Tournament Reports

Lastball

Our team at Lastball contained 4 rookies who only started playing in August and two other players returning from long term injury absences. Given that we did really well to finish with a winning record and a semi final appearance.

We had a fine day on Saturday with 4 wins out of five, the only setback being a loss to a strong Bobcats team. On Sunday we had a good win against Thunder before back to back losses to an impressive Coyotes team brought the weekend to an end.

Male OBP leader was Rich (833) followed by Steve (824) and Harry (737). Female lead was Caroline (684), followed by TK (600) and rookie Lou (500).Home Run Hero was James with 4, with Ed also claiming a four bagger. Steve pitched and fielded his position impressively on his return from injury. TK was impressive on first, Ed worked hard at short stop. Holly and Caroline both did good work at 2nd and in the outfield. Steph did some good PR work with the umpires and Lou took some nice outfield catches. Everyone worked hard and we managed to finish before the rain started on the Sunday.

The biggest story of the weekend was the return of Steve and Caroline from injury. Both played well and were worthy MVPs.

MVPs

North West 3

We had a highly successful, if very wet, time at the North West 3 tournament, culminating in a second successive low scoring North West series final win against the Dales. That win also meant we finished top of the combined table in the three tournament 2021 North West series.

We started the day with a routine win against the Stingers, followed by a high scoring but error strewn tie against the Nottingham University team. We moved to the paddy field that was pitch 5 for our next 2 games, third game of the day was what started as a nip and tuck game against the Seagulls, before an 8 run top of the final inning gave us a game winning lead. Next up was our group game clash against the Dales, for most of the game we were second best but a six run rally in the bottom of the final inning took us to a satisfying 8-7 win. Three wins and a tie gave us first place in the group and a clash against a heavy hitting Thunder team. Again it was nip and tuck for most of the game but shutting down the heart of the Thunder batting order on their second time round the order, highlighted by a good catch by Holly in left field, gave us the win.

The final was a tight, nervy affair featuring a fine pitching performance by Oli. We took an early 3 run lead, featuring an infield homer by James, which the Dales gradually clawed back as the innings passed. The Dales tied things up in the top of the final inning, then claimed 2 quick outs in the bottom of the inning before James's first pitch 400 foot homer to left closed out the game, the tournament and the series. OBP leader was Matt who went 12 for 12 (1000) , closely followed by Harry, 8 for 9 (889). Female leader was Holly (667) with TK (643) in 2nd place. Home Run Heroes were Matt, Ed and James with who claimed 2 four baggers each.

In the field Oli and Dave both pitched well. Ed did a good job at short stop, TK was her normal reliable self at first, Holly was good at both 2nd and in the outfield. Becky was also impressive at 2nd Matt and James did a good job in the outfield. Rachael looked really good at catcher. Everyone else worked hard and contributed to the team's success. Even the weather, which ranged from not very nice to absolutely diabolical, couldn't ruin the day, though Sunday's news of positive Covid tests (Harry and umpire Al Green) did take a bit of the gloss off!

MVPs

Manchester

The Tigers had an enjoyable and ultimately successful time at the Manchester tournament, finishing the weekend by winning the Plate final with a dominant batting performance against the Camels. In the week running up to the tournament it had seemed touch and go whether we'd actually be able to get a team out, and as a result some of the guys had to play in unfamiliar positions on the field, but we still managed to be competitive throughout the weekend and we got better as the tournament went on.

We started things off with an encouraging win against a strong Family Cassling team before suffering successive narrow defeats against Speeders and Camels. In the afternoon we chalked up a win against Marauders before going down heavily in our final game, a tired looking performance against the Sharks.

Saturday evening was spent consuming poutine at Jackie's delayed Canada day party / leaving do, so it was a well fed team that went 1 and 1 on Sunday morning, a win against a weakened Bandidos team followed by a heavy defeat against the Bats.

Our 3 and 4 record put us into the plate and a semi final against the Marauders. Our bats came to life in this game and we chalked up a comfortable win helped by a Grand Slam from guest Conor. This put us into the final where we would face the Camels, who had sprung a surprise in their own Semi, downing the heavily fancied Bats with an impressive performance. To the dismay of some of those involved the final was a 7 innings affair and it was a game in 3 parts. First the Tigers leapt into a big lead, then the Camels gradually worked their way back into the game and finally another big inning from the Tigers in the 6th put the game to bed.

Oli (733), Glen (727) and Dave (722) were the tournament male OBP leaders. Jackie (684), Alyssa (619) and TK (524) led the way for the women. Rich was the leading home run hitter with three, James hit a pair and guests Steph and Conor hit 1 apiece.

In the field Dave did a lot more pitching than he had originally planned for, Glen and Rich did good work covering at short stop and Oli performed well at both pitcher and short stop. Jackie and TK were both good in the infield, Holly worked hard at 2nd, and Alyssa did good work in the outfield. Special thanks should be paid to guest Steph who played in more than half our games.

MVPs

North West 2

We started the round robin games with a close defeat to the Dales followed by a comprehensive win over the Stingers. After a short break we suffered another narrow loss to Thunder before a good win against the Seagulls. After a 2nd break we had another pair of games, we put in an impressive performance in defeating Freeze 9-3 before a relatively straightforward win against a promising but rookie Raiders team.

After 6 games on the bounce we then had an our off before the Gold final, an hour that seemed to rejuvenate the younger members of the team but may have had the opposite effect on one or two of the older team members!

The final was a rematch with the Dales who had beaten us both in the round robin and also the weekend before at Leeds. They couldn't make it 3 from 3 though as we put in an impressive defensive display, one good enough to cope with a slightly dodgy pitching performance from a tired skipper and pulled off an 8-5 win.

Over the day male OBP leaders were Ed (933), James (800) and Dave (692). Female leaders were Caroline (833), Emma (750) and TK (615). There were lots of Home Runs, Ed and James hit 3 each, Emma hit 2 and Lynsey and TK claimed 1 apiece.

Fielding was tough in the heat. Jackie and TK were both reliable on 1st, Ollie and Dave both worked hard at pitcher, James made some nice plays in the outfield and Ed got stronger at short stop as the day went on. Victory won us some medals, chocolate and batting cage vouchers, and made the post tournament visit to the pub even more satisfying.

MVPs

Leeds

We had a (mostly) up and (occasionally) down time at the Leeds tournament on a day that ended on a high with victory in a high scoring Bronze final against our old rivals the Bobcats.

We had a big squad which meant a great deal of inning and outing and swapping round in a (largely successful) attempt to give everyone an equal amount of playing time and a similar number of plate appearances over the day. It could have caused confusion and ill feeling but instead everyone mucked in and accepted their roles with good grace and had a great day in the sun.

We'd started the day with a routine if slightly boring win against the inexperienced Archers team. Next up was a tough, and close, defeat to the Pyros where we had the tying run on 3rd and the winning run on 2nd when the final out was recorded, a catch of a long line drive that could have won us the game.

After a long (two hour) lunch break we were half asleep in a messy loss to the Dales in which the final score flattered us. We were back in the groove for our final group game, producing some good hitting to chalk up a convincing win against the Royals.

Our 2 & 2 record was enough to put us in both 7th place (of 14) and in the Bronze final against the Bobcats. This last game turned into a bit of a slug fest but we got ahead early and then had a big bottom of the 4th after the Bobcats briefly took the lead in the top of that inning. The 10 runs we scored then gave us a large cushion and it was one that turned out to be just big enough as the Bobcats had a big inning of their own in the top of the 5th and final inning. Alyssa was our stand out player with a Home Run, a Triple and a great outfield catch, which combined won her the female MVP award in the final. Matt (10 for 11) led the Male OBP standings with James (9 for 11) close behind. Jackie, also 9 for 11, topped the female chart with Alyssa (8 for 11) pushing her close. Home Run Queen was Alyssa with 3. Best of the men was James with a pair whilst Harry, Matt and Rich claimed 1 apiece.

In the field Oli and Dave both pitched well. Jackie and TK both played well on 1st Matt did a good job at short and everyone mucked in mixing and matching as required to give everyone game time.

MVPs

North West 1

After a year away we made a socially distanced return to the field at the North West 1 tournament. Our team was a mix of old hands and new faces and we got better as the day went on. We played six round robin games followed by a placing game to finish a long but enjoyable day in the sun.

Despite some encouraging batting displays some slightly shaky fielding meant that it was tough going early on. After a tough opening game against a strong Thunder line up we won a slug fest against the Stingers but two more losses followed, a heavy defeat against the Dales followed by a much closer game against the Seagulls.

The club captain now appeared on the scene and things soon started to look brighter. Coincidence? We put the Swingers to the sword in Game 5 and then in perhaps our best performance of the day came out on top with a tight 1 run win against a loaded Freeze team.

That win put us into a placing game, facing the Swingers again. Despite the absence of two of our most experienced players in James and Ed and also an improved Swingers performance we still had too much for them and chalked up a satisfying win to round off the day.

Female OBP leaders were Holly, Jackie and Erin with Steve, Oli and James bunched together at the top of the male rankings. Ed was the Home Run King with a pair, with Jackie and Melissa also each claiming a four bagger.

Everyone made a positive contribution to the team performance. To pick out just a few, Mel showed real promise at bat. Steve did a fine job as Captain and put in some strong pitching performances. James made some nice outfield plays with the highlight a catch em out, throw em out double play against Freeze, doubling the runner off second after taking the outfield catch. Courtney showed lots of promise and Erin got on base with great regularity.

MVPs