Tag: Featured

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European Championships Postponed

APRIL 2, 2020 – IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WBSC Europe Softball Division have announced their decision to amend it’s 2020 tournament schedule. The WBSC Europe Softball Division has confirmend the following:

  • European softball international events for 2020 under Softball Europe have been cancelled except for;
  • European Championships which act as qualifiers for World Cups 2021- the events have now been postponed to September.

What does this mean for Fastpitch Ireland?? The amended schedule will see the originally planned European Championships for which Ireland are the #8 seed postponed to September 2020 as follows:

  • Women’s European Championship postponed to September 20 – 26, 2020

The Fastpitch Ireland Board welcome and support the decision of Softball Europe to postpone the European Championships from June 2020 at this time.  The Fastpitch Ireland Board, Coaches and Medical Committee together with WNT players will review Ireland’s participation in the Women’s European Championship as the response to the global pandemic continues.

Any decision on Ireland’s participation in the event will be athelete driven with consideration been given to the health & safety of the atheletes & coaches and whether it is felt the athletes will have adequate time and opportunity to prepare and condition for the tournament. 
Our thoughts continue to be with the Fastptich Ireland family during this difficult time and in particular with the Softball community of Italy who should be hosting this tournament in June.
 
The full statement from the WBSC Europe Softball Division is available HERE

Interested in playing for the ‘Rocks Travel Team

‘Rocks Travel Ball team are looking for players who are interested in joining a team which will participate in the UK and Netherlands in 2020.

 The aim of the ‘Rocks Travel Ball team is to give Irish based female players an opportunity to play Fastpitch at a higher level. The opportunity will provide a platform for players who want a higher level of softball, improve the skills of current and furture Irish based international players and ultimately create a team to travel to European Club tournaments.

MNC Hilversum Tournament, Netherlands (March 21/22, 2020)

Fastpitch Ireland take part in a club tournament in the Netherlands annualy to allow international players an opportunity to knock off some cobwebs and play some higher level games on dirt diamonds.The tournament is an enjoyable weekend of softball. We are opening up the team to league players who may be interested in travelling to the tournament as part of the ‘Rocks to gain more experiecne or just weekend of Softball. The team will combine with some guest players we invite from the Netherlands.

Great Britain Fastpitch League (Dates TBC)

We have spoken with BSF about entering an Irish League select team in the Great Britain Fastpitch League in 2020. The league is run over a number of weekends and we would hope to have enough player interest to enter a team in the tournament (players would not be expected to travel every game week) and would possibly be day trips/one night stays. We are hoping that the BSF would be open to us guesting in a few tournaments in 2020 with a view to becoming full members in 2021.

We are looking to gauge interest in players wishing to be part of the travelling teams in 2020. If this is something you may be interested in travelling to or want more information, please complete the below link.

Click Here to Register Your Interest in Playing for the ‘Rocks in 2020

National Fastpitch League 2019 Teams A & B

IFPL Week 3 Update

IFPL Day 3 will take place on Saturday, February 1, 2020 from 2pm – 6pm in the National Indoor Arena. The league will return to the indoor turf pitches for week 3 and week 4 of the league.

The fixtures for week 3 are as follows:

Schedule Week 3 (Home team is listed second):
14:00 – 14:30 – Practice / Field Set-Up
14:30 – 16:00 – Doubleheader A vs C, then C vs A
16:00 – 16:30 – Practice – Teams B & D
16:30 – 18:00 – Doubleheader B vs D, then D vs B

If you are now not able to attend, we would ask that you contact your designated team contacts below so we can ensure that there are full teams available.

If you have any new Players who may be interested, please let us know, they are more than welcome to come along.

Team A & Team C: Eithne Walsh (eithnewalsh14@gmail.com)
Team B & Team D: Caitlyne De Lange (caitlynedelange9@gmail.com)

A reminder for your diary: Week 4 of the league is March 1, 2020.

Eithne Walsh

Eithne Walsh Appointed As Operations Manager

Eithne Walsh appointed as WNT Operations Manager

Fastpitch Ireland are delighted to announce the appointment of Irish international player Eithne Walsh as Operations Manager for the Natioanl Teams. Eithne will report to the Director of Fastpitch and will be responsible for supporting the delivery of National Team operations including, but not limited to programme operations and team logistics (scheduling, programme needs). Eithne will travel tournaments and other programme activities and will assist in the coordination of overall team operations.

Speaking on the appointment the Director of Fastpitch Softball, Melanie Cunningham, said “Eithne is the perfect person for this position. She has the respect and support of the team management, coaches and most importantly players. Eithne has been one of the most popular players and support staff within the programme since first joining in 2016 and will be an asset. We look forward to Eithne continuing the great work she has started and more of her magnificent videos too!”

About Eithne Walsh

Eithne is a second year student in the National Univeristy of Ireland Galway and joined the programme in 2016. Eithne was a member of the 2018 European Winning medal winnning under 19 and under 22 teams and made her senior international debut versus the USA in Dublin in June 2019. Off the diamond, Eithne has managed the Fastpitch Ireland social media and produced a number of video and graphic for the programme.

Eithne Walsh – Outifeld

  • Under 19 World Championships 2017
  • Under 19 European Championships 2018 (Silver medal)
  • Under 22 European Championships 2018 (Bronze medal)
  • Ireland v USA (Dublin – June 24, 2019)
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2020 WNT Schedule Confirmed

2020 National Team Schedule Confirmed

March 21/22, 2020 – MNC Hilversum Tournament, Netherlands*
May 30/31, 2020 – Achille Challenge, Paris, France
June 7 – 13, 2020 – European Championships, Italy
July 6 – 12, 2020 – Canada Cup International Softball Tournament, Vancouver
*European based players only

MNC Hilversum Tournament, Netherlands

The 2020 edition of the tournament will be the third year the programme has traveled to this pre-season tournament which provides us with a with a wonderful opportunity to prepare for the summer ahead.

Achille Challenge
Ireland has been invited to participate in the Achille Challenge in Paris as a warm-up to the European Championships in 2020. The tournament will be held on the outskirts of Paris and will be contested by France, Great Britain and Peru and will be a valuable opportunity to get game time prior to the European Championships. Following the Achille Challenge there will be a training camp in Europe.

European Championships
The Women’s European Championships will he held on June 7 – 13, 2020 in Friuli, Italy. Full details on the Championships may be found by clicking here.

Canada Cup International Softball Tournament
Following a number of invitations, the calendar has finally fallen into place for Ireland to accept an invitation to one of the premier international softball tournaments. The unofficial World Cup will be contested by a number of the top 20 teams in the world and at least two (Canada and Australia) of the countries participating in the Tokyo Olympics. The tournament presents a wonderful opportunity for us to compete in a world class venue versus world class teams.

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European Championships Entries Confirmed

2020 Women’s European Championships entries confirmed

Women’s European Championships (June 7 – 13, 2020 – Friuli, Italy)
Following on from Ireland’s 8th place finish at the 2019 European Championships, Ireland are a seeded team in the 2020 tournament and automatic qualifiers for the “A” European Championships. The top 8 teams from 2019 will be joined by 4 qualifiers from the 2020 preliminary tournament. In total 22 nations have entered the tournament and a full list of entered countries may be found by clicking here.

The 2020 tournament in an exceptionaly important for a number of reasons including targeting:

  • Maintaining Ireland’s “A” European Championships Ranking
  • Qualification for 2021 Women’s World Cup
  • Qualification for 2021 World Games (Birmingham, Alabama)
  • Qualification for European Super 6 Tournament
  • Maintaining Ireland’s World Ranking point

The draw for Euro 2020 will be made at the WBSC Europe Congress on February 8, 2020.

National Fastpitch League 2019 Teams C & D

Ireland Catches Fastpitch Fever

The 2019 inaugural Fastpitch League successfully began on Sunday November 10, 2019 in the National Indoor arena in Abbotstown. The recently opened indoor artificial turf arena was the perfect venue as the four teams played double headers to launch the league.

Speaking on the launch, Director of Fastpitch Melanie Cunningham said “ This is another big step in the introduction of Softball to Ireland with the league been the ultimate goal when the sport launched in 2015”.

“I would like to thank all the Players who signed up and are taking part today to help us realise our dream. I would also like to especially thank the volunteers who have made this possible, Brian Connolly and Eithne Walsh who are on the league Committee, our WNT management team Martin De Lange and Andrew O’Hanlon and of course our WNT Players Caitlyne, Maeve Og and Sinéad.” Added Cunningham.

We will be providing details of some Fastpitch Coaching in advance of the next Tournament day on December 15, 2019.


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Inaugural Fastpitch League Announced

Inaugural National Fastpitch League Launched

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Inaugural Irish National Fastpitch League to Launch on November 10, 2019

Fastpitch Ireland has confirmed the inaugural Irish National Fastpitch League will launch on November 10, 2019 in the new indoor arena in Sports Campus Ireland.

(Playing Field: https://www.sportirelandcampus.ie/national-indoor-arena-cov…)
The League, which will be run by Fastpitch Ireland, will be co-ed in its inaugural year with a minimum of five (5) Women per team and will run from November 2019 to March 2020.

Speaking on the launch of the league, Director of Fastpitch in Ireland, Melanie Cunningham said “The launch of the league is a very exciting opportunity for players, especially women, of all abilities from any bat and ball sport to experience a new discipline of softball in Ireland.”

Cunningham added “This league is the next phase in the development of Fastpitch Softball in Ireland, providing a domestic opportunity to play Fastpitch Softball regularly. The league has been deliberately scheduled to run in the Slowpitch off-season to give players of all ages the opportunity to play both disciplines of the game and creates the potential to play Softball all year round.”

About The League
The League will run over four 1/2 day tournaments with players allocated to teams in advance of November 10, 2019. All games will be played on a full size indoor artificial turf diamond using indoor rubber softballs.

Fastpitch Ireland will provide bats, helmets and balls with some gloves available for those new to the sport.

The cost of participating in the league is €20 for the first league day (which includes a jersey) and €10 per league day after that, alternatively a player can pay a discounted €45 at the first league day.

Coaching
Softball Skills Coaching will also be available on league days for players seeking to work on the basics or improve their skills. Fastpitch Ireland will also arrange skills days in-between league days for those interested.

All Stars Team
At the end of the league season, an “All Star” team will be selected to participate in the GBFL, which is a three weekend tournament in the UK. There will be some criteria around the selection of this team.

Registration
If you are interested in participating in the inaugural Irish National Fastptich League (Co-Ed) please complete the below link: https://forms.gle/VmpQnkhhoCAMnn2o6