The annual Brian Walshe Cup will be held on April 27, 2019 in ALSAA Sports Grounds, Dublin.
The popular start of season tournament will once more serve as the launch of the Slowpitch Softball season in Ireland.
Details on how to enter will be circulated shortly.
The 2019 Co-ed European Slowpitch Championship will be held in Budapest from July 15 – July 20, 2019.
Softball Ireland have reappointed Co-ed Slowpitch Head Coach, Senan Dormer for the 2019 who has appointed Eoin Coonan and Jonathan Spielberg as Assistant Coaches. Jay Slevin has been appointed as Logistics Manager and Karen Brady will come on board as the team’s Strength and Conditioning coach.
The first trial for the Irish National Slowpitch Team will be held indoors in Firhouse Community Hall on February 24, 2019 from 1pm to 4pm.
Players wishing to register for the trials should email senan_dormer@yahoo.co.uk.
All players seeking to tryout must have or be eligible to receive an Irish Passport.
To help defray the cost we are asking for 5 Euro per person to be used towards the hall.
Ireland have lost third spot to the Czech Republic and dropped one spot to fourth in the European Slowpitch rankings issued on November 25, 2018 a reverse to what happened in 2017.
Ireland’s 7th place finish at the Men’s European Championships coupled with the Czech Republics 4th place finish sees Ireland trail Czech Republic by 250 points as we go into the 2019 European Co-ed Championships.
Ireland will head the the European Championships that it can reverse the situation once more as they push for a European medal and automatic qualification to the inaugural WBSC Co-ed Slowpitch World Cup in 2020.
Softball Ireland have today announced the formation of a Slow-pitch Development Working Group whose key objective is to develop a plan to support the retention and growth of participation in adult Slow-pitch Softball in Ireland.
Softball Ireland have appointed Katie Sadleir as the independent Chairperson of the Working Group. Katie is a high profile and experienced appointment with a broad knowledge in the sports world having shaped High Performance sport in New Zealand for a number of years. Katie is currently the General Manager of Women’s Rugby for World Rugby. Katie is a former Olympian and Commonwealth medal winner with New Zealand.
The other members of the Working Group will include representatives from Leinster, Ulster and Galway as nominated by the Regional boards. The Softball Ireland Executive members will also sit on the Working Group.
Speaking on the creation of the Working Group, Softball Ireland President Colum Lavery said:
“The retention and growth of participation in adult slow-pitch softball is Softball Ireland’s number 1 priority and we are delighted that the development Working Group has formed to look at retention and growth of Players in detail and I look forward to its work beginning. The Working Group has taken a little longer than planned to form but we are confident that under the leadership of an experienced Chair such as Katie we will make up the lost time.”
The Terms of Reference for the Working Group stem from the successful membership forum held in 2017.
The Working Group will report to the Softball Ireland Board and updates will be shared with the members quarterly.
Dodder Softball Club were crowned National Champions for the second time in three in years after a dominant display against Ulster League champions Belfast Softball Club (BSC). Similar to the 2017 final against TNT, BSC left themselves with a mountain to climb after conceding 13 to Dodder in the first inning. After conceding a run at the top of one, Dodder came out firing and went through the order scoring 13 through a combination of base hits and some power hitting over the fences. From there on in Dodder controlled the game keeping the score board ticking over and ultimately winning the game in the fourth on the runs ahead rule.
The Leinster league continues its dominance over the tournament and Dodder will be one of Softball Ireland’s two representatives at the 2020 European Super Cup.
The facebook live feed of the game can be viewed here
| Box Score | ||||||||
| Inning: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Total |
| Belfast Softball Club | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 | X | X | X | 9 |
| Dodder Softball Club | 13 | 6 | 5 | 6 | X | X | X | 30 |
As part of its preparations for the 2019 European Championships, Ireland traveled to London to play in the annual World Series tournament hosted by the BSF. Ireland went 3 & 2 on day 1 of the tournament, beating the Netherlands and Japan and Scotland, losing to GB Masters and then losing out agonizingly to a place in the top 6 with a tough loss to England in the bottom of the 7th inning in the last game of the day.
Day 2 saw Ireland in the Plate tournament and were in a group consisting of Canada and the other Irish team, the Leinster Craicers. Ireland beat Canada in game 1 and in a tight game 2, needed to dig deep and come from behind to beat the Craicers.
After topping its group, Ireland entered the Page System with two chances of making the final, and needed both chances. First up was the other group winners Czech Republic, Ireland led for the majority of the game but Czech game back strong to win the game over the last two innings of the contest. Ireland’s second chance to make the final came against Africa, this time Ireland made no mistakes and led from start to finish, in the end comfortable beating one of the stronger teams of the tournament. The final was a repeat of the earlier game but this time Czech came out firing and took an early lead which they never gave up and ended up comfortable winners in the Plate final with Ireland finishing eight. A worthwhile tournament with lots of learnings in preparation for the 2019 European Championships.
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Ireland World Series Roster Head Coach: Senan Dormer |
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| Ciara Walsh | Barry Casey |
| Elaine Barr | Brian Hehir |
| Norma McIntyre | Chris Barr |
| Phoebe Louisa | Niall Lavery |
| Ruth Casey | Simon Lewis |
| Ruth Concannon | |
| Shawna Walsh | |
Belfast Softball Club and Dodder Softball Club have announced their expanded rosters ahead of the 2018 SINCC final to be played in Dublin on Saturday September 15, 2018. Both teams will submit their final 18 player roster on September 15. The SINCC winners will be crowned national champions and also qualify as Ireland’s representative to the 2020 European Slopitch Super Cup.
| Softball Ireland National Club Championships
September 15, 2018 – Stanaway Park Dublin @1230 Expanded Rosters |
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| Belfast Softball Club | Dodder Softball Club | |
| Philip Wallace | Ken McCarthy | |
| Sean Gottschalk | John McCarthy | |
| Tom Napier | Frank Geoghegan | |
| Jay Manticahon | Leo Farrell | |
| Nathaniel McQueen | Carl Ward | |
| Mark White | John Austin | |
| Andy Lamont | Brian Connolly | |
| Kevin Havekes | Stephen Carter | |
| Ryan Kerr | Derek Ward | |
| James Calow | Ciaran Darcy | |
| Patrick Scullion | Andrew O’Hanlon | |
| Richard Simpson | Niall Lavery | |
| Glyn Rees | Tim Healy | |
| Elaine Barr | Graham Sullivan | |
| Deb Gray | Jordan Sylver | |
| Audrey Osborne | Shawna Walsh | |
| Irena Mihneva | Ciara Walsh | |
| Emily Davison | Olwen Barrett | |
| Kerry Gottschalk | Ruth Brady | |
| Christina Carty | Sara Radics | |
| Orlaigh Connor | Ashley Downs | |
| Amandine Ledru | Noeleen McCarthy | |
| Niamh Donegan | Susan McCarthy | |
| Janice Ward | ||
| Meabh Hogan | ||
| Katerina Prazakova | ||
| Siobhain Monerawela | ||
The 2018 Softball Ireland National Club Championships between the Belfast Softball Club (Ulster League Winners) and Dodder the (Leinster League Winners) will be held on September 15, 2018 in Stanaway Park @ 12:30.
The game is held annually and rotates hosting between Leinster and Ulster will decided one of Ireland’s representatives at the 2020 European Club Championships.
A link to the venue on google maps can be found here.
Ireland were represented by TNT and Dodder at the 2018 European Super Cup.
After pool stage of the tournament TNT finished 4th in Group B and progressed to the medal round whilst Dodder just missed out on the top 8 in Group A, finishing 5th and competed in the 9-16 ranking at the tournament.
Unfortunately for the Irish representatives, the tournament was dominated by the British teams with Pioneers taking gold, H2O Silver and London Chromies finishing third. TNT finished best of the two Irish teams with a 6th place finish overall with Dodder finishing 11th.
The next edition of the tournament will be held in 2020.
The 2017 edition of the Softball Ireland National Club Championships (SINCC) was hosted by Softball Ulster on a cold and wet September morning.
The annual competition saw the winner of the 2017 Leinster Premier League – TNT play the 2017 Ulster League Champions – Belfast Brawlers for the National Club Championships.
Softball Ulster were great hosts with both teams arriving to a full fenced diamond and good quality infield considering the time of the year. SINCC acted as a prelude to the Softball Ulster end of season tournament.
The game itself was somewhat one sided with TNT jumping out to a 11-2 lead in the first inning after which they never gave the Brawlers a chance to get back into the game. The final score on the day was 26-3.
TNT as 2017 SINCC winners will join Dodder, the 2016 winners, in representing Ireland at the European Club Championships in Italy in 2018.
Slowpitch National Team Trial
The first trial for the Irish squad for the European championships and development squad for World Series will be held on 11th February, 2017 at 11am until 1pm.
The Trial will be held at the Marlay playing fields in Marlay park (subject to confirm).
In order to represent Ireland you must hold an Irish passport, players are asked to bring a copy of their passport to the trial.
Softball Ireland are delighted to announce that Senan Dormer has been appointed as the Slo-Pitch National Team Manager for the next two European Championships.
Senan was team manager at the 2015 European Championships at which Ireland won a bronze medal. Speaking of Dormers appointment, Softball Ireland President Colum Lavery said ” We are delighted to appoint Senan as Team Manager for the next European Championships and we look forward to Senan and his coaching team developing a team that can continue to compete for medals.” Lavery thanked the other applicants for the position adding “we had a tough decision to make between two very good applicants who had presented exciting coaching teams and plans for the future, I would like to thank the Erin, Paddy and Kenny for their diligent and fair approach to interviewing the candidates and ensuring the process was as fair as it could be”
Senan’s coaching team will include formed Ireland Head Coach Eric Kelly and experienced international pitcher John Leonard. Eoin Coonan will once more manage the logistics.
Details on trials for the National team will be circulated shortly.