Three days of superb weather and some very close softball games made the 2009 Guernsey Slow Pitch Open a huge success.

Guernsey welcomed back two UK visiting teams from the Solent Softball League Shafting and Sharks and both these teams contested one of the semi finals with Sharks emerging victorious after an extra innings was required to split the teams after finishing the 7th innings at 4-4.

The other semi final saw two local teams battle it out Tornados and Norman Piette Blue Sox. Tornados had by far the better batting game and won the semi very convincingly 16-0.

This meant the UK and Guernsey were both represented in the Final. And what followed was one of the closest finals seen in Guernsey for a number of years.

Sharks lost the toss and batted 1st and despite sending 6 batters to the plate no runs were scored. Tornados scored Sally Le Noury in their 1st innings following a good base hit from Ben Corson. The 2nd and 3rd innings remained scoreless for Sharks but Tornados added 1 more run in the 3rd innings with captain Marissa Mollet being scored in by a great Sally le Noury hit.

Sharks rallied in the 4th innings and with the help of a couple of walks scored 3 runs and managed to shut out their opponents to lead 3-2 going into the 5th innings.

Tornados came out fighting in the 6th innings not allowing Sharks to score and adding 1 run to their tally with Ben Youlton using his speed to run to 3rd base on a fielding error and being scored in by Marissa Mollet’s sacrifice infield hit.

The 7th innings started at 3-3 and with Sharks Lucy Gates and Steve Wood safely on bags with no outs they looked good to score at least 1 run. The next 3 batters though were out and therefore Sharks failed to score. Tornados saw this as an opportunity to win and their 1st batter Jay Mariess drove the ball into the outfield for a two bag hit. He then advanced to 3rd base on an infield play and was brought home to win the game by a sacrifice fly to left field from Ben Youlton.

This win for Tornados means the 1st Guernsey win in a few years and the sizeable crowd enjoyed a very competitive game which could have gone to either team.

Most Valuable Players for the Tournament:

Male – Marco Silvestri, NRG Rangers

Female – Sally Le Noury, Tornados