E-mail: softballers@ascotblues.com

New Decade - New Committee

The committee remains much the same as last year, so I would just like to extend my thanks to those members for all their hard work last year, and their ongoing commitment to the successful running of the club.
 
There are a few vacancies which need to be filled but one in particular almost immediately - 'Tournaments Officer'  .  Myself and Sahan filled this role last year but we need to have a dedicated person to do this.  I'm sure you'll appreciate this needs to be filled asap as tournaments are already taking entries.  No tournaments officer = no tournaments.  Please let me know if you want more info on this or any other role and are interested. 
 
Other vacant positions are:
1.   Vice Chairman (mainly shadow the chair with a view to take over in the future)
2.   Recruitment Officer
3.   Tournaments Officer
 
So that's it for the club committee, however there are still a few League Committee positions vacant which urgently need to be filled:
 
1.    Secretary
2.    Tournaments Officer ( responsible for organising 1st ball, WIT, and a potential Last Ball.  If this position isn't filled soon, these tournaments will be canned)
 
Thanks

Neena

Indoor league Continues

Following the success of the 'autumn' league, another indoor softball league will start on Tuesday 12th January and run for 8 weeks. Games are held at the Herschel Grammar School in Slough at times between 8.30 and 10.30pm. The Ascot team competed well in the last league and so we've decided to enter a team again (numbers permitting) - I think all involved last time would agree its just for fun and is a nice way of keeping up your softball skills in the winter!

Diamond Series Champions

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WIT Report

Congratulations to all those players (Ascot plus guests!) who played in the Windsor Invitational Tournament (WIT) on 18th – 19th July.

The Ascot Blue Sox came a respectable 10th in the B grade competition, in their debut tournament at that level. Many thanks to Gary for stepping in at the last minute and managing not to break himself all weekend! Impressive team performances early on ensured victory against Creamers (16-6) and Common People (20-1) but close games were lost games against the Muppets (7-6) and Raiders (14-12) to contribute to a narrow losing record of 3-4 at the end of Saturday. Early morning sleepiness and headaches resulted in a Sunday morning loss to Guppies (9-5) but we recovered in style to beat local rivals Wildcats 22-9. Victories in the quarter- and semi-finals against Chalfont and Chargers put the Sox in the plate final where we again met the Guppies. Sadly energy levels had drooped and the game was ended early on a mercy rule, 17-2. Still, it was a great performance over the weekend which all should be proud of! Highlights include a star performance from Robbie (guesting from the Zambezi Warriors) which included 4 homeruns in 4 at-bats against Creamers; Dora’s ‘proper’ homerun against Marlay SC, and Jojo’s throw to the invisible man at third against Chalfont…

Meanwhile, in the C grade competition the Ascot Blue Jays did well to be in the Plate competition at the end of Saturday, as a result of Ian’s spectacular grandslam against Squares which ensured victory by a single run, running out 8-7 winners. Other results from the Saturday include a narrow loss to Flatpackers (7-5) , and losses against Glandslammers (15-3) and Raiders (15-0). Sadly, results continued on Sunday despite Tom’s impressive contribution (despite wetting himself LOL), with the Jays struggling to score in two of the four games (Scorpions 15-0, Devil Strays 15-0, Usual Suspects 11-4 and Flatpackers 9-7). Well done to Dallas for catching everything which came her way on Saturday and to Liz for a superb double play (tag and throw to 1st) against Scorpions from 2nd base. Indeed, everyone should be proud of themselves, we came up against some very good – top end – C grade teams. For many of the team this was their first full tournament ‘experience’, so we hope it will be the first of many! Thanks also to Kate, Steve Caroline, Stella, Clare and Martin, our valuable guest players.

Diamond Series 1 Champions

Winners 2009

Saturday:
Excited by the first tournament of the season and most of the team wearing the new kit, Ascot got off to a good start beating our league rivals Chalfont Phoenix (8-3). This was followed by victories against Oxford Spirit (12-7) and Meteors 3 (16-11). Only defeat for the weekend was against Tainted Glove (4-6). True charter of a good team is the reaction to a defeat and Ascot was focused and efficient in beating Voodoos (18-1), perfect finish to a lovely day of Softball.

Sunday:
After a crucial extra hour of sleep and inspired by the sunshine of a beautiful Sunday morning, Ascot was once again firing on all cylinders… carrying the momentum into the final two games of the group stages beating Raiders Blue (19-1) and Solent C (19-2).

Semi finals:
As group winners Ascot were up against the 2nd team from group B, our friends RP Falcons. As usual the game started with lots of banter but the girls and boys of Ascot were focused enough to be runaway winners (19-2).

Final:
There were some grumbles from the opposition (well 2 players) regarding an extra hitter we had brought in but we prevailed. Ascot rose to the occasion and sailed past Oxford Spirit to win the C grade final (19-3), WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!!

Dora female MVP diamond 2009


Highlights of the tournament:
1. Sahan doing his best to throw the game against Meteors, and rest of the       team digging in to make up for those errors!
2. Jo getting strikeout! Never mind it happens to all of us at some point… well not watching ;)
3. Dora, simply awesome! Nothing getting past in the fielding. Female MVP, well-done girl.
4. Double plays by Jeff and Liam.
5. We were all like machines (with some minor bugs still to be ironed out), doing the right thing at the right time. Hitting 134 runs in only 9 games, awesome.

Big thank you to all our guest players Robyn, Sally, Emma, Sarah, Ruth, Pat and Nicky, without you we weren’t a team. Thank you!

Indoor Champions

Ascot Blues Softball Club are champions of the Windsor & Maidenhead Indoor Softball League. On Tuesday evening the Blues had two convincing wins to take the title. Chalfont Park were easily beaten 80-54, with Ascot batters opening up a big lead in the first innings. Some lax fielding by Ascot in the second let Chalfont back into the match, but they never really troubled the Blues' lead. The second evening match was against a strong Thames Valley 'A', who by the end of the first innings had a big lead over the Blues. In the second innings, Ascot managed to regain their form with the bat and rapidly piled up the runs. With some sharp fielding, Thames Valley only added a few more runs to their first innings score. Ascot nudged the victory 58-50, and with it secured their top place in the League.

The win sets up the Blues for their full, outdoor season, which starts in April. Matches are held at Ascot's home ground in Locks Ride, North Ascot.
New players of all abilities are welcome: men and women, aged 16+. The Club has two teams in the Windsor & Maidenhead League, which plays competitive matches throughout the area.

For more details email softballers@ascotblues.com

Free Umpire Training Course 2009

The umpiring training course for the 2009 season is to be held at Chalfont on the first 3 Wednesdays in March: 4, 11, 18, starting at 8:00pm.  The BASU test will be offered at the end of the course.  This is an excellent opportunity to become an umpire, or just get to know the rules better. 

This year the league is paying the fee, so there will be no cost to clubs or individuals.   Hope to see you all there.  If you have any questions, please either email Brian at bmoores@netsuite.com, or ring him on 07775 660942.

Directions to Chalfont:

League Victory

A big shout out to all Blues players for winning the league, after 4 years of coming second it was about time that Ascot finished top.

So lets look forward to competing in Division one next year.

Also remember that to book the first/second weekend in September because we will be off to the Nationals again next year, with our automatic entry for winning the division.

Last Ball Victory

We finally got our first tournament win in the very last one of the season. Congratulation to all who took part.

 

Winners

 

                                          

Other interesting news and weather

Events:

Outdoor Training

Will restart April @ Locks Ride