The tournament host Maltese women's national team. (Photo courtesy of Malta Softball Association)

MALTA HOSTING FAST PITCH TOURNAMENT
2007-11-09

Next weekend (November 17 & 18) will see a four-team tournament taking place in Malta. The women’s fast pitch event is an invitational consisting of the host Maltese national team, the Great Britain Women’s Fast Pitch Development Team, the London Angels, and either a Maltese All-Star team or an Italian club team.

The Maltese national team is in the developing stages. Great Britain’s entry is different as a result of their women’s national team that competed in last year’s International Softball Federation (ISF) XI Women’s World Championship being disbanded due to funding reasons. And the London Angels are a British club team that finished fifth in the European B Pool Cup last summer.

Hayley Scott is the Interim Head Coach for the GB Women’s Development Team, which was formed after trials held earlier this year (March) in London. The team played in a tournament in Belgium during the summer. According to the British Softball Federation (BSF), the team now forms the basis for the GB Women’s National (fast pitch) Team, “following the failure of the funded programme to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.”

The GB National Team finished tenth in last year’s marquee ISF event and fifth in the Africa/Europe Olympic qualifier this past June in Italy. Since they were unable to gain a berth in the competition next August in Beijing, the team/programme lost its funding since softball has been dropped from the programme for the 2012 Olympics. So, the BSF “are starting again from scratch with an entirely home-based and much lower level GB team, entirely self-funded.”

Tournaments like this one in Malta next weekend are being looked upon as experience for the many young players on GB’s new national team, which will be needed come 2009 when the next European Championships are played.

As softball continues to grow and develop in numerous countries around the world, it is hoped that teams like Malta can become participants in more international tournaments as events like this and others continue.