This Is Guernsey

By Aaron Scoones

Last year’s Fastpitch tournament at Beau Sejour.

THE blue riband annual event of the domestic fastpitch softball season – the open – has been called off.  It will not be held this year because half the teams who were coming over for the tournament at Beau Sejour from Friday 15 to Sunday 17 August, have pulled out.

The media officer for the Guernsey Softball Association, Matt Marquis, is disappointed. ‘We would have been playing in it as well, but it’s not happening now,’ he said.

‘It’s all been organised, there’s prize money on offer and all we can do is invite teams. They say they’re coming over and then they pull out. There’s nothing you can do.’

Four overseas teams had been invited to play alongside local fast-pitch outfits Triton Spartans, NRG Rangers, LGM Mozzies and Plough Inn Titans. They were The Netherlands’ and South African national teams, along with top UK side London Meteors and Belgian league side Brasschaat Braves.

The Meteors won the competition last year when they benefited from the services of fast New Zealand pitcher Jared Welsh.

They beat the Braves in the final.

The Netherlands and Brasschaat have withdrawn because of an overcrowded schedule.

The European Men’s Fast-pitch Championships are being held in Copenhagen this week.

Three Guernsey players – Marco Silvestri, Curt Taylor and JP Mauger – are in Denmark representing Great Britain.

And all the top countries in Europe are involved in the week-long tournament, including The Netherlands.

A number of the Brasschaat players will be representing Belgium at the competition.

Two weeks afterwards, when the Guernsey Open was supposed to take place, the European Cup will be held in Antwerp, Belgium.

The Braves are turning out for that, as will several of the Dutch players for their clubs.

Marquis said that a number of players are looking to use the four-week gap as a break instead of coming to the island to play in another competition.

‘It’s a shame but there’s not much you can do about it,’ he said.

The GSA are now hoping to organise a replacement single sex slow-pitch competition.

Slow-pitch is usually a mixed affair, but this event would see teams of men play against teams of women.

It is the first tournament of its kind to be organised in the island.

‘It’s a twist and we’ll see what happens,’ said Marquis.

‘No one knows how it will go, but I imagine it will be quite good.’

Article posted on 29th July, 2008 - 2.30pm