The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Executive Committee have today awarded the co-hosting rights of the flagship WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup to Ireland, Italy and Spain. Ireland together with Italy and Spain will host a group of the World Cup in 2023, with Italy hosting the Finals in 2024.

Other than the Olympic games, the Women’s Softball World Cup is the most prestigious event in World Softball and will be broadcast globally in 2023. Working closely with its bid partners, the World Cup Organising Committee, Fastpitch Ireland and Fingal presented a successful bid to co-host the tournament in Ireland.

The World Cup Group will be held in Fingal on a purpose built venue for the tournament.

“We’re delighted to bring the WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup back to Europe, with Ireland, Italy and Spain co-hosting the biggest international softball event in the globe.” “The Women’s Softball World Cup represents the first WBSC World Cup to be played under the innovative Two-Stage format, that gives more flexibility and opportunities for cities, regions and countries to host and participate in WBSC events.”

WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari

The hosting of the tournament will be the biggest softball event ever hosted in Ireland, and it is envisoned that it will be the catalyst that puts all disciplines of our sport in the eyes of the nation and begins the re-growth of the sport.

The awarding of the World Cup to Ireland is a testament to the standing of Team Ireland and the Irish Federation in the WBSC. A lot of hard work has been put into developing the bid with Fingal and we are very gateful for Fingals support and vision to join us in the bid.” “This tournament presents a once in a life time opportunity for our Players to play in a World Cup on their home field and for us to create a strong positive legacy for the game in Ireland, promote all disciplines of the game in Ireland and supercharge the growth of women’s and youth softball.”

Melanie Cunningham, Director of Fastpitch Ireland

The exact dates of the WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup Group Stage and Finals are still to be confirmed and will be announced shortly.

For further media information – please contact Colum Lavery – +353 86 770 8576

Irish Slowpitch National Team Manager Senan Dormer has announced the Irish roster for the upcoming Men’s Slowpitch Championships to be played in Colorno, Italy from June 14 – July 18, 2022.

The European Championships will be the second edition of the Men’s event. Ireland previously participated in the inaugral event in 2018

The Ireland squad for the tournament see’s 4 uncapped players included in the roster which is an exciting mix of youth and experience.

As with all Ireland squads, these are self funded and we would ask our members to support the fund raising activities of the players.

As part of this season’s strategy, Softball Ireland (SI) are exploring ways to improve the visibility of the sport both here in Ireland and abroad through new streaming services that can bring wider access to games at all events and leagues across Ireland in 2022.

Included as part of our wider growth strategy, SI believes that a strong, quality, and consistent streaming solution is imperative for the sport.  Streaming has become standard for all levels of sport in Ireland and abroad, and with this growth, a number of innovative solutions & tools are more readily available that can be utilised to make it easier to access, but also for teams to fundraise and monetise effectively.

As part of this process, we’ll be testing with live streaming with a handful of teams across the SI leagues.  While this year will be a pilot program for a few teams who have shown interest in testing, the platform and service is available to all teams at all levels if interested.

The objective of the pilot program is to test the technology and see if these types of OTT providers can be a solution long term that all teams, events, and tournaments for Softball can utilise for both awareness but also fundraising.  

Through numerous conversations with streaming providers, SI has identified Joymo as a viable solution to provide the early tools and technology that are easy to use, as well as tick the box on core features and functionality that are important for a successful long term streaming strategy.  

Joymo works with other federation members in Ireland as well as in UK and around Europe for a range of different sports, and are eager to work with Softball Ireland and the teams as we trial and test their services throughout 2022.

You can find out more about Joymo via their website here.

Participating teams have the ability to host all games live that can be accessible on desktop or via their app.  Tools include the ability to have a scoreboard for matches and commentary.  Through the platform, all games will be accessible for participating members via the archive, and includes both subscriptions as well as advertising that gives easy solutions for clubs to offset costs and further raise sponsorship.  

We’ll be looking to host training sessions and further communication around the wider pilot program strategy for the 2022 season in the coming weeks as well.

We look forward to rolling out more communication around this in the coming weeks.  Any questions can be directed to Matt at streaming@softball.ie.

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) has now published updated 2022-2025 Official Rulebooks for slowpitch and fastpitch softball.  

These new Rulebooks, and summaries of major changes made to the previous Rulebooks, can be downloaded from the links below:

2022-2025 Slowpitch Rulebook
https://static.wbsc.org/assets/cms/documents/5e85a934-d622-2bd8-62f9-854264607589.pdf

Summary of changes to the Slowpitch Rulebook
https://static.wbsc.org/assets/cms/documents/c539c225-15d6-57f6-50e9-a38b65aa3978.pdf

2022-2025 Fastpitch Rulebook
https://static.wbsc.org/assets/cms/documents/b5480455-60e2-bfc3-1e2e-3566c2765cc5.pdf

Summary of changes to the Fastpitch Rulebook
https://static.wbsc.org/assets/cms/documents/a00ab077-6716-bc07-06a2-c193e9f2fac1.pdf

Irish Slowpitch National Team Manager Senan Dormer has announced the Irish Roster for the upcoming COED Slowpitch Championships to be played in Ljubljana, Slovenia from July 12 – July 16, 2022.

The European Chamoionships will be the first Slowpitch Championships since 2019 at which Ireland took a bronze medal. This years tournament is also a qualifying event for the inaugraly COED Slowpitch World Cup which will be held in 2023.

The Ireland squad for the tournament see’s 10 uncapped players included in the roster which is an exciting mix of youth and experience.

As with all Ireland squads, these are self funded and we would ask our members to support the fund raising activities of the players.

As teams begin to return to training and tournaments and leagues on the horizon, Softball Ireland have today issued the “Softball Ireland Injury Policy”.

The policy has been developed by the Softball Ireland Medical Committee (Dr. Andrew Craven and Dr. Melanie Cunningham).

Softball Ireland (SI) takes the health and safety of its members seriously, especially in the case of head injury or in the event of a player becoming unconscious during a game or training session. This policy has been developed to assist the regional associations, national teams, clubs, and players promote good practice regarding general safety and injury to players, with a specific focus on head injuries.

SI expects all regional associations, national teams, clubs, and players to follow this policy and the guidance contained within it in full.

We would encourage all teams, tournament organisers and Regional Boards to become familiar with the document and implement it as appropriate. 

The “Softball Ireland Injury Policy” is available under the resources section of the Softball Ireland website (www.softball.ie) and throught the following link – http://www.softball.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Softball-Ireland-Injury-Policy-2021-v1.0.pdf 

For further information, or clarification on any aspects of this policy, the medical committee can be contacted by emailing: medical@softball.ie.

The 2022 Brian Walshe Cup will be held on Saturday April 23, 2022 in ALSAA, Dublin. The 2022 BWC will be the first tournament hosted by Softball Ireland post COVID restrictions and we are looking forward to returning to normal with a big turnout in 2022!

Team entry cost is €175 with registration closing on Friday 15th April at 5pm. Game Balls will be provided by Softball Ireland on the day.

For International Women’s Day 2022, Softball Ireland wish to highlight the female leaders in our sport who continiously help us govern, grow and develop softball in Ireland

Heather Foust – Usual Suspects

I started playing softball at age 10 back home in Texas and joined softball in Ireland in 2019 playing with the Suspects.

To pay the bills, I am a Manager in the Financial Services Advisory department at Grant Thornton. My main focus is internal audit and AML so you could say I’d be fit to ensure the accounts at SL are appropriately managed. Over the last couple of years I’ve met and made lots of friends through softball and built a real family with the Suspects.

I truly enjoy playing the game and have always wanted to help build the sport across the country. It’s great to be part of something bigger and hope that by being a member of the committee I can assist in achieving great things. Impatiently waiting for a full season!

For International Women’s Day 2022, Softball Ireland wish to highlight the female leaders in our sport who continiously help us govern, grow and develop softball in Ireland.

Gillian Fitzpatrick, Board Member, Softball Ireland

I’m still relatively new to the game – but this is my second year on the board of Softball Ireland. I like to think I add a bit of an outsider’s perspective! It’s important that we build and nurture a strong board, and for me that means drawing on different experiences, backgrounds, and areas of expertise.

I founded my own advertising and marketing company, Bolter Media, last year and currently act as its MD. I work with start- and scale-up brands who have put significant blood, sweat, and tears into developing their products and services – and then struggle to know how they’re going to acquire their customers. That’s when I come in.

If you’re looking to make a splash with a new brand, I always recommend the following: streamline your messaging, develop brilliant social media platforms, be confident, and don’t panic. That last one is really important!

Playing softball offers me a nice bit of respite from the madness of running my own business. It’s competitive but it’s also an accessible sport – you don’t need to have played before and or be typically ‘sporty’ to get going. And this year, after two years of Covid-19 disruption, we’re hopefully now going into a more normal season. I can’t wait!

For International Women’s Day 2022, Softball Ireland wish to highlight the female leaders in our sport who continiously help us govern, grow and develop softball in Ireland.

Jacinta Kelly, Treasurer Galway Softball

Playing softball since 2005 with the Galway Tribes. Started playing through people from work as they were short of girls and asked me to give it a try. I always like trying new things so I gave it a go and I’m still playing.

In my day job I’m the VP of Finance for a travel technology company, OpenJaw Technologies Limited. I’m a Chartered Accountant so probably inevitable that you’ll be asked to be treasurer at some point. Over the years I’ve met and made lots of friends through softball of all ages and nationalities, it really is an inclusive sport. We’ve had players from 16 to 70 play with us.

It’s also nice to give something back to the club by being part of the committee. I’d encourage anyone to give it a try.

Ireland will participate in the Mens Slowpitch European Championships in Colorno, Italy from June 14 – June 18, 2022 and the Co-Ed Slowpitch European Championships in Ljubljana, Slovenia from July 12 – July 16, 2022, the first time either Championship will be held since the beginning of the pandemic.

Senan Dormer, Slowpitch National Team Head Coach, has confirmed that trials for the Mens and Co-Ed national teams will be held on March 5, 2022 and March 26, 2022 at Castleknock College from 1100am – 1400pm each day.

To offset the costs of renting the grounds for the trials, players will be asked to contribute €5 p/p on the day.

Male players will also be asked to indicate if they wish to be considered for both the Mens/Co-Ed European Championships or wish only to be considered for one tournament.

Players wishing to register their interest in advance of the trials or have any queries on the programme should email Senan Dormer: Senan_dormer@yahoo.co.uk

Softball Ireland looking forward to supporting Senan, his coaching team and the players challenging for European gold in 2022.

*Note: A player wishing to represent Ireland at European Championships needs to be in possession of a physical Irish passport AND be able to present it to officials at the European Tournaments.

Softball Ireland in conjuction with Softball Leinster are delighted to launch the inaugral Winter HitTrax Slowpitch League which will be played weekly in Strike Zone from February 1, 2022.

The season will consist of 6 teams playing 1 hour double headers over the course of six weeks at the Strikezone complex. There are No restrictions on roster, field as many players as you want in the line-up, however, the league is co-ed, so there will be a minimum number of female players and a player may only be registered on one roster (no borrowing).

Registration is based on first come, first served basis and teams may be registered here – https://www.klubfunder.com/Clubs/Baseball_Ireland/TicketSales

The cost of the six week event is €180 per team (covers the cost of rental).

About HitTrax
Strike Zone, Baseball Irelands indoor training facility, has recently added a HiTtrax unit. HitTrax accurately measures the speed and trajectory of the hit ball while calculating the realistic outcome.