TWO-IN-ONE
2006-06-01

The saying goes that “there
is no I in team,” but many teams will be in countries that begin with the letter I next week as two women’s softball events take place.

Beginning Monday (June 5), the 5th International Softball Tournament "Città di Legnano" will play out over four days in Italy. Set to participate are Argentina, Czech Republic, Russia, and two teams from the host country. The latter includes Italy’s junior team, who is preparing for the European Junior Championship that will take place from August 7-12.

Next week Wednesday (June 7), the National Women’s Softball Championship in Iran is scheduled to begin in the capital city of Tehran. Six teams of 18- to 30-year old athletes from various provinces will compete. Tehran will have two teams, with one each from Bushehr, Kerman, Khorasan, and Semnan. The three-day fast pitch event follows last year’s inaugural championship (March 2005), which had four teams. Most of the players are university scholars and the national softball federation there said that they will “try (their) best to use (their) women’s umpires.”

The event in Italy will take place at the Beppino Colombo field in the city of Legnano (near Milan), where new tribunes are being built and there will be 700 seats with an office, press room, dressing room, speaker & scorer office, and umpire office. The Legnano team itself is coached by Blas Armando Aguiar Gil (Cuba), who was elected to the ISF Hall of Fame last October. The tournament has been held each year since its inception in 2002, and was won last year by the Czech Republic.

For more on the tournament in Italy, visit the event website.