Frank Geoghan bats for eventual bronze medalist Ireland. (Photo by John Corley)

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP WAS BIGGEST EVER
2010-07-22

Maybe it was the location. Maybe it was national pride. Or maybe it was just the simple fact that the worldwide popularity of softball continues to grow.

The 7th European Coed Slowpitch Championship recently took place in the Czech Republic. The annual event attracted eight entries for 2010, representing the largest participation for this tournament. One observer even said that this year’s event had, “the highest quality of play the tournament has ever seen.”

Great Britain successfully defended their title in Prague, defeating the host team in the gold medal game and finishing with a perfect won-lost record (9-0).

For the second through seventh place finishers (in this order) – the Czech Republic, Ireland, Guernsey, Belgium, Slovenia and Austria – the tournament was an exciting affair, full of good softball. With the exception of just three games, every single contest involving two of those teams was decided by a margin of four runs or less.

Slovakia finished in last place, going winless throughout the tournament.

Interest in coed slowpitch has been growing on the continent of Europe over the past few years, with slowpitch clinics delivered by the European Softball Federation in a number of countries. This tournament demonstrated just how far the discipline has come.

Slovenia, who lost every game at the European Slowpitch Championship in 2008 in England, won four games in Prague and was highly competitive. Belgium, playing in the tournament for the first time after starting its first slowpitch league in 2008, won five games, finished fifth, and had one of the best defenses in the competition. Guernsey, who last played in the competition in 2000, made the playoffs and finished in fourth position. Austria played far better at times than their final placing suggested.

Meanwhile, Ireland, who has traditionally been Britain's strongest opposition over the past decade, only managed third place this time. The real challenge to Great Britain came from a highly accomplished Czech Republic team who were creative in setting up their defense to try to contain the powerful GB batting attack, but in the end found themselves overwhelmed.

Individual awards are given out at European Championship tournaments based on statistics, and GB almost made a clean sweep, winning four out of five. The awards were:

Best Male Batter
Brett Gibbens (Great Britain)

Best Female Batter
Nicola Duerden (Great Britain)

Best Pitcher
Roger Grooms (Great Britain)

Most Valuable Player (Male)
Lubos Prochazka (Czech Republic)

Most Valuable Player (Female)
Ruth Macintosh (Great Britain)

The British Softball Federation contributed to this report.