Twenty-three teams came to Farnham Park for the NSL Nationals competition. With a full schedule both days the teams worked their way through ninety-two games in the journey to be crowned National Champions.
When everything drew to a close, Spittin Camels (NSL1), Tempest (NSL2) and Cardiff (NSL3) won the NSL Championship with two teams for the first time.
NSL 1
NSL1 Page Playoff
G1 Legends (1st) 15 - Greensox (2nd) 14
G2 4 (4th) 15 - Chromies (3rd) 13
G3 Spittin Camels 17 Greensox 4
Final – Spittin Camels 12 Legends 7
Spittin’ Camels secured an against-the-odds NSL1 National Championship title, defeating Legends 12-7 in a nail-biting final that highlighted two top pitchers controlling a seven-inning Slowpitch game.
Camels' win is their first NSL1 national title in their 4th season in NSL1 after promotion in 2022.
After a tight day on Saturday, Chromies and Legends sat at 3-1, Knights and Travelling Dodgers at 1-3 and the remaining four teams were all 2-2. Results were going back and forth, with all of the teams picking up results and creating a melting pot from which four teams needed to emerge for the Page Playoff on Sunday.
The first team to pull ahead was Legends, who won all three of their games on Sunday and ended the round robin top with a 6-1 record, but going into the final set of games, there could have been 5 teams (H20, Pioneers, Greensox, Chromies and Camels) tied on a 4-3 record.
As it was, results didn’t conspire to create this mammoth 5-way tie, with H20 losing to Greensox and Legends getting their 6th victory against Pioneers. This meant victories for Chromies and Camels put them as the only teams on a 4-3 record, with Camels finishing above Chromies due to their victory in their matchup earlier that day, both teams behind the aforementioned Legends and then Greensox, who finished 5-2.
Camels made home-team advantage count against Chromies in the 3 v 4 Page Playoff game. In a closely fought contest, they came out on top 15-13 thanks to a walk-off two-run home run by Tom Russell.
If the 3 v 4 game was close, on Pitch 1 the 1 v 2 Page Playoff was decided by the thinnest of margins. It was still in progress when Camels had completed their walk to Pitch 1 owing to being tied at the end of regulation and tied at the end of the first extra inning.
With Greensox holding a 1-run advantage after the top of the second extra inning, Legends took advantage by scoring the extra runner from 2nd base, and then walked off the game 15-14 to book a place in their 4th NSL1 Nationals final in a row: Greensox had to play Camels for a place in the same game.
In the semi-final, Camels continued their strong batting weekend by scoring heavily against a tired Greensox team, winning 17-4 and earning what was, based on their league position of 8th, a surprise place in the final.
NSL1 Nationals Final
Adam Hugill (Camels) and Eric Lukazewski (Legends) both pitched for the Great Britain Slowpitch team earlier in the summer, and their top-shelf credentials were on full display in this contest. Often, Slowpitch can be a high-scoring game, but in windy conditions, both pitchers kept the hitters off balance throughout, and runs had to be earned by both teams.
Having been the away team in 8 of the 9 previous games they’d played to that point over the weekend, Camels knew exactly how to attack the final: score early and put scoreboard pressure on their opponents. That’s exactly what they did, but it took them one more inning than they would have liked.
After a scoreless first inning, the bottom of the Camels' lineup exploded in the top of the 2nd to produce 7 runs. Consecutive singles from Mike MacDowell, Becky Green, Tom Russell and Maddy Gresty scored a run and loaded the bases, and then the bases were cleared by Max Fagan, Avery Chong and a two-run home run from Jiří Divecký. Legends answered in the bottom with an RBI single from shortstop Jeff Swindell, but that was the only run they could score, and the Camels had a 7-1 lead after 2 innings.
Camels extended their lead in the top of the 3rd inning on a solo home run by Mike MacDowell and an RBI single by Max Fagan, before the Legends answered with a solo shot of their own by Chrix Yoxall to deep left field.
The teams then traded scoreless innings, with the highlight being an outstanding tag play by the Legends’ 3rd base player, Barbara Killer, on Jiří Divecký as he tried to stretch a double into a triple. Legends then held the Camels to another scoreless top half, including a double play turned on a hard-hit ball back to the pitcher and probably sensed that this was their moment to strike.
Warren Gilmour hit a pinch-hit single, and Chris Yoxall scored Warren and himself on another deep ball over the fence in left field. But this was to be their only runs of the inning, as it ended on a Nicky Puckett fake-throw play that baited the runner at 2nd base, and she applied the tag before the runner from 3rd base could cross the plate.
With the score 9-4 to the Camels after 5 innings, the result was still very much in the balance, but the Camels did what they’ve managed to do all tournament long and tacked on some extra runs to maintain the pressure on their opponents. Maddy Gresty, who went 3-for-3 with a walk in this game, singled to lead off the inning; Max Fagan doubled to move them both into scoring position, and then an Adam Hugill sacrifice fly and a Zoe Le Roux single scored them both.
Legends got the leadoff batter, Eric Lukazewski, on base, but he was erased by a slick 4-6-3 double play between Jiří Divecký, Tom Russell and Avery Chong, and then a groundout to Tom Russell ended the inning with no score.
With two outs in the top of 7, Tom Russell and Maddy Gresty walked; Tom scored on another Max Fagan double, and the Camels had set the target for the Legends. Score fewer than 8 runs and the ballgame was over, and the Camels would have completed an unlikely ascent to the top of British Coed Slowpitch Softball.
Duncan Waugh singled to start the inning, but a hit ball back to the pitcher created a 1-6-3 double play to put the Legends on the precipice. Chris Yoxall homered for the third time in the game; Crista Reed-Thomas and Brian Barrett both singled and were scored by Eric Lukazewski to get them within 5 runs of continuing the game, but a groundout to 2nd baseman Jiří Divecký opened the tap on a mixture of elation and disbelief for the Camels’ players.
A team founded in 2007 as a Manchester Softball League team, Spittin’ Camels are perhaps not a household name in the wider world of British Slowpitch. They joined NSL3 in 2018 under the management of Adam Brookbanks and Adam Hugill, and over the last 8 years of NSL play, they’ve won two promotions. Their ethos maintains a strong connection to Manchester softball, often promoting young Manchester-based players, which has led to the current core of their team.
This past offseason, they recruited long-time GB player Mike MacDowell to join from H20 as a player-coach, and GB player Kris Hadwin moved from Legends. This led to the Camels having 5 of their squad represent Great Britain across both the Men’s and Coed squads this summer, with Adam Hugill, Tom Russell and Zoe Le Roux joining MacDowell and Hadwin.
“It’s pretty unbelievable to be standing here having won Nationals right now,” Mike MacDowell said, “when we started scoring lots of runs yesterday, I sensed something special was happening with the group this weekend. They deserve all the credit for putting in loads of hard work last offseason and all of this year. I knew our record in the NSL league didn’t reflect how we had played throughout the season, so I’m overjoyed for the players that we’ve been rewarded for their effort.”
Rewarded they have been, and we’ll see what the future holds for this young and talented team. (Spittin Camels)
NSL2
NSL2 Page Playoff
G1 Tempest (1st) 18 - Blue Steel (2nd) 17
G2 Blitz Bombers (3rd) 5 - KK's (4th) 4
G3 Blue Steel 14 - bt Blitz Bombers 8
Final – Tempest 25 - Blue Steel 16
Tempest came in to nationals with the aim of completing the double this season. The weekend started like most have this season a slow start in the first game, with the opposition leading for majority of the game before a last inning come back. We eventually got rolling and finished the day 5-0.
Our traditional loss came on the first game of the Sunday to a strong kks team and we were close to being handed our first 2 loss weekend of the season in the semi final until we completed a comeback from 11 runs down to walk it off and reach the final. (Nathan, Tempest)
NSL3 Nationals
NSL3 Page Playoff
G1 Cardiff (2nd) 28 - Asteroids (1st) 7
G2 Burderop Bombers (4th) 21 - Bees (3rd) 7
G3 Asteroids11 - Burderop Bombers 1
Final – Cardiff 7 - Asteroids 6
What a weekend!
This past weekend, we travelled to Farnham to compete in the NSL3 Nationals, and what a weekend it turned out to be!
The team delivered an outstanding display of softball against some extremely tough opposition.
Saturday brought five group games. We secured victories over the Bees and Mavericks, but suffered three close defeats to the Bombers, Asteroids and Purple Reign. We bounced back on Sunday with a fantastic win over the Foxes, finishing 2nd in the group and booking our place in the knockout phase.
In the first knockout game, our bats and defence exploded into life as we defeated the top seeds, the Asteroids, 28–7 to secure our place in the NSL3 Nationals final.
The final was a tense, hard-fought battle against the Asteroids. Some incredible defence and clutch hitting saw us come away with a 7–6 victory and be crowned NSL3 National Champions!
And what a way to win it! The final out will live long in the memories of everyone involved. A brilliant relay throw from the outfield to shortstop, then to the catcher, who applied the tag to get the third out, sealed an incredible victory. What a moment!
Every player contributed to an outstanding weekend of softball, making it a truly fantastic weekend for Cardiff Softball.
What a magical and special season this has been.
We’ve said it before, but this team has shown the rest of the country exactly what Cardiff Softball is all about — skill, determination, smiles, laughter and an unwavering team spirit.
We couldn’t be prouder of this team and everything they have achieved. (Rob, Cardiff)
A huge thank you goes to the BASU umpires, especially Crew Chief and BSF President Lesley Morisetti; to Liz Knight & Liz Graham for running Tournament Control
Photos by Jody Davies, Rocker Davies Media and the teams.
Previous winners
Below are the National Championship and NSL winners over time:
NSL1 or A-GRADE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS
- 2026 - Spittin Camels
- 2025 – Legends
- 2024 - H2O
- 2023 - H20
- 2022 – H20
- 2021 - Travelling Dodgers
- 2020 - Cancelled due to Covid
- 2019 - Windsor Knights
- 2018 - Pioneers
- 2017 - Chromies
- 2016 - Pioneers
- 2015 - Chromies
- 2014 - Chromies
- 2013 - Chromies
- 2012 - Chromies
- 2011 - Pioneers
- 2010 - Pioneers
- 2009 - Chromies
- 2008 - Dragons
- 2007 - Chromies
- 2006 - Chromies
- 2005 - Slammers
- 2004 - Chromies
- 2003 - Stingrays
- 2002 - Pioneers
- 2001 - Baker Tomkins
- 2000 - Baker Tomkins
- 1999 - Baker Tomkins
- 1998 - Baker Tomkins
- 1997 - Chromies (then known as Superchrome)
- 1996 - Windsor Dodgers
- 1995 - Genies
- 1994 - Slammers
- 1993 - Isherwood
- 1992 - Slammers
- 1991 - Meteors
- 1990 - Sliders
- 1989 - Pirates
- 1988 - London New Zealand
- 1987 - Pirates
NSL2 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS
- 2026 - Tempest
- 2225 - Blue Steel
- 2024 - Meerkats
- 2023 - The Mob
- 2022 - Tempest
- 2021 - Tempest
- 2020 - Cancelled due to Covid
- 2019 - Tempest
- 2018 - Manchester Mavericks
- 2017 - SPAM
NSL3 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS
- 2026 - Cardiff
- 2025 - Southern Stormers
- 2024 - MK Diamonds
- 2023 - Storm
- 2022 - Blitz Havoc
- 2020-2021 - Cancelled due to Covid
- 2019 - Spittin’ Camels
- 2018 - Misfits