EVENTS CALENDAR ABOUT TO ERUPT
2009-04-27

In less than two weeks the 10th Arafura Games will begin in Darwin, Australia. With softball one of the sports set to be contested there, that multi-sport event will be the lead-in to a long list of major competitions for the sport as 2009 marches on.

Billed as “a leading international sporting competition for emerging champions of the Asia-Pacific and beyond,” the Arafura Games will take place May 9-17 and feature women’s softball and 22 other sports. The event began in 1991 and is held every two years. In 2007 the softball competition saw an Australian entry (Northern Territory) defeat a team from Singapore in the grand final game.

When the final out is made at this year’s last softball game in Darwin, however, there will be many more tournaments waiting to take over the sport’s place in the spotlight.

The following month in the United States, the 8th Senior World Cup will play out over three days in Virginia. Organizers for the tournament for players ages 50-and-over are forecasting greater international involvement this year. The slow pitch event includes both men’s and women’s teams.

Once the calendar turns to July, softball activity hits its peak. There are six major international softball competitions that month, including the International Softball Federation’s XII Men’s World Championship in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Sixteen teams will compete there over ten days.

So, from senior slow pitch to men’s fast pitch, softball then shows its versatility as August ushers in the Easton Foundation Youth Softball World Cup. The girls 16-and-under fast pitch event will be played in the Czech Republic, with 12 countries participating.

Mirroring the upcoming setting in Australia, softball in multi-sports games will be back to help wind the year down. In October the sport is expected to be the second largest in terms of participation when the World Masters Games are contested in Sydney. Then in December the 9th Central American Games will close out the year in Honduras with both men’s and women’s softball on the programme.

Keep up with all the goings-on from these tournaments around the world right here at internationalsoftball.com. There’s an event likely playing near you soon!