Skövde’s Priya Mohlén is called out at the plate by umpire José Sanchez while Leksand catcher Johanna Melin holds on to the ball in the third final game between the two teams. (Photo by Magnus Hallqvist)

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS IN MULTIPLE COUNTRIES
2011-10-06

Austria, Denmark, Sweden, and the U.S. have all recently held national championships.

Looking at the quartet alphabetically…

In the Austrian Softball League finals, the Dornbirn Sharx – the Austrian all-time champion – beat the 2010 winner, St. Poelten Pee Wees (women’s fast pitch). The victory gave the Sharx – the 2009 European Softball Federation Championsleague winner – their ninth Austrian title.

After losing the 2010 championship finals the Sharx started to build up a new, young team, particularly after some older players retired. The target was to improve the new and young players, and in the end they did more than that.

Meanwhile, Denmark crowned men’s and women’s champions through the final of the best-of-three series in the 2011 Danish National Championships (fast pitch) on September 24th in Hørsholm. In women’s play, having won the first game 15-5 over the defending champion Barracudas, team United also took the second game, with the score 9-1.

On the men’s side, the underdog Vikings won the first game over the defending champion and recent European Cup champion Hurricanes, 6-3. However, the Hurricanes came back with two strong wins, 7-5 and 9-1.

Elsewhere, for the sixth consecutive year, the Skövde Saints claimed the Swedish Championships as the women's fast pitch season ended the same weekend as Denmark’s national championships. In the finals, Skövde swept the three-game series against Leksand before a big crowd at the home field Billingehov. Former Leksand player Anna-Karin Solén Westling was one of the driving forces as Skövde beat her former club and was honored with the Most Valuable Player trophy. Skövde finished the season with a perfect 16-0 won-lost record.

Looking ahead to next year, the Swedish Softball Federation says they will increase the number of clinics in order to facilitate more quality instruction in fast pitch softball in Sweden, in order to raise the level of players and also increase the recruitment of new players through funds generated from the Swedish Sports Confederation.

And, this past Saturday night (October 1st), Enough Said (Tallahassee, Florida) captured their second straight title in the Amateur Softball Association of America’s 2011 Women’s Open Slow Pitch National Championship with a big win in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, over Armed Forces. Enough Said was led by tournament All-American, batting champion (.867), and Most Valuable Player Aree Jenkins.  The outfielder went 13-for-15 at the plate with ten runs scored, one home run, and five runs batted in.

Armed Forces had advanced to the championship game with a bottom of the seventh, 7-6, victory over Derby Girls in a game that saw three lead changes. A Trina McGee line drive base hit to right field brought home the winning run.