by Gemma McArdle
The 2012 Leeds Softball Tournament
took place on the weekend of June 23-24, with exciting changes. As part of the Leeds Softball Association’s objective to expand and improve softball in Yorkshire, new venues, a new tournament structure, different accommodation options and a new team of organisers were all introduced for the 2012 competition.
Leeds had the pleasure of welcoming 18 teams this year, with a good mixture of regulars and new teams from across the UK. Along with some LSA local sides, teams from Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, Nottingham and a mixed team (consisting of players from Birmingham, Cardiff, Sheffield, Nottingham and Manchester, aptly named the Touring Tarts) graced the tournament.
With 48 hours of constant rain in the days before the tournament, things weren't looking good, and the Leeds Tournament was going to live up to it's name of "the wet one". Luckily for us, Leeds Trinity University College and Yarnbury RFC (the new home of Leeds Softball) allowed play to go ahead for the weekend, even though play was wet and muddy underfoot, with the pitch drainage system certainly having its toughest test yet!
But the rain stayed away during play and the weather could arguably be described as summery.
Structure
The structure for this year’s tournament was three groups of six. Each team would be awarded two points for a win and one point for a draw. Once each team had played everyone in their group, teams would be ranked from one to 18, with the top six playing for the Cup, the middle six playing for the Trophy while the bottom six played for the Plate.
The main benefit of this structure is that no matter how you played on the first day, every team had something to play for on Day 2.
Home run derby
After the games on Saturday, a home run derby was played with the two winners coming from Manchester Thunder.
In the evening, there was a social in the rugby clubhouse. After everyone tucked into pizza while watching Spain beat France in the Euros, there was then a choice for evening activities. In one room a poker tournament took place with an £8 buy-in, and in the other room there was a pub quiz and adult Pass the Parcel. The winners of the pub quiz were the Highland Chargers, and their teammate Claire McManus took the pot in the poker tournament.
Day 2
The ranked teams after Day 1 were as follows:
CUP
1. The Souls - Edinburgh
2. Terriers - Leeds
3. Sheriffs - Nottingham
4. CastaNoobs - Leeds
5. Legends of Filth - Edinburgh
6. Outlaws - Manchester
TROPHY
7. Touring Tarts - Mixed
8. Didsbury Bats - Manchester
9. Puddings - Leeds
10. Bullfrogs - Manchester
11. Meerkats - Manchester
12. Dynamite - Leeds
PLATE
13. Cougars - Nottingham
14. Thunder - Manchester
15. Highland Chargers - Glasgow
16. Tigers - Manchester
17. Pyros - Nottingham
18. Super Firecrackers – Leeds
Plate
The Plate competition got off to a very competitive start with both quarter-finals being decided by only one run. Pyros overcame the Tigers 7-6 and Super Firecrackers had their first win of the weekend against the Highland Chargers by a score of 10-9.
With Thunder and the Cougars getting a break before their semi-finals, Thunder roared through with a convincing win over the Super Firecrackers. But unfortunately for the Cougars, the Pyros’ confidence only grew after their thrilling quarter-final win and they secured their place in the final.
The final was a well-played game with Thunder narrowly extinguishing the Pyros, 7-3.
Plate Winner: Thunder
Plate Runner-up: Pyros
Trophy
The Trophy quarter-finals were both local derbies for Manchester and Leeds respectively.
Bullfrogs tamed the Meerkats 10-7, while Dynamite failed to spark, with the Puddings thrashing them 14-1.
The Touring Tarts and Didsbury Bats had a two-hour break before their semi-final, in which the Tarts recharged their batteries and convincingly took down the Bullfrogs. In the other semi-final, unfortunately the Bats couldn't use the break to their advantage and the Puddings booked their place in the final.
The final was neck-and-neck throughout the whole game but the Tarts narrowly won 6-4. It was a great tournament for a team who were only playing together for the first time. This could be the making of a competitive tournament team, who may come back next year to defend their title.
Trophy Winners: Touring Tarts
Trophy Runner-up: Puddings
Cup
The Cup competition started
an hour after the Plate and Trophy and produced some mouth-wateringly close games.
The first quarter-final saw the Outlaws running the Sheriffs out of town, winning 10-2.
In the second quarter-final the CastaNoobs (a partnership of a Leeds Division 1 and 2 team) taught the Legends of Filth a lesson with an 8-5 win.
The semis were where we first saw a one-run winner, when the Outlaws disciplined the Terriers 3-2. The second semi-final saw two previous group rivals meet again, and the CastaNoobs were looking for revenge from their earlier game. However, the Souls took no prisoners, winning again by 9-6.
The defending Cup champions from 2011 were back in the final and were up against a strong Outlaws side who had previously just made it into the Cup competition but were definitely putting their mark on the group. The Souls were definitely tested and the Outlaws put in 110%, but they just couldn't break down the Souls, who emerged victorious 11-10.
Cup Winner: The Souls
Cup Runner-up: Outlaws
MVPs
Each team was asked to choose a male and female MVP for each game and the player with the most nominations took home the overall Tournament MVP.
The winner for the men was Jon Hart from the Puddings. Amanda Greenacre, also from the Puddings, took the female MVP award.
Success
All in all the weekend was a success. The rain stayed away during the day, there were no major injuries, new and old friends got together, everyone was sporting the mud look and there was a lot of Haribo going around.
I would like to thank all the teams that entered and I hope we will see you all again next year.
A thank you also goes out to Leeds Trinity College University, BASU and PFE Firstaid.
A special thank you to the team at Yarnbury RFC – without their support, time and facilities the event would not have been possible.
I'm looking forward to next year already!