Tigers Tournament Reports 2014

Sefton

We had an enjoyable weekend in the sun at Sefton as we rounded off the 2014 (outdoor) season with some good performances. Our 500 record on the Saturday (2/1/2) gave us a 3rd place finish in the initial round robin. That put us in the top half of the competition on the Sunday where we found life a bit tougher but were far from disgraced in our 3 games (0/1/2).

Our first game on Saturday was a hard fought but eventually comfortable win against the Sharks with the highlight being Hayley's Home Run. We followed that with a stirring comeback against Mayhem that gave us an 8-8 tie before defeating the Fins in another close game. The fourth game of the day was another close one but we lost to Phoenix before we also went down to defeat in a tired looking performance against the Leeds team.

We started Sunday with perhaps our best performance of the weekend, though we only got a tie out of a game we should have won against a powerful Fish team. Ed was the hero in our second game, hitting 2 Home Runs and putting in a fine performance in the outfield, but he needed more support as we fought back well but in vain after a bad first innings. Our last game was a heart breaker with a 2 out Grand Slam in the bottom of the last inning costing us the win in a game we should have had sown up long before the end.

Batting Leaders were Ed (762) and Sarah (682), Home Run heroes were Ed (4) and Hayley, Dave and Vince (1 each).

Thanks to club mates Vince the Lion and Speeders Nick, Emma G. and Matt for playing with us over the weekend.

The purple heart award goes to Hayley who got a busted nose in the 2nd game of the weekend but carried on regardless!

MVPs

Manchester

A weekend of mixed weather, mixed fortunes, and steadily improving performances. On Saturday we were competitive for a long time in our first game against the Meerkats before they ran away with it at the end. The next game was a wet and disappointing loss to the Leeds Lightning, before we played an equally soggy but encouraging tie against the Bristol Creamers. We finished the day on a high note, with successive wins against the Bullfrogs and Lightning.

On Sunday we played 3 more games, against Honey Badgers, Mutineers and Doh-Nuts. We lost all 3 but more importantly we put in 3 encouraging performances with the last 2 game in particular being well played competitive affairs.

Home Run heroes were Dave E. (4) and Ed (3), male batting leaders were Ed, Dave E. and Richard with Rachel Sarah and Kirsty leading the way for the female half of the team. Against the Bullfrogs Ed hit 3 Home Runs in 3 at bats to lead us to a win. On the Sunday Dave E. hit a Home Run in each game whilst also making some excellent catches in the outfield. Sam pitched well throughout.

MVPs

Leeds

A tournament of firsts for the Tigers, for the first time much of the team camped over in Leeds and we got our first away tournament win in the form of the Saturday night fancy dress competition.

Home Run Heroes were Richard and Sam, two each, and Dave E. and Vince with one apiece. Over the whole weekend Richard led the way in OBP, with Sarah C and Anu topping the female totals. Dave E., Kirsty and Sarah N. all performed strongly on the Saturday.

We had four games on the Saturday. A Castaways team that were originally entered in Comp were too strong for us in the first game, then we turned the tables in Game 2 against a gallant Lightning team. Game 3 was another loss to a Pyros team who get better (and bigger) with each passing year before we finished the day with a good win against the Firecrackers. Overall we played well with the batting a particular highlight.

On the Sunday we had another four games with a smaller and not entirely balanced squad. We lost all four but there were plenty of encouraging performances along the way. We started the day with our final group game, going down to a heavy hitting Sharks team before playing a further three Trophy round robin games

The first Trophy game, battle of the Tigers against our East Midlands namesakes, was a tight defensive affair that could have gone either way but in which we eventually went down 3-1. Second up we had a second encounter with the Sharks where again they out hit us. The final game was a bit of a slug fest against the Redbacks, from which they eventually emerged victorious despite some good catches made by our experienced outfield.

Thanks to Vince and Smiler for playing for us and giving us a bit of youthful energy in the field !

MVPs

Firstball

We had an eventful time at Firstball, with a number of injuries, some Monsoon like conditions during the last game on Saturday, and a tough playing schedule that tested a squad missing many of our more experienced players. By the end of the weekend we hadn’t recorded a win but we did get a tie with the table topping Birmingham Bobcats and a couple of excellent performances against the Outlaws and Mayhem.

Amongst other injuries Sarah W. claimed the prize for biggest bruise, getting a free ride in an ambulance as her reward. Sarah N. ran her close however, with an impressive blue and purple hand caused by a mix of a couple of hard hit balls and circulation problems.

The weekend male batting top three were Ed, Neil and Steve, with Chloe, Charlotte and Steph leading the way for the women. Ed was our sole Home Run hero though Richard came close several times hitting a number of triples. In the field we looked rusty at times, but Ed was the stand out performer in the outfield, Chloe did a fine job at second on the Sunday and Hayley grew in confidence as she got more experience as catcher. Sam did the heavy lifting in the pitching role, with a cameo appearance by Oggy on the Saturday and Dave enjoying his 2 games on the mound on Sunday morning.

Overall we got lots of valuable playing time before the start of the league season, and even got to enjoy the sunshine on the Sunday. Thanks to Anu for playing on Sunday at short notice and it was good to see Matt A. when he paid us a visit – we may even see him on the pitch in a few weeks.

Male MVP was Ed who put in impressive performances over the whole weekend. Chloe only played one day but impressed with both bat and glove to claim the female award.

MVPs