And we're off... (well nearly!)

The  2014 season commences next week with what can only be described as a humdinger of an interclub game at Farnham Park, with Phoenix taking on Flames on Tuesday 6th at 7pm (meet time 6.30pm for players)

Teamer invites have/will shortly be going out, but regardless of whether or not you're taking to the diamond come along and watch those getting back into the swing of league action!

Firebirds will kick off their season on Thursday 8th away to BA with teamer invites coming out over the weekend!

All remaining league fixtures can be found on the league website at the link below.

http://www.wmsoftball.com/FixturesAndTables.html

Training

Whilst I hope the majority of you have the luxury of a three day weekend, training will still be going ahead on Monday evening starting with the warm up at 6.45pm - great turn out this week so lets keep it going!

Annual Membership/Match Fees

Whilst there's a lot of fun to be had on the diamond can you please remember to make your captain's lives easier by bringing along £5 match fees to all games, or if you wish you can prepay your match fees by paying £40 in advance.

Membership fees of £50 (£25 for juniors/students/unemployed) are due by 30th May and membership forms will be available at training on Monday.

Tournament Update: First Ball and Diamond 1

Threatened with the need for an ark due to the biblical levels of rain forecast, it was a pleasant surprise to make it through First Ball on Saturday with only some wind burn and not a drenching!

The tournament got off to a great start with a win against Guerillas although progress was disrupted by a loss to Blitz. Until the last inning it looked like the third and final round robin game was heading for defeat until a rallying of the troops (some of whom had to be borrowed from other teams - see plea below!) and Phoenix pulled back a draw! A disappointing loss in the semi finals meant that the first tournament of the season has been and gone without silverware but as promised, a lot of fun was had by all!

Player Plea....

We had to borrow a couple of players due to lack of availability from within the club (don't tell anyone else, but the others just aren't up to Chalfont's standard!) and this lack of continuity hindered what could have been a winnning start to the season! So, if you haven't already, please can you complete the entry form for the remaining tournaments at the link below to give Louie (captain of all things tournaments again after last year's success!) an idea of how many teams to enter to each tournament and return it to lou_hero@hotmail.com as soon as possible.

http://www.chalfontsoftballclub.co.uk/documents/CSC-Tournys-Entry-form-2014.docx

We appreciate that families/work/pets/general mishaps may prevent you from being able to look too far into the future (we can't all be Mystic Meg!), but if you could pay particular attention to the next tournament, Diamond 1, on 10th/11th May, at Farnham Park it would certainly make for a happy Louie!

If you have any questions or further detail to add with regards to only playing part days / only one day of a tournament then make sure you complete the notes section - we can accomodate all who are interested!

For new members or those that haven't played on the weekends before then tournaments are a great way to put into practice the skills learnt at training (TONIGHT, and now every Monday, 6.45pm until dark at Farnham Park!) without the pressure of a league game - so come and give it a go!

Weekly Round-Up

Plenty going on in the league last week...... updates to be found below.  Also its last call for subs if you’ve not yet paid, these are severely overdue please pay your captain this week (£50 Full, £25 Concessions).  

Phoenix 8 - 11 BA Jets (A Game Changer Automated Report!)
Ten hits weren't enough for Phoenix as they lost a shootout, 11-8 in seven innings. Neil Turner had a busy day at the plate, collecting two extra-base hits. He singled in the first inning, tripled in the fifth inning, and doubled in the seventh inning. Home runs for BA Jets came when Martin homered in the fourth inning and Craig homered in the fourth and sixth innings. Craig, Stephen, Martin and Debbie further helped BA as they combined for nine hits and nine RBIs. Chalfont Phoenix jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the top of the first. Neil got things going for Chalfont Phoenix with a single. A single by Liz then moved Neil from first to second. Chris singled, plating Neil. Chalfont Phoenix pushed more runs across when Warner scored on a sacrifice fly by Davey, Chris scored on an RBI single by Tash, and Woody scored on an RBI single by Phil Masters. BA Jets didn't relinquish the lead after scoring six runs in the fourth inning when it scored on two doubles and two two-run blasts. One run in the top of the fifth helped Chalfont Phoenix close its deficit to 6-5. A groundout by Chris gave Chalfont Phoenix life. But, Stewart got Woody to fly out to end the inning. BA Jets added five more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Craig kicked things off with a two-run home run, scoring Michaela. That was followed up by Martin's triple, plating Stephen and Trudie. After pushing across three runs in the top of the seventh, Chalfont Phoenix faced just a 11-8 deficit. A two-run double by Neil fuelled Chalfont Phoenix's comeback. Stewart got the last out, as Chalfont Phoenix's Sarah flew out. 

Chalfont Flames 12 – 10 Richings Park
The Flames won back to back games thanks in part to their 4th pitcher in 4 games: Lester Deeble. Again it was a tight game until the 4th inning when the Flames batted around and 9 runs crossed the plate - RP battled back with 4 runs but the Flames defence held their own and RP came up 2 runs short in a 12-10 defeat. James Rowe lost his 100% record as mom as this was awarded to Luis Hernandez who was tasked with playing SS as a leftie. Barbara Georgellis was the female mom. A special mention to Karen Jones who made a good catch and reached base despite playing through the pain barrier. The team enjoyed their first outing on the full diamond and look forward to going over the .500 record. 

Chalfont Firebirds 16 v 15 Bracknell Scorchers
An exciting full 7 inning game! To be honest we didn't start well. We couldn't get the bats going and a few errors in the field left us all but beat. At the end of the 4th inning we were losing 13-3! The team got together, we had a chat and decided we are better than this. We really had to get the bats going and start fielding as we can if we wanted to make any difference in this game.  In the 5th we conceded 1 scoring 6 which helped us all to regain composure.  In the 6th again conceding 1 but only scoring 2. Now this is where the magic begins, we start off very well by shutting them out!  Then we are at bat. We score 3 runs the 1st out we get another run but 2 down now and tied ball game. Roy is up and makes base, now it's Helen's turn and we just need a base hit or to find a hole in the outfield. Time is dragging and I've forgotten the count, I wait Helen hits! It's a great hit and Roy is home, ball game calls the blue and we are so happy jumping and cheering!  MVP: Dan Rose, DoM: Gwyn Jones (Special Fielding), All Star players: Kristen Rose and Chris Howse.

League standing can be found here: http://www.chalfontsoftballclub.co.uk/On_The_Pitch/League_Standings.html 

Best of luck for the week ahead!

Tournaments Update

What a month June has been, our club participated in 3 tournaments consecutively in various grades of play with some very good results. Check out my tournament summary report below, hopefully this will encourage some of you to join in the fun next time.

Diamond II (Farnham Park) - June 8,9

Our Club participated in the B Comp category this time after a great 3rd place at C comp during Diamond I. This time at a higher level of play our team managed to play very well and finish runners up in the Plate final, really good result at this level of play for our club. We started off really well on Sat with a 4-1 record putting us in great contention for the Cup group placing. Obviously this is a tournament so after a great night party with most of the team - and about 200 other campers - Sunday morning was a slow start, we lost our first game. With an hour off the team bounced back and managed another win from an undefeated team Blitz, moral was high and gave us that extra energy to finish the day. We have another piece of silverware for the virtual cabinet, ChaaChinggg!

Team: Louie, Phil, Wes, Chris H., Chris S., Dan, Lester, Catherine R., Sara, Angie, Tash, Barbara, Sarah W.

BA (Heathrow) - June 15,16

This tournament was also entered as B comp being part of the club experienced player development but availability was very poor and meant that the team was short players during both days. The weather conditions were not favorable either so not such a good result for us as intended initially. Having to ask other teams for players is a challenge because players need those hour breaks in between so trying to convince someone to sacrifice their resting time - or drinking time - is hard work. Luckily we always managed to find some players and all games were played. The team started off with a great win of 3-2 over KK's who are a good B comp team however we then lost every game from here forward, we managed to get a draw on the Sun when Lester took over as captain for the day because I was not available, Thanks Lester!

Team: Louie (Sat), Phil, Lester, Chris S., Dan (Sat), Gwyn, Roy (Sun), Debbie, Donna, Catherine (Sat), Naomi (Sat)

Pioneers (Canterbury) - June 22,23

This is the highest rated tournament on the Co-ed Softball calendar and it was proven once again why this is a fact, what a weekend. I chose this tournament as our club TOUR because it has the best party atmosphere and venue to offer, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the weekend. As an incentive to players and to ensure the team was fully energized after every game, we had to do a team TOUR bomb which was either a Jaeger Bomb or Skittle Bomb, this was our secret weapon. (Jaeger bomb = Jaegermeister + Red Bull, Skittle Bomb = Cointreau Triple Sec + Red Bull) Our team played in the Rec Comp and we played every game with laughter, great banter, and even some crying (I think someone's beer got knocked over), it was a winning formula. We were undefeated up until the final where we lost to Leeds who had the same record as us, we managed to draw 19-19 during our group games where Wes and Woody ended the game with an amazing double play as they threatened to win in the last inning. There were so many highlights this weekend that I could write pages describing events, everyone played very well, you had to be there to get a sense of just how great a weekend it was for our club. There was an event called 'flip cup' where they gave us free beer - I know, who wants that right - and you probably guessed it, we got involved straight away and challenged Leeds to a drink off and won! Although we came runners up in the final and were not given any silverware to show, the memories will last forever and the words "Chalfont", "Team TOUR Bomb", "Dirty Leeds" will echo in many heads for years! Our Tash won MVP in the final so make sure you all congratulate her at some point, it was well deserved.

Team: Louie, Lester, Wes, James, Chris S., Sara, Sarah W., Tash, Donna, Liz Williams, Catherine R.

Sorry if this is a long read but I hope you enjoyed it and perhaps it will encourage more of you to play in tournaments. Next tournaments are WIT July 13,14 and Diamond III July 27, 28, I need some female players for Diamond III so please contact me if you are interested.

Regards,
Louie
CSC Tournaments Officer

Outstanding Membership and Match Fees

There are still a large number of members who are yet to pay their 2013 membership fees. These are now long overdue. You should expect frequent chases from your league and tournament captains for payment if you have yet to pay. Please also ensure that you keep up to date with league match fee payments - ideally you should never turn up to a league game without sufficient payment in your pocket.

June 24th Training Cancelled

It is with huge regret that we are going to have to cancel the training session that is planned for this coming Monday (24th June). This is a one off cancellation and training will resume on Monday July 1st.

We do not take the cancellation of sessions lightly but however most of our coaches are attending a "Coach the Coaches" session at Farnham Park on Monday evening. There are more details below, but when our coaches are presented with unique opportunities to better their coaching skills then we as a club have to see it is an investment in them and we hopefully all gain the benefit in the long run.

We therefore ask members for their understanding on this cancellation and urge you all to put July 1st in your diaries now so that we have a great turnout when training resumes in just over a weeks time.

The "Coach the Coaches" session has been organised by the BSF and ASA. Two high-level American slowpitch coaches with national and international experience are touring the UK from June 20 through July 3 to provide coach-training for team representatives from slowpitch leagues around the country. The emphasis of the sessions will be on teaching coaches how to run effective practice sessions, how to teach techniques and skills and how to check to ensure that learning has been received and understood.

You can read more in a BSF article - ASA slowpitch coaches plan UK tour

Junior Softball

As you may or not be aware Neil with the assistance of some of our other coaches has been running after school softball clubs at Dr Challoners in Amersham and Challoners High in Little Chalfont. The students are aged around 14, and the clubs have been very successful averaging in total across the two groups around 35 attendees every week. Last week they competed in a local School Games tournament against five other schools in our local area and successfully qualified to play in the County Sports Games softball tournament taking place next week in Stoke Mandeville.

The students are very enthusiastic and are showing great potential to become good players. Response has been good and many have already been asking how they continue to play once the after school sessons finish in the next couple of weeks.

With that in mind and to keep interest up, we are going to run 6 Friday night junior softball sessions through July and into August. The sessions will take place on the Challoners High school fields between 6.30pm and 8.00pm. The sessions will be aimed at the groups that we have been working with, along with students from some of the other schools that took part at School Games. The idea is to run the sessions for around 30 juniors this summer and then build on it next spring/summer. The ultimate aim of our junior softball programme will be to develop future members our our adult teams and hopefully produce a steady flow each year of new players in to the teams.

The sessions are likely to be half skills and drills and then half game. If you would like to help with the sessions then please let Neil know (development@chalfontsoftballclub.co.uk) - it would be great if you could just give up one early Friday evening and help out. The sessions will be planned and delivered by our qualified coaches but assisting volunteers/players would be much appreciated.