top-level softball in the UK, and their roster for the season has contained no fewer than five players still in their 20s or teens, including current and former GB Fastpitch players Susie Hall, Amy Wells and Alexa van Sickle.
Given the increasing average age across the spectrum in slowpitch softball, this statistic is something the team is proud of. H2O's penchant for giving youth an opportunity will bode well for the team's future, win or lose at the Nationals.
European opportunity
One big carrot for all the teams at the Premier Nationals this season will be the opportunity for two British teams to play in a revised European Slowpitch Cup in 2014. The ESF has decided to run this competition every two years instead of annually, but is allowing countries to send more than one team as part of an effort to promote slowpitch on the Continent.
This means that the competition is bound to grow as the leading slowpitch countries, at least, will send two teams instead of one.
The BSF Executive has decided that the winners of the Premier Nationals in the two years prior to each European Cup will be Britain's representatives – but if the same team was to win the Nationals in each of those two years, then the NSL winner in the year before the European Cup would be the next team in line for a place.
This is both an opportunity and a danger for H2O, who are keen to play in Europe for the very first time. Chromies won the Premier Nationals in 2012, and were they to do so again this weekend, then H2O, as 2013 NSL winners, would get the second European place. But if H2O fail to win the Nationals themselves, and the winner is someone other than Chromies, the European door will be shut for H2O.
Break the jinx
So the best route for H2O into Europe is simple: break the jinx, silence the claims of “chokers” and take their consistency through to a Premier Nationals win.
But this is a job that needs to be done on the dedicated softball fields at Farnham Park this coming weekend, and there will be other teams in the competition just waiting to see if H2O will blow up again in a crucial playoff game on Sunday.
Eight teams will vie for the Premier Nationals title after filling the top eight places in the National Softball League standings this season: H2O, Pioneers, Chromies, Blue Steel, Maniacs, Legends, Mariners and Slammers. H2O, Pioneers and Chromies will be regarded as favourites, but Blue Steel are capable of upsets against the top three and Legends reached the final in 2012. Nothing can be taken for granted.
An H2O player summed it up: “Many great players in British softball will look back on their careers and talk about National titles. H2O have had many great players – a quick look at the archives shows that 12 players who have represented H2O throughout the years have also donned a GB uniform in European Championships. But can the class of 2013, on Sunday evening, walk away from the Nationals finally saying that it was 'Our Time'?”