Hi Folks

Thanks for helping make yesterday a fun and enjoyable day. Despite the horrendous weather 1st thing ALL turned up and played on. We hope folk will be encouraged to play more softball outside the league at the various Tournaments on offer and maybe one day we'll get someone to go to Nationals. I have given the ESL places away now to other teams in the country.

Our new friends from Aberdeen will be making an appearance at Festiball both outdoor and in the Indoor Tournament in November. If any team/s want to play them in Aberdeen and they will return the favour by coming back down here to play let me know and I'll put you in touch.

FYI
AJ's bt Dodgers in SF
Berties bt Chargers in SF
Beries bt Aj's in the Cup Final

Vandals bt Forgers in SF
S'nH bt Raiders in SF
Vandals bt Spaced n' Hungover in the Plate Final

Trophies will be presented at the End of Season do 21st August at CSSC 7:30pm

Thoughts to go back to BSF on the ball Trial would be welcome so please send round your team for comments - email or post on MB the replies.

For me it seemed like a pointless exercise. Firstly, it was a hassle and time consuming having to swap the balls around so often. And secondly it seemed silly for the females to use a smaller ball when they have to revert back to the normal sized ball during the week.

I liked being able to hit it further and it gave me more confidence to try placing the ball instead of just aiming to get it beyond the base lines (though when I tried to do that, of course, I started messing it up and putting it straight at the pitcher!) but it was a bit of a faff and there were times when it held up the game while we sorted out which ball was in use and where the other ball had got to. It was working better by the end of the day though when umpires and pitchers were more used to it.

Not sure that the smaller ball made much difference and did seem like a bit of a faff for the pitcher.

Think the consensus with us was that we prefer bigger balls!*

*Sorry, I just couldn't help lowering the tone

Great day.

Well done Berts and Vans.

Re Balls...whilst I agree that the experiment was necessary and can understand the objectives of the ball options....i found the following.......

In Summary -

Advantages
Girls can hit a little further

Disadvantages
Slows the game down substantially.
The balls don't provide any consistency with pitching, throwing and pick ups.
Some ladies find it derogatory.
Umps didn't seem to like it either.
Pitchers need big pockets to store big and small balls (optional).

So overall I thought it was a bit rubbish (IMO) but yes it had to be tested....maybe just for the Premiership.

Anyway - thanks to those Blu's who made the day possible.


50 Pence