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On Tuesday 20 March the Manchester Indoor Softball League wrapped up its most successful season to date, with 18 teams from Manchester and Merseyside having played in the 10-week competition.

Teams competed over a seven-week league schedule followed by three weeks consisting of Cup games.

In the end, the Manchester Mavericks won the league and the Cup, doing the double for the second season in a row.

Details

As the league ran its course, Indoor Softball took over the Powerleague Trafford venue in Manchester every Tuesday evening for 10 weeks, with games on six of the 13 indoor pitches between 7.00 and 9.00 pm and players flooding the bar afterwards for a post-game pint and chip butty in true Manchester fashion.

During the seven weeks of league play, each team played 34 games, completing two full round-robins.  In Weeks 8 and 9, 16 teams then played a cup competition, where the teams were split into two groups of eight according to their final position in the league.  In Week 10, the teams were split into four final groups to compete for the Cup, Plate, Spoon and Napkin awards.

Results

The results were:

Cup Winner – Mavericks
Cup Runner-up - Camels

Plate Winner – Tigers
Plate Runner-up – Loan Sharks

Spoon Winner – Titans
Spoon Runner-up – Swifts

Napkin Winner – Drizzle
Napkin Runner-up – Strippers

Comments

BaseballSoftballUK North West Coach Linni Mitchell, who runs the Manchester Indoor League, said, “We are so pleased with how the league has expanded since we first started in 2014.  The take-up from the softball community has been great and this season we welcomed an additional three teams to the league.  Base Invaders, who were formed during the rookie sessions held from October-December 2017, came 11th out of 18, which is a fantastic achievement and shows how quickly the indoor version of the game builds skills.”

Luis Arrevillagas, BSUK’s Regional Development Manager, said, “The Indoor League continues to attract new players to our sports, and the speedy and exciting games keep them coming each week.  To go from three teams to 18 teams in this league in just four years is something we are really proud of. 

“We try to make Tuesday nights the best night of the week for our players,” Luis added, “and we get really positive feedback from teams.  From the weekly highlights videos posted to Facebook to the novelty trophies for Cup winners, we always try to go the extra mile to enhance everyone’s experience.”

The Manchester Indoor League organisers would like to thank Powerleague Trafford for their hospitality throughout the autumn and winter seasons; Pinchjo’s Tapas Bar, who provide weekly home run winners with restaurant vouchers; and the Manchester Softball League, which sponsors the Indoor League.


Awards

Zoe Le Roux, from the University of Manchester softball team Maelstrom, topped the female home run table, with 13 home runs over the course of the seven-week league.

Joe Grantham (Outlaws) and Tom Russell (Thunder) came joint first in the male home run table, each boasting 18 home runs.

Base Invaders’ players Craig Brooks and Kayleigh McClellan were voted Most Improved Players and each took home a bottle of Prosecco and a box of chocolates.