BBC COVERAGE HIGHLIGHTED EURO EVENT
2008-07-14

Two days ago the 6th European Coed Slowpitch Championship concluded. The five-day tournament took place this year in Southampton, England, with five nations participating. In the Grand Final it was Great Britain successfully defending their title with an 11-6 win over Ireland.

Other participants included the Czech Republic, Jersey, and Slovenia. The tournament takes place every other year, with Great Britain having won the 2006 event with a victory over the Czech Republic.

Ireland on Saturday was playing their third game of the day, having squeaked past Jersey and then the Czech Republic in a pair of one-run games (6-5, then 7-6) while the British had advanced to the gold medal game with a 8-5 victory in the first game of the day.

Great Britain coach Mark Saunders said, “I was proud of the way we hung in there. Every time they scored runs we came back and matched them or went one better, and that showed the character of the team.

“Apart from winning the gold medal, the highlight of the tournament for me was seeing the enjoyment and enthusiasm of a large group of school kids the GB players were coaching, despite being out in the pouring rain.”

The tournament received good media coverage. In addition to the Southampton Echo devoting extensive space to a feature in their newspaper, a video piece went out four times on Saturday morning on BBC One and also on BBC World. Just last month at the ISF Jr. Men’s World Championship in Whitehorse, Yukon (Canada), another major broadcaster (CBC) had filmed a feature that was distributed nationally.

Roger Grooms, organizer of this year’s tournament, said, “The European Slowpitch Softball Championship celebrated its tenth anniversary this year and had its biggest ever backing from sponsors and supporters. We were also visited by the Belgium and Netherlands federations, who are keen to increase the profile of the sport in their countries.”

Another European event gets underway two weeks from today. The VIII European Championship Men “A” is scheduled for July 28-August 2 in Copenhagen, Denmark.