Galway IV Nov 2010 Review... Plate Champions

Review:

Saturday:

First up, UL second team the DT's. hit the ground running in the morning here winning easily in the end.

Next the All Ireland Champions the Orig-inals. They probably took us a bit lightly and we should have inflicted there only defeat of the weekend and one of their few against Irish opposition this year. With bases loaded and just one out with the scores level in the bottom of the last it was there for the taking but unfortunately we didn't manage it. However this was there only game they didn't win the whole weekend.

Next UCD's top team the 56's. Didn't quite get the bats going in this one, getting only the one run, one that got away really as we should have been a match for them.

Next a new team, UCC in their first year. We were cruising in this one up by 13 runs with just one bat left for them. This was our nightmare inning of the weekend, shipping 9 runs. Held on for victory though but a close shave.

Next up was UL JD's, this team ended up being a mish-mash of players from UL, UCD and Waterford IT. Also they were all male so their results were all to be registered as walkovers to their opponents. Perhaps because of this we didn't play as competitively, going down 8-3 in the end.

The last game on Saturday was against UCD's second team the UCD TD's. Tiredness was setting in a bit at this stage and we just narrowly defeated them 8-7, a game which we should have won easier but a good win in the end.

Sunday:

First up on Sunday was the NUI Base Invaders. This was the first ever meeting between the Galway sides and the first ever staging of an official Galway annual Trophy. With many players who have only been playing a month or 2 NUI put up a pretty good performance but were never quite in the game. Tribes running out 11-4 winners and winning the new Galway Cup.

See pictures of this game (courtesy of Roberto & Marta) here

Our last group game was against UL's number one team the 55's. The 55's showed some outstanding defensive play especially, holding us to just 1 run and a couple of hits. Beating us easily enough in the end. Also as we only had 9 players at this stage we needed to draft in a few. Thanks to Daniel from NUIG for helping us in this one.

Finals:

After all league games played the final positions were calculated. Tribes finished 4th out of the 9. The top 3 would contest the Cup (UL'55's, UCD 56's, Orig-inals). Orig-inals running out easy winners against the UL 55's in the final.

The Plate was to be a rematch against the Base Invaders. This was to be a full 7 inning game. The wind had picked up a lot at this stage and turned the game into a defensive battle with big hits hard to come by. This was a very close game, although we were never headed by the Base Invaders at any stage they were only 1 or 2 runs behind for most of the game. The turning point was a 5 run 6th inning which gave us some breathing space. With a 6 run deficit to make up it was still nervy times in the bottom of the last but we held out to win the Plate. Also thanks to Stephen from Cork for helping us in this game, he played a blinder at catcher.

So all in all a great well run competition in St Mary's. The weather held off for teh most part and wasn't too bad.

Squad:

Kevin, John McG, Roberto, Justin, Tim, Graham, Colm, Martinus

Angelica, Orla, Jacinta, Marta

Results (Note not all may be exact):

Group stages

Tribes 13 v 4 UL DT's

Tribes 5 v 5 Orig-inals

Tribes 1 v 8 UCD 56's

Tribes 17 v 13 UCC

Tribes 7 v 0 UL JD's

Tribes 8 v 7 UCD TD's

Tribes 11 v 4 NUIG Base Invaders

Tribes 1 v 12 UL 55's

Plate Final

Tribes 10 v 6 NUIG Base Invaders

Galway Intervarsity November 6th/7th

The first intervarsity will be held in St Mary's College Galway on November 6th/7th. We aim to send a team to this. So if you want to sign up please reply to galway.softball@gmail.com as soon as possible to ensure your place on the squad.

This will also be our first opportunity to face-off against the NUIG Base Invaders.

2010 MVP Winners

Congratulations to this years MVP winners, Kevin Dooley and Ruth Concannon.

2010 MVP Nominees

The nominations for this years MVP are as follows, if you're eligible to vote this year then you have already been notified. Voting is open now and closes at midday on Wednesday 6th October so get your votes in now.

Munster League Cork

Results:

Galway 6 v 20 Cork

Galway 18 v 28 Cork

In beautiful weather down in Cork we played 2 games counting towards the munster league. These were full 7 inning games. We just had the bare 10 players.

The first game was very close up until the 5th inning where Cork scored 9 runs pulling them well clear. They pulled further away then.

The second game again we unfortunately had one of those nightmare innings shipping twelve runs, leaving us well behind. We didn't give up though, needing 19 runs in the bottom of the last we started on a roll scoring 9 runs on the trot, at this stage we only had 1 out also and they were rocking. Unfortunately a double play finished us off quickly and stopped us in our tracks. A spirited performance nonetheless.

IOST Review

IOST

UCC Sports Grounds,

Cork

Sat/Sun Aug 28th/29th 2010

Squad

Simon, Kevin, Kevin, Liam, Justin, Rob, Ronan, Breandán, Colm, Andrew, Tim

Angelica, Ruth, Johanna, Catherine, Jacinta

The tournament consisted of 20 teams overall. for the first phase this was divided into 4 seeded groups of 5. Top 2 in each group would go into cup, 2nd 2 into plate and bottom team into the bowl.

Phase 1:

We had to play probably the best 2 teams in our group on Saturday morning before lunch. First game against Munster who were far too powerful for us beating us quite easily although we were winning 4-0 after 1 inning. Second game against Marlay was more of the same, we gave away 15 runs in the first inning, after this though we knuckled down and started to get our game together.

After lunch then we started to get things going with 2 comfortable wins against The Sinners and the Oddsox/Sluggers (who went on to win the plate). These results left us 3 in our group send ing us into the plate.

Plate Group Stage:

For the plate competition the 8 teams involved were split up into 2 groups of four. The positions in these groups would decided the 1/4 pairings.

The first game of this was against The Renegades. This was the game that got away, for most of the game we were much the superior team but we managed to lose it by one run in the end. Some close calls went against us in the final inning which cut our comeback just short.

The next 2 games in this stage were against Belfast and Blazzers, again we won both of tehse games comfortably. This made us second in our group giving us a more favourable draw in teh quarters.

Plate 1/4 Final:

Due to the scheduling we ended up having a 2 hour break before this game which wasn't the best preparation for this game. We were drawn against old rivals Cork. This was a pretty sluggish game, we found it difficult to get the hits in, the difference in the sides was some Cork big hitting, 4 home runs in all. A close game but we fell by 3 runs in the end.

All in all a great tournament, well run with glorious weather for the most part. And apart from the plate knockout game we played very well with some good wins and good play from everyone.

Results & Tables:

Phase 1:

Game 1 - Galway Tribes 4 v 17 Munster

Game 2 - Galway Tribes 6 v 19 Marlay 2

Game 3 - Galway Tribes 11 v 4 All Sinners

Game 4 - Galway Tribes 7 v 3 Oddsox/Sluggers

Table

Team	P	W	L	%
Munster	4	4	0	1.000
Marlay 2	4	3	1	.750
Galway	4	2	2	.500
Oddsox	4	1	3	.250
Sinners	4	0	4	.000

Plate Group Stage:

Game 1 - Galway Tribes 7 v 8 Renegades

Game 2 - Galway Tribes 7 v 4 Belfast

Game 3 - Galway Tribes 10 v 2 Blazzers

Table

Team	P	W	L	%
Renegades	3	3	0	1.000
Galway	3	2	1	.666
Belfast	3	1	2	.333
Blazzers	3	0	3	.000

Plate 1/4 Final

Galway Tribes 6 v 9 Cork

Some pictures taken by Kevin Doyle

http://picasaweb.google.com/galway.softball/CorkIOST2010?feat=directlink

Updated Tournament Dates

Tournaments which we hope to take part in this year:

Flyers Invitational
Date Sun, May 16th
ALSAA, Dublin

View ALSAA, Dublin Airport in a larger map

Galway Tribes v "The Expendables"

Date Wed June 16th

Laurel Park Galway.

Usual Suspects Invitational (NOT ATTENDING)
Date Sat, June 19th
St. Mary's Rugby Club, Templeogue, Dublin
http://www.stmaryscollegerfc.com/Contact_Us_Directions.aspx
(Easiest direct route probably the exit onto tallaght road from M50)

Castleknock Bearcats Invitational
Date Sat July 17th
Castleknock College, Castleknock, Dublin

Irish Open Softball Trophy
28/29 Aug 2010
Venue Cork, UCC Sportsgrounds

http://www.softball.ie/competitions-iost.htm

Munster League

Game 1&2 - Sat July 10th UL v Galway, Monaleen GAA Club, Limerick FORFEITED BY UL

Game 3&4 - Sat Aug 7th Originals v Galway, Galway

Game 5&6 - Sat Sept 11th Cork v Galway, Cork

Game 7&8 - Sat Sept 18th Galway v Marlay, Galway

Castleknock Invitational 2010 Review

Squad:
Simon, Diarmuid, Kevin, Colm, Breandán, Justin
Orla, Angelica, Catherine, Sandra, Inge

Review:

We competed in this event on Saturday July 17th. In the end 11 teams contested divided into 2 groups. The first hurdle to overcome was finding the actual place, Castleknock College sports grounds. Many of the drivers got in various states of lostness, eventually everyone made it and we got to play our first game albeit a bit late starting.

First we played Belfast Jets, this was a very close game which we eventually won by a single run.

Next up was the Suspects, bit of a grudge match here against the team containing a couple of players who first played for Galway (Suzanne Doyle and Mark Smyth). Again this was a pretty close game and we had to contend with some horrendous downpours during it. We got the bats going well here and ran out comfortable winners in the end.

Next up was TwoPak (mix of Batpak & Packers), these were probably the favourites for the overall. Came into to this as big underdogs so we had nothing to lose. The rain had eased off by now. But not long into the game it came down even harder, we played through it as we couldn't get any wetter. We put up a pretty good fight here, we are actually up 1-0 after 1 inning, but they had some serious batting power and ran away with it in the end, but it was a pretty good defensive performance in the end.

At this stage everyone was soaked and a bit miserable, luckily it was lunch break so we had some time to eat and dry off and change. Fingers crossed that the rain had gone.

Luckily, the weather changed for the better and we had warm sunshine for rest of day. Next up was another premiership team, the hosts, the Bearcats. Again we went into this with no pressure and nothing to lose. We put up a great performance here giving them a big fright, losing by just one in the end.

We had a break for the next game as a team had pulled out at last minute. After the final games we had finished 3rd in our group and were drawn against Sinners/Belfast Aviators mix team. The long break probably didn't suit us here and we never got going in it, we fell a bit too far behind early on and never got back. So that was our day over.

All in all a good day despite the early weather conditions. Was also good to get some players experience of their first tournament (Inge, Sandra). Plus we got a bit of a pitching rotation going with Breandan and Kevin giving Simon some relief and playing a full game each.

Results

Group Stages:

Game 1 - Galway Tribes 6 v 5 Belfast Jets

Game 2 - Galway Tribes 14 v 11 Suspects

Game 3 - Galway Tribes 1 v 12 TwoPak

Game 4 - Galway Tribes 5 v 6 Bearcats

Plate Semi Final - Galway Tribes 3 v 11 sinners/Aviators

Castleknock Invitational Blitz July 17th Preview and Squad

Squad:
Simon, Diarmuid, Kevin, Colm, Breandán, Justin, Rob L, Liam
Orla, Angelica, Catherine, Sandra, Ruth, Inge


This will be our 5th time in succession attending this blitz. We have always done well here, in the previous 4 competitions we have got to 4 finals, winning once last year.

The tournament is expanding this year and is moving to the bigger facility of Castleknock College. Full details and schedules will be announced closer to the date.

If other years hot dinners at lunch time and tea/coffee/snacks have been included in entry fee, should be more of the same this year. The entry fee this year will be €15 per person, can give this at the tournament or at a training session before it.

Munster League Round 1 v UL July 10th - POSTPONED

NOTE: THESE GAMES ARE CANCELLED, UL HAVE FORFEITED THE GAME

Squad:
Simon, Diarmuid, Kevin, Rob L, Andrew, Ronan, Justin, Tim, Fionnan, John McG
Johanna, Jacinta, Angelica, Sandra, Ruth


This is the first round of the inaugural Munster League for us. This will include 2 full 7 inning games. Each result will go towards the league table.

The Limerick venue has moved and will now be in Monaleen GAA Club, directions here

The start time is to be decided, will confirm early next week.

Cost will be €5 per player. Can give this on the day or at training before.

Tribes v Expendables - Match Report

Tribes 15 v Expendables 21

Line Score:

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R

Exp 1 3 4 2 4 1 6 21

Tribes 3 4 4 1 0 1 2 15

The Squads:

Tribes

P Kevin

C Inge/Ronan

1 Majbritt

2 Angelica

3 Breandán

SS Colm

OF Fionnan

OF Roberto

OF Marta

OF Jacinta

Expendables

P Simon

C Sandra

1 Johanna

2 Catherine

3 Andrew

SS Diarmuid

OF Graham

OF Rob

OF Orla

OF Gemma

Apologies from Expendables players who intended to play (Liam(injured), Flo, Chris).

Report:

This game was a full 7 inning game with no-count on the batter. As this was going to be a lengthy game it was important that we had everyone in time. Thanks to everyone for showing up on time and we managed to get going a few minutes after 7pm. The conditions were pretty good, warm, no wind to speak of but a bit humid. The Tribes won the toss and elected to field first. The Tribes got off to the better start and were not headed for the first 4 innings. After 4 the score was 12-10 in the Tribes favour. The tide start to turn in the 5th with the Expendables scoring 4 and shutting out the Tribes. The next inning both teams scoring the 1 run, setting up for a tense last inning. Expendables left it till this to start really score to get 6 in this one, leaving the Tribes with a lot to do, too much as it happened, they could only mange 2 in the last. So all in all a very good game, lots of good plays, not too many errors. Defintely something we will try to do again soon.

Galway Tribes v "The Expendables"

Date: Wed June 16th @7pm

Venue: Training Grounds at Laurel Park.

This will be a challenge match against a team which will include former players who will make it for the game and also non-Galway based players. This will be in place of training on this date. Please reply to us here as soon as you can to confirm so we can make sure of numbers and announce the squads. For the Tribes team, training regulars and those who reply early will get first preference, so please respond.

Notes:

• Please try to be there at about 6:30 if you can to warm up and ensure we start on time. Game scheduled to start at 7pm exactly.
• The squads below contain 12 players each, if we have this we will sub players during game, everyone will get a game.
• Game will be a full 7 innings game with no count on the batter.
• Teams can play 6-4 or 5-5 split between guys/girls. If playing 6-4 must be male catcher.
• Must be at least 2 girls in outfield.
• Mercy rule of 10 runs will apply to all but the final inning.
• In the event of tie, sudden death extra innings will be played. (teams start with 1 out, last batter out will start on second base, batters will start with a 1-1 count against them.)
• Hopefully afterwards then the celebrations can continue with a few drinks at the Bierhaus.

National Championships Playoffs

The National Championship Playoffs

Following consultation with the team managers at the 2010 Captain's meeting, Softball Ireland is delighted to announce The National Championship Playoffs.

The winners of each regional league (Leinster, Munster, and Ulster) will compete in a playoff tournament at the end of the season, with the winners being crowned National Champions and earning the opportunity to represent Ireland in the European Club Cup in 2011.

The National Championship Playoffs is a tremendous step forward for softball in Ireland and acknowledges the growth and development of softball throughout the country.

Until now it has been the winners of the Leinster League that has represented Ireland in the European Cup (with Dodder Dynamoes competing as defending European Champions and Batpak as Leinster League Champions this season in Ljubljana, Slovenia in August).

The SI Byelaws have been updated to reflect the set up and management of the new playoff tournament. A copy of the Byelaws can be viewed by clicking here.

Munster League

See provisional fixtures and details below. This will include 5 teams. Each playing twice (2 games on same day). So there will be 4 dates for us.

See current fixtures list and details below. See here for up to date information and fixtures.

Flyers Invitational Blitz 2010 Review

Flyers Invitational Blitz

ALSAA,

Dublin Airport

Sunday May 16th 2010

Squad

Simon, John H, Roberto, Diarmuid, Kevin, Joe, Liam, Justin, John McG

Angelica, Marta, Orla, Suzanne, Ruth

The tournament consisted of 12 teams overall, 10 from Dublin, 1 from Galway and 1 from Belfast. This was split into 2 groups of 6 played in a round robin format. The top 2 teams from each group would then participate in the semi-finals, subsequent winners to final.

Group Stages:

Everything started very well by shutting out the "Blazzers" a team which would have expected to beat us. Followed this with a narrow defeat to the "Flyers" a game we let slip towards the end and probably should have won it. Next a pretty close game against "Belfast" in which we survived a bit of fight back to hold on for the win. The "Oddsox" failed to field a team and all other teams in group got a walkover for this game.

Last group game was against "Marlay 1", potentially the strongest team in the group. Got off to a flying start and were 10-1 up after 1.5 innings. Marlay got their act together with the bat and pretty much demoralised the team with a 19 run second inning.

This left us with a 3-2 win/loss record. Both "Belfast" and "Blazzers" had identical record but as a result of Galway beating both of these teams we progressed to the semi-finals as group runners up. Here we were drawn against "TwoPak" (mix of Batpak and Packers) who had not lost all day thumping most of the teams. This turned out to be a bit of a learning curve for us and we were never in this game. "Twopak" went on to thrash "Marlay 1" in the final.

So all an all a good and a pretty respectable performance all day with some fine wins during the day. Well done to all who took part.

Results & Table(note some scores may not be accurate):

Group Stages:

Game 1 - Galway Tribes 10 v 0 Blazzers

Game 2 - Galway Tribes 5 v 6 Flyers

Game 3 - Galway Tribes 8 v 5 Belfast

Game 4 - Galway Tribes w/o Oddsox

Game 5 - Galway Tribes 10 v 23 Marlay 1

Semi Final - Galway Tribes 2 v 25 TwoPak

Group Table

Team	P	W	L	%
Marlay 1	5	4	1	.800
Galway	5	3	2	.600
Belfast	5	3	2	.600
Blazzers	5	3	2	.600
Flyers	5	2	3	.400
Oddsox	5	0	5	.000

Thanks also to Roberto for some fine pictures of the tournament here.

Galway Softball Introductory Open Day April 21st

If you're interested in playing softball with us in Galway then we invite you to come along to our introductory open training session next Wednesday the 21st April. If you don't know what softball is but would like to find out then come along and we'll show you.

The open day is the day where we are aiming for as many of the new people that have already expressed an interest to come along and let us show you what its all about. Don't worry if you can't make the 21st, you can start coming to our training sessions at any time either before or after the open day. The schedule is on the panel on the right side of this blog.

Softball is the co-ed, slower and more sociably paced version of baseball. A note tho the ball itself is not soft, in fact its quite hard! See more information on softball in Ireland here.

Softball Season 2010

Training:

We will begin training this year on Wednesday April 7th @ 7pm in Laurel park, and every Wednesday thereafter.

Tournaments:

Dates and venues for tournaments for the most part are yet to be confirmed. Follows is a list of the ones we will definetley be taking part in, possibly more to follow:

Munster League (Galway, Cork, Limerick) Dates TBC

New competition still in planning stages held over 3 legs with teams from Galway, Cork, Limerick and possibly Dublin. One day per leg.

IOST, UCC Cork, August 28/29

The main tournament in Ireland, held in Cork last year, venue for this year to be decided.

Castleknock Invitational, Castleknock Dublin, Date TBC

Again this year we would hope to have a team for this. This is a one day tournmant and is usually held some Saturday between end of June and start of July. This is a one day competition.