Rain on Sunday caused some re-arrangement of pitches but didn’t prevent all games being completed at the second weekend of 2022 National Softball League play at Farnham Park on 4-5 June, where results left a number of key issues still be settled when the NSL reconvenes in July.

Things are fairly straightforward in NSL3, where results from the first two weekends have determined promotion and possibly relegation for next season and also produced seedings for all eight teams for the NSL3 National Championship tournament, which will be played on the third NSL weekend on 9-10 July.

In both NSL1 and NSL2 however, questions around promotion, relegation and who will finish in the top eight places and qualify for National Championships are far from being decided, so results from the final league games in July will be crucial.

To avoid clashes between the NSL and the European Co-ed Slowpitch Championship, NSL play in July will be split across two weekends.

On the weekend of 9-10 July, NSL3 teams will play their National Championship tournament and NSL2 teams will have their third and final weekend of league games.  But the final weekend of league games for NSL1 will be played later in the month, on 23-24 July.
 

NSL1

There was no change at the top in NSL1 after the second weekend of play, with Legends winning seven of their eight games and clinging to first place by half a game.  But the team of the weekend was H2O, who went undefeated in eight games, inflicted the only defeat of the season so far on Legends and moved into second place, pushing last year’s National Champion Travelling Dodgers into third.

Could this be the season when H2O finally get their hands on the National Championship trophy they have coveted for so long, and with it a route back to Europe?

Chromies finished fifth on the weekend but moved up to fourth in the overall standings.  However, long-time powerhouse and five-times National Championship winners Pioneers split their eight league games to remain stuck in seventh place overall while the KKs, who reached the final of the NSL1 Nationals last year, are in eighth and will approach the last weekend of league play with some trepidation. 

Pioneers have a three-and-a-half game lead over the ninth-place Greensox and would have to have an uncharacteristically terrible weekend in July to miss out on the Nationals.  But the KKs are just a half-game ahead of the Greensox, a game ahead of Blue Steel and two games ahead of the Blitz Bombers, so all four teams have a chance for that final Nationals place.

Any of those four teams could also finish the season as low as 11th place, which would mean relegation to NSL2 for 2023.

Only the Mavericks, who were 0-8 on the weekend and have just one win all season, appear to have their fate sealed.  Not only will the Mavericks almost certainly miss out on the Nationals, but it looks like a miracle will be needed to save them from relegation.

Overall NSL1 standings and standings from the June weekend of play are below:

NSL1 playoffs

After the league games that count in the NSL standings had finished on Sunday afternoon, the top four teams from the weekend’s play moved on to Cup semi-finals and final, while the next four teams played the Plate semi-finals and final.

In the NSL1 Cup, H2O continued their winning ways, defeating the Tigers 12-4 in the first semi-final, while Travelling Dodgers beat Legends in the other semi.  The final was close, but H2O finished the weekend in style, edging out the Travelling Dodgers by a score of 12-11.

In the NSL1 Plate playoffs, Chromies knocked of the KKs by 12-6 and Pioneers had an 11-0 win over the Knights in the two semi-finals.  That set up a kind of Old Firm meeting in the Plate final, with Pioneers winning a nailbiter by 11-10.

 

NSL2

Spittin’ Camels have yet to taste defeat in NSL2 league games, and after their second 7-0 weekend they top the table with a perfect 14-0 record and a substantial lead in the standings.

A bigger story on this second weekend of play, however, was LNZ, who were languishing in eighth place after the May NSL weekend but roared back with a 6-1 record in June to move into second place in the overall standings, albeit four-and-half-games behind the Camels.

Meanwhile, Honey Badgers and Tempest both had successful 5-2 weekends and moved up into third and fourth place respectively.

As with NSL1, the team in seventh place in the overall standings, the Terriers – shown above in Platinum Jubilee mood! -- look pretty safe for Nationals qualification, but it could be a dogfight both for the eighth Nationals place and the struggle to avoid relegation.

Just one-and-a-half games separate the Warriors, currently occupying eighth place, from Ninos Privados, currently 12th and last, and so five teams will have everything to play for in July: the Warriors, Fuzzy Ducks, Bees, SPAM and Ninos Privados.

Overall NSL2 standings and standings from the June weekend of play are below:

NSL2 playoffs

In the NSL2 Cup playoffs, the Honey Badgers showed the Spittin’ Camels that they were mortal after all by inflicting a convincing 18-5 defeat on the league leaders in one semi-final, while LNZ beat Tempest in the other.

The final went to the Badgers by 16-13.

In the NSL2 Plate semi-finals, The Mob beat the Bees and the Naturals prevailed over the Terriers.  Then the Naturals took down The Mob by a score of 19-9 in the final.

 

NSL3

After the second and final weekend of league play in NSL3, Blitz Havoc finished in first place with nine wins, two losses and three draws, two games ahead of Milton Keynes, who finished second in the overall standings despite only finishing in fifth place on the weekend.

Both teams will be promoted to NSL2 for the 2023 season.

Maidenhead (4-8-2) and Bracknell (4-9-1) finished in the bottom two places and may face relegation out of NSL3 for 2023.  But that will depend on what NSL3 will look like next season and the BSF is currently exploring a number of options, one of which could be expanding the league to 12 teams with no relegation after this season.  Announcements on this will be forthcoming later in the year.

Meanwhile, all eight NSL3 teams will be gearing up for a weekend of National Championship play on 9-10 July, and any of the eight teams, at least in theory, could lift the trophy.

Overall NSL3 standings and standings from the June weekend of play are below:

NSL3 playoffs

When it came to the NSL3 playoffs on Sunday afternoon, the leaders from league play again tasted defeat in the Cup, as Blitz Havoc went down to Meerkats by 13-10 in one semi-final.  Shafting had a close 13-12 win over Storm in the other semi-final but lost 23-8 in the final to Meerkats.

Overall, Meerkats can count themselves unlucky: they won both Cup finals over the two weekends of NSL3 play but finished just half a game behind Milton Keynes in the overall standings and so just missed out on promotion.

In the NSL3 Plate, Milton Keynes defeated Bracknell by 14-5 in one semi-final, while Sharks breezed by Maidenhead 17-4 in the other.

In the final, Sharks bared their teeth and went one run better, blowing past Milton Keynes by 18-4.