Tigers Tournament Reports 2015

Sefton

Manchester

After a weekend of fluctuating fortunes at the Manchester tournament we won more games than we lost and got to the plate final, but then were completely outplayed in that final by a vastly experienced Bats line up.

Saturday was a mixed day both on the pitch and in the sky. In the morning the weather was dry and we did not play very well, going down to defeat against both a loaded Mayhem line up and the improving FASST team. In the middle game we recorded a win against an enthusiastic but very inexperienced Falcons team.

In the afternoon torrential rain arrived and as the weather got worse our play got better as we recorded impressive wins against the Enforcers and Barflies.

Despite our winning record we found ourselves in the plate “Super 6s” on Sunday. We played really well in beating the Bats in our first game before recording another win against Leeds Lightning, though in that game we displayed the defensive weaknesses that then cost us our final group game against Drizzle.

After topping the group an 8 run 4th inning in the Semi against the 4th placed Barflies seemed to have set us up for an easy win but in fact we only just squeaked home 12-10 after another defensive meltdown very nearly handed them victory.

That win put us into the final, were we faced a far stronger Bats line up than the one we had beaten in the morning. We were 2-1 up after the 1st inning but that was as good as it got and they ran away from us with an impressive display of controlled hitting.

Home Run heroes were JD with 3 (1 Grand Slam), Mike G. (2), Hayley (1) and Sam (1). On Base percentage leaders were Dave W. (773), Mike G. (733) and JD (682) for the men and Hayley (520), Sandra and Emma (both 500) for the women. In the field JD was the stand out working hard all weekend and getting more than one force out from the outfield with some strong and accurate throws.

MVPs

Leicester

We enjoyed a sunny Saturday and survived a sopping wet Sunday at the Labor Day tournament. Each day followed the same pattern with a fairly feeble performance in the first game of the day followed by much stronger performances later in the day.

Our first game of the weekend was a very flat loss to Leeds Lightning. We played better against the London Flames and Exiles before recording our first win against Pyros II, before we put in another good performance despite losing a high scoring close game against the Redbacks.

On Sunday we never got going in the first game against the Sharks, before bouncing back and playing really well to beat the Raiders.

In the Quarter Final we put in another strong performance in beating the Swingers, then in the Semi Final we played well again but just came up short against a strong Misfits team.

Home Run leader was Michael with 3, with Sarah, Ed and Ian getting 1 each. Male on base percentage leaders were Ian (800), Ed (714), and Dave W. (684), female leaders were Hayley (667), Kirsty and Sarah (both 476).

In the field we looked fragile at times but Sam pitched well, Ed did good work all weekend and Kirsty and Hayley grew game by game at first and second respectively.

It was a pleasure to have Ian on the team for the weekend and we'd like to give many thanks to Chloe, Charlotte and Tanya for guesting for us and allowing us to bat 6 & 6 throughout the tournament and also to Dave Dean for scoring and being generally supportive !

MVPs

Leeds

We had a fast start at the Leeds tournament , then a wobble on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning before finishing with a close fought win in the Tiger civil war, leaving us finishing the weekend with 2nd place in our round robin group, a 50% record overall and 6th= place out of 24 teams.

We started with a run fest, beating the Cougars 18-14., then a comfortable win over FASST was followed by a nail biter against the Outlaws with Michael supplying the 3 run walk off Home Run that gave us the 11-10 win. We played the big (hitting) boys of the group in our last 2 games of the day, losing both by big margins. Our own batting wasn’t quite as good as it had been earlier in the day and our fielding was a bit shaky throughout the weekend.

In our first two games on the Sunday a sloppy loss - after a bright start - against the Royals was followed by a close fought game against the Honey Badgers. Our final game of the 2nd rotation was our clash against the Nottingham Tigers. Last year our game against the same opponents had been a low scoring affair, the 2015 version was different with runs aplenty. We took an early lead, then fell behind, then clawed our way back with some good D to find ourselves needing 3 to win in the bottom of the last. Line out, single, walk, double, left us one run behind, then a strike out was followed by Vince’s 2 out walk that drove in the tying run. Emma M. also took the optional walk to leave Dave to drive in the winning run with a blooped single that just evaded the grasp of the left fielder.

Whilst we had some good moments we didn’t really gel that well defensively. Ed was scarily good in the outfield, Dave pitched well and there was lots of hard work elsewhere but overall a lack of experience, both individually and in working together as a team meant the whole amounted to less than the sum of the parts.

With the bats it was a different story. We batted well throughout the weekend. Tony and Ed both batted over 900 and best of the girls was Hayley with a really impressive 762 OBP. We also hit 16 Home Runs in our 8 games with 5 of the men getting at least 1 Homer (Ed & Michael, 5 apiece, Tony 3 (all in the same game), Vince 2 and Dave 1).

Overall it was a good weekend, exciting games, some impressive performances, and the best weather we've had at Leeds for some years ! Kate from the Fish guested for us in the final game on Saturday to allow us to bat 6 & 6, we'd like to thank her for helping us out at the end of what was a very long day.

MVPs

Firstball

We started slowly at Firstball before embarking on a seven game winning streak that won us glory in the shape of the Bronze Cup. Saturday morning defeats to both a strong Phoenix side and the Pinoy Eagles suggested it might be a long weekend, but we perked up in the afternoon with comfortable wins over the Moorkats and Fasst.

On Sunday we started the day with two more comfortable wins against Thunder and Leeds Lightning. As the weather deteriorated we then really hit our straps in turning over the then table leading Dynamite team in the last group game. That win meant we topped the table after the round robin.

The semi-final was a rematch against the Eagles and we eventually emerged 6-5 victors with Georgie driving in the winning run in classic style, bases loaded and 2 down in extra innings ! After that (and an hour getting warm in the pub) the final, a rematch against Dynamite, was a more straight forward affair, though it did feature the play of the weekend, a long hit to right field that Steph retrieved, throwing the ball to Mike G. who relayed it from right field straight to the plate where Sam applied the tag to the surprised batter for the out.

Home Run heroes were Mike G. and Tony, with 2 apiece. On base leaders were Sarah, rookie Rachael and Hayley for the women and Mike G. Dave and Tony for the men. Pitcher Tony struggled manfully against the awful wind for most of the weekend with Sam taking over on Sunday afternoon and stringing together 3 excellent games on the rubber that led us to the win.

MVPs in the final were Mike G. and Luisa, who made some excellent plays at 3rd and went 3 for 3 at the plate. MVPs for the whole weekend were Hayley and Mike G., with Sam deserving a more than honourable mention for both his play at shortstop on Saturday and the pitching on Sunday afternoon. The weather on Sunday afternoon was awful but we rose above it to register a deserved tournament win. The one sour note was an injury to Ed whilst guesting for the Lions on Saturday morning, that means he could be out of action for a few weeks, get well soon Ed, we need you !

MVPs