Everyone know it's been the wettest 
British summer for years, and as far as softball is concerned, it's meant cancelled league games and tournaments and a lot of miserable days or evenings playing in the rain.
One of the most high-profile casualties of the season was when the National Softball League weekend on July 7-8 got rained out at the BSF's new venue at Burleigh Community College in Loughborough – and two weeks later, the 2012 Single-Sex Slowpitch National Championships were due to be played at the same venue.
The story of what happened to save those Championships and get them played – not at Loughborough but in Manchester – was set out after the event by BSF Tournaments Officer Liz Graham, who takes up the story below.
Liz's Story
Amazing display of community spirit this past weekend with the cancellation of the Single-Sex Nationals at Loughborough. Everyone had been praying and hoping this would be able to be played after the NSL event two weeks previously had to be cancelled due to the horrendous weather. We knew the field availability at Manchester could not take the entire event - only three fields available on the Saturday with a couple more on the Sunday.
THURSDAY
10:00 am: Call from Loughborough. “Sorry, we can't get tractors onto ground, can't cut grass, can't paint lines, pools of water, ground sodden....” Aggrrrrrr, not again – but a thunderstorm the previous night had put paid to anything being played for at least a week.
10:10am: “How about we try and do something in Manchester,” says one email. “We'll rally the troops.” Offers of I'll do this and I'll do that came in thick and fast and very soon we had 12 teams – six men and six women – signed up for the new venue.
12:00 noon: Guernsey had changed their accommodation booking for Loughborough to Manchester and were still coming over but we had one team still desperate to play – the Godzillas.
“Liz, can you fit them in the schedule?” The facebook page for the BSF Nationals exploded, emails came in -- we have to have the Godz. Sure, I'll change the nice easy six-and-six schedule and sort something out. The Godzillas couldn't cancel their hotel booking so would be travelling up from London early (5.00 am) Saturday morning and travelling back to Loughborough to stay Saturday night. Commitment – you bet!!!
Too many folk to mention, but special thanks must go to Jo Gardiner for starting this whole thing going, Angella Killion, Kellie Whitaker, Mark Sanders, Keiran Taylor-Thomas and especially to Diana Maynard, who organised so many players into teams but forgot the most important person – herself! We can't forget the MSL community, who once they heard of the Godzillas' travel plans offered the players and their families accommodation.
5:00 pm: We had teams, food, umpires, grounds and and evening do sorted -- just the schedule to go out.
11:50 pm: A schedule is sent round the team captains to check before printing. At this point I couldn't see anything other than coloured xls cells -- letters were bouncing around the screen -- I needed some sleep.
FRIDAY
5.00 am: Up and check emails. Yes, a couple of minor changes, but once done the schedule can go to print and we are set. Just the car to pack up and we set off early Saturday morning to Manchester.
THE WEEKEND
The event itself was played in blazing sunshine, everyone was laughing and having a great time – so much so that we could not get them to go home Saturday night as a home run derby broke out on the MSL showpitch -- boys will be boys!
Results: Men
In the Men's Nationals, three of the seven teams, 
Guernsey, Godzillas and the Hoggs, were handicapped and were only allowed to score a maximum of five runs per inning.
The final round-robin standings were:
Guernsey (6-0)
Hoggs (Manchester) (5-1)
Godzillas (London) (4-2)
Teabags (Leeds) (3-3)
Bobcats (Birmingham) (1-4-1)
Camel Bulls (Manchester) (1-5)
Tripods (Manchester) (0-5-1)
In the first semi-final, pitting 1 v 4, Guernsey defeated the Teabags 15-3 with home runs from Marc Rihoy and James Brehaut (the home run from James was so “big” it actually went over the outfield and into the infield of the pitch backing onto to their pitch!). This game also used the five-runs-per-inning cap.
In the other semi-final (2 v 3), the Hoggs overcame Godzillas to win a place in the final against Guernsey.
Both teams opened with a bang in the Platinum Final, with Guernsey scoring five and the Hoggs three. But the Guernsey bats then fell silent for the next couple of innings while the Hoggs kept scoring, and though the teams traded runs later in the game, the Hoggs prevailed by a score of 14-11 to take the title.
It was a disappointing end for the Guernsey Men's Team who, prior to the final, had won all seven games. But Guernsey had made its mark on the UK softball scene.
The Platinum MVP was Mark Sanders from the Hoggs.
The Gold title was won by the Teabags, who defeated Godzillas in a 12-11 thriller. John Black from the Teabags was the Final MVP.
Silver winners were the Tripods, who defeated the Bobcats 27-9. Greg Spiers from the Tripods was the Final MVP.
Results: Women
Fewer details are available on the Women's Nationals.
The Hooters from Leeds won the Platinum title, defeating Pitch Slap from Manchester 8-2 in the final. The Platinum MVP was Melissa Molles from the Hooters.
The Gold and Silver titles were shared by the Minx and Camel Humps from Manchester. There is a rumour that rock, paper, scissors was used as the decider!