On Saturday 2 December, the BaseballSoftballUK development team in the North West Region held the second Manchester Indoor Softball Tournament of the year at Powerleague SoccerDome in Trafford, Manchester, with 16 teams attending from 
around the country.
Following the success of the inaugural Indoor Tournament in March this year, the second tournament was altogether bigger and better!
The 16 teams included one from Scotland, one from London, two from Leeds, two from Liverpool, a Latin American team and nine Manchester-based teams, all of whom played a minimum of 10 games between 1.00 and 7.00 pm and were treated to a free buffet lunch to keep them going.
The teams competing on the day encompassed a wide spectrum of abilities, from NSL players to absolute rookies with only a few hours of practice under their belts.
The top prize was won by the Hairy Coos from Scotland.
Groups
The teams were randomly split into four groups of four, and the day kicked off with a round-robin.
Teams were then placed in secondary groups and completed a second round-robin.
After a lunch break, teams were split into Gold, Silver, Bronze and Foil groups and staged a final round-robin before finals were played to finish the day.
Manchester Indoor League rules were followed, with seven minutes per inning. Unlike other indoor leagues across the country, runs are counted when each player crosses the plate and there are no minus points for outs.
Spectators could view games from the elevated bleachers behind home plate, giving almost an aerial view of four of the six pitches.
Comments
After the tournament, BaseballSoftballUK Development Manager Luis Arrevillagas said, “It’s great to see all these people coming to Manchester today to play in the second-ever Manchester Indoor Softball League Tournament. The day has been so exciting, with so many close games with just one run in them, and we are already looking forward to the next one in a few months’ time.”
North West Regional Coach Linni Mitchell added, “We are thrilled that teams are prepared to travel hundreds of miles to play in our tournament and we are really pleased they enjoyed it. We have already received lots of interest in our next tournament on 3 March 2018 so don’t delay – register your team now to avoid disappointment.”
Next time
Details for the next Manchester Indoor Tournament on 3 March 2018 can be found here.
To register, email Linni Mitchell: linni.mitchell@bsuk.com.