Sixteen teams representing nations, continents and regions from around the world found themselves at a misty Farnham Park, the home of the National Baseball & Softball Complex for the 25th running of the British Softball Federation’s annual Softball World Series on 7-8 September 2024.
There were 2 new entries this year. Two GB teams – Masters and Futures – were not part of this lineup and their places were taken by the British Isles and by Wayne’s World, a new entry from the Czech Republic (named after their founding coach) The participation of the Czech team reflects the growth and popularity of this tournament in Europe, with teams also travelling from Ireland, Belgium, Guernsey and Germany. Switzerland and Austria were also interested, but could not get a team in time – we look forward to welcoming them next year.
Rounding out the competitors were the teams made up of other countries' national residents in the UK: Latinos (South America), Godzillas (Japan), Africa, ANZACs (Australia and New Zealand), Saffas (South Africa), Murica (USA), Canucks (Canada) and Pinoy Pride (Philippines). The final team was the Misfits, made of players from various European countries.
Before any games started, the favourites were Murica, UCE Travellers, British Isles or England, the latter being reigning champions. Unsurprisingly, these 4 teams did make the semis for the Cup, but with the result going slightly against form.
Round-Robin Round
The weekend started with the 16 teams playing in two round-robin groups, Red and Blue, across 4 fields at Farnham Park. On Saturday, the teams were greeted with a low mist and a challenge to visibility, but this quickly cleared as the first games started.
England were clearly living up to their status as one of the favourites, with 2 shutouts in the first 3 games, against the Saffas and the Latinos, where they also gave us the highest score of the day with 24 runs. In their 2nd year of the tournament, the Saffas also managed to win their first game, 12-7 against Belgium.
At the end of the first day, 2 teams had made a clean sweep, England in the Red Group, Murica in the Blue. One team were left without a win, the Canucks, who had everything to play for moving on day 2.
Sunday was a lot brighter, but rain was forecast for later, which did turn up but only sporadically and play managed to continue for the day except for a 20-minute lightning suspension during the finals. Each team had two more games to play to finalise the order for the playoffs. England, Murica, British Isles and UCE Travellers started the weekend as favourites and were living up to the billing by being in the top spots at the beginning of the day. The Canucks managed to get off the marks with a win over Ireland, ending up above them in the group due to run difference.
The full round-robin Results were:
|
Red Group |
|||
|
Latinos |
2 |
19 |
UCE Travellers |
|
Godzillas |
13 |
12 |
Saffas |
|
Africa |
13 |
5 |
Belgium |
|
ANZACS |
6 |
11 |
England |
|
Godzillas |
9 |
7 |
Africa |
|
UCE Travellers |
8 |
7 |
Belgium |
|
Saffas |
0 |
21 |
England |
|
Latinos |
11 |
9 |
ANZACS |
|
England |
24 |
0 |
Latinos |
|
Belgium |
7 |
12 |
Saffas |
|
Africa |
8 |
15 |
UCE Travellers |
|
ANZACS |
10 |
11 |
Godzillas |
|
Belgium |
10 |
8 |
ANZACS |
|
Saffas |
3 |
12 |
Africa |
|
Latinos |
6 |
7 |
Godzillas |
|
England |
8 |
7 |
UCE Travellers |
|
UCE Travellers |
22 |
8 |
Godzillas |
|
Africa |
7 |
1 |
Latinos |
|
ANZACS |
14 |
7 |
Saffas |
|
England |
16 |
2 |
Belgium |
|
Africa |
9 |
3 |
ANZACS |
|
Saffas |
2 |
25 |
UCE Travellers |
|
Latinos |
18 |
9 |
Belgium |
|
Godzillas |
2 |
15 |
England |
|
Belgium |
9 |
9 |
Godzillas |
|
Saffas |
12 |
13 |
Latinos |
|
UCE Travellers |
19 |
1 |
ANZACS |
|
England |
13 |
7 |
Africa |
|
Blue Group |
|||
|
British Isles |
5 |
18 |
Murica |
|
Misfits Of Europe |
9 |
5 |
Pinoy Pride |
|
Ireland |
6 |
19 |
Guernsey |
|
Waynes World |
6 |
4 |
Canucks |
|
Misfits Of Europe |
11 |
13 |
Ireland |
|
Murica |
16 |
13 |
Guernsey |
|
Pinoy Pride |
20 |
11 |
Canucks |
|
British Isles |
15 |
6 |
Waynes World |
|
Canucks |
6 |
16 |
British Isles |
|
Guernsey |
14 |
5 |
Pinoy Pride |
|
Ireland |
5 |
22 |
Murica |
|
Waynes World |
20 |
4 |
Misfits Of Europe |
|
Guernsey |
10 |
10 |
Waynes World |
|
Pinoy Pride |
12 |
7 |
Ireland |
|
British Isles |
19 |
10 |
Misfits Of Europe |
|
Canucks |
0 |
20 |
Murica |
|
Murica |
14 |
4 |
Misfits Of Europe |
|
Ireland |
0 |
9 |
British Isles |
|
Waynes World |
13 |
7 |
Pinoy Pride |
|
Canucks |
9 |
13 |
Guernsey |
|
Guernsey |
10 |
7 |
Misfits Of Europe |
|
Pinoy Pride |
4 |
15 |
British Isles |
|
Murica |
16 |
5 |
Waynes World |
|
Canucks |
11 |
7 |
Ireland |
|
Ireland |
1 |
17 |
Waynes World |
|
Pinoy Pride |
1 |
24 |
Murica |
|
British Isles |
4 |
3 |
Guernsey |
|
Misfits Of Europe |
12 |
11 |
Canucks |
The standings at the end of the Round Robin were:
|
Red Group |
Played |
Won |
Lost |
Drawn |
Point |
Runs For |
Runs Against |
Run Difference |
|
England |
7 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
21 |
108 |
24 |
84 |
|
UCE Travellers |
7 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
19 |
115 |
36 |
79 |
|
Godzillas |
7 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
16 |
59 |
81 |
-22 |
|
Africa |
7 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
15 |
63 |
49 |
14 |
|
Latinos |
7 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
13 |
51 |
87 |
-36 |
|
Belgium |
7 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
10 |
49 |
84 |
-35 |
|
ANZACS |
7 |
1 |
6 |
0 |
9 |
51 |
78 |
-27 |
|
Saffas |
7 |
1 |
6 |
0 |
9 |
48 |
105 |
-57 |
|
Blue Group |
Played |
Won |
Lost |
Drawn |
Point |
Runs For |
Runs Against |
Run Difference |
|
Murica |
7 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
21 |
130 |
33 |
97 |
|
British Isles |
7 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
19 |
83 |
47 |
36 |
|
Guernsey |
7 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
16 |
82 |
57 |
25 |
|
Waynes World |
7 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
16 |
77 |
57 |
20 |
|
Misfits Of Europe |
7 |
2 |
5 |
0 |
11 |
57 |
92 |
-35 |
|
Pinoy Pride |
7 |
2 |
5 |
0 |
11 |
54 |
93 |
-39 |
|
Canucks |
7 |
1 |
6 |
0 |
9 |
52 |
94 |
-42 |
|
Ireland |
7 |
1 |
6 |
0 |
9 |
39 |
101 |
-62 |
Semi-Finals
Once the round-robin was concluded, everyone had the opportunity to play again, moving into 4 different groupings based on their standings in their groups, with the top 2 going into the Cup, with each subsequent pairing getting their own set of finals. The match ups were:
Cup
British Isles v England
UCE Travellers v Murica
Plate
Waynes World v Godzillas
Africa v Guernsey
Trophy
Pinoy Pride v Latinos
Belgium v Misfits of Europe
Spoon
Ireland v ANZACS
Saffas v Canucks
In the first Cup Semi, British Isles vs England, this was a match-up of GB representatives found in both teams. Both teams had played well in the round-robin but the British Isles gave England their first defeat of the weekend, winning 14-6, with Chris Yoxall being instrumental in driving that win, with 2 HR and a triple 3RBI. Following the game, manager Tom attributed the win to their offence getting engaged early and taking a lead in the early innings.
In the second Semi, Murica were the favourite to win over UCE Travellers given their unbeaten record, but again there was an upset. Both teams started strong, scoring in the first innings, but UCE Travellers slowly pulled away, being chased by Murica who ultimately lost 12-10.
In the Plate playoffs, Godzillas beat Wayne's World 13-10, with Guernsey winning over Africa 16-8. The first semi in the Trophy was won by Latinos, 18-9 over the Pinoy Pride, who were to be joined in the final by the Misfits of Europe after they beat Belgium 9-3. In the remaining set of semis, for the Spoon, Ireland beat the Anzacs 7-2, setting up a meeting with the Canucks, who won over the Saffas 10-5
Cup Final
The first inning was relatively evenly matched, ending 2-1 to the British Isles following a 2-run HR from Chris Yoxall, continuing his hitting streak from the semi-finals. The second inning was scoreless for the British, but not for UCE Travellers, with Sascha Therolf making it home following singles from Clara Zerhausen and Kai Becker before top-of-the-order Max Zerhausen hit a 3-run home run, making it 5-2 to the Travellers.
The British Isles came back strongly in the 3rd with Yoxall again scoring a 2-run HR, with Josh Smith getting his first run of the game. Thomas Russel added to the score with his own homer. The held the Travellers to a scoreless inning, with a great stop and throw to 1st by pitcher Roger Grooms to leave 2 on base. They stayed strong in the 4th, with 9 batters coming to the plate and getting in 4 further runs, through a mix of doubles and singles getting people around the diamond. The score in the middle of the 4th was 9-5 to the British Isles.
At this point, play was suspended due to lightning being spotted in the distance and a 20-minute hold was mandated to assess conditions. At the time of the suspension, the weather over the field of play was mostly blue sky, both the players and the crowd were not amused, leading to some active discussion from all parties. Some pointed choices of music from the crowd, including Thunder and I Can See Clearly Now (The Rain Has Gone) provided some laughs.
Play resumed with UCE Travellers at bat – and they proceeded to completely dominate the game, getting players consistently on base and driving in the runs, helped by several fielding mistakes, and a HR by Kai Becker. By the end of the 4th, they’d added 8 runs from 7 hits, with the British Isles now behind 13-9.
It seemed that the break had not done any favours for the British Isles when they came back in to bat, with a quick 1-2-3 inning with all 3 outs from flyouts to left field. Their fielding did not improve for the bottom of the 5th, with the Travellers going through the order and sending 14 batters to the plate. The started their scoring with a 3-run home run from Marc Dütjer and added 6 more runs through consistent small ball play. Even a pitcher change from Grooms to Russel did not stop the runs. The inning ended 22-9.
The British Isles had to score some runs to keep them in with a chance, but it was not to be. Another quick inning with only 1 runner getting to base and no runs scored. The Travellers came into the bottom of the 6th knowing they only needed to get 2 runs to evoke the mercy rule. It started well with Jonas Conrath hitting a triple before Clara Zerhausen getting an RBI through a single. The final run was scored by Becker and the game was done. Final score 24-9
After the game, Sacha Therolf paid compliments to the whole team, especially the rookies who stepped up to play well across the weekend; as a coach, he feels “awesome” that the whole team adds to their success.
UCE Travellers last won the BSF Softball World Series in 2019 and previously in 2015; this win makes it their 3rd. Murica currently has the most wins with 5.
Plate Final
The plate final was between Guernsey and Godzillas. They’d both finished 3rd in their group with a 4-2-1 record, having been part of the only 2 games ending in a draw over the weekend. Guernsey were the victors 23-13, a little revenge on last year’s Trophy final when Guernsey lost out to the Godzillas.
Trophy Final
Misfits of Europe had won their place in the Trophy final by beating Belgium, the winners of last year's final match. They carried on this winning streak by winning against Latinos 16-5.
Spoon Final
The Spoon final was between Ireland and the Canucks and was the closest result in runs of the finals, with a win of 9-5 for the Canucks.
Another brilliant weekend was made possible with the support of all at Farnham Park, Home Plate, the Tournament Control Alan Le Marquand and all the umpires who officiated over the weekend.
Photos: Lewis Bowers-Murphy https://lbm-photography.picfair.com/
BSF Softball World Series History
2024 – UCR Travellers (Germany)
2023 -- England
2022 -- Murica
2021 – GB Masters
2020 – No tournament played due to Covid-19
2019 – UCE Travellers (Germany)
2018 – Murica
2017 – Murica
2016 – Murica
2015 – UCE Travellers (Germany)
2014 – England
2013 – ANZACs
2012 – ANZACs
2011 – Lakenheath Eagles
2010 – Lakenheath Eagles
2009 – England
2008 – ANZACs
2007 – ANZACs
2006 – Rest of the World
2005 – Murica
2004 – Africa
2003 – Africa
2002 – Murica
2001 – Africa
2000 – Africa
1999 – England