World Series report from Sally Le Noury.

Following our fine performances against Jersey in the Muratti and Uptons, Guernsey was in good spirits and positive about the challenge that lay ahead.

A busy schedule faced us the weekend of September 12th & 13th at the BA Concorde Club in Hampshire.  18 nations enter this annual event and all games are played on a round-robin basis for the first day, then following your team’s outcome on the Saturday you are placed into one of the three competitions.  Guernsey results are as follows.

Saturday
Gsy 12 v Jsy 6 (home run by Marco Silvestri)
Gsy 1 v Bez Kids (Germany) 11 (home Run by Glen Cortez)
Gsy 1 v GB Development 17 (home Run by Marco Silvestri)
Gsy 10 v GB Masters 11 (home Run by Glen Cortez)
Gsy 11 v Ireland 9

We started the day beating ‘Jersey’ – which is always a great feeling!  The most disappointing game was our performance against ‘Bez Kids’; we just could not get it together in this game.  In the ‘GB Development’ game we knew we had no chance but the ‘GB Masters’ was a game which we could have easily won – a few silly errors nearly cost us this game, but lessons were learnt.  Finally, we pulled it back at the end of the day on a high and beat ‘Ireland’.

Sunday
Gsy 10 v Asia 8 (home runs by James Brehaut & Jay Mariess)
Gsy 18 v Belgium 1 (home runs by Glen Cortez, Jay Mariess & Marco Silvestri)
Gsy 15 v Locals 4 (homes runs by Marco Silvestri & Jay Mariess)

Well the scores speak for themselves! ‘Asia’ had a large squad and underestimated us originally but even when they completely changed the team we could not be beaten.  The day continued like that with ‘Belgium’ also utilising a large squad.  They were using this competition as a selection process for the Europeans.  ‘The Locals’ team, I think, were stunned by our performance and did not expect to be beaten.  They then went on to beat Belgium in a close fought semi and to their disappointment they faced us again in the final.  Obviously, we would have preferred to play Belgium as they seemed to improve as the day went on.  Anyway, as you can see from the final scores we crucified them yet again.

Final – Guernsey 19 v Locals 4 (home runs by Jay Mariess, Marco Silvestri, Sophie Warren, Oliveria Piccarilli and Hannah Coutu).

It was a great team performance for the green and whites.   Everyone played extremely well together and Dale Martel pitched admirably for the whole nine games which is an impressive achievement in itself. See the photos on the Gallery page.

Cup Competition Placement
13 Guernsey
14 The Locals
15 Flanders All-Stars (Belgium)
16 Jersey
17 Venezuela
18 Japan/Asia

Plate Competition
7 GB Masters
8 Scotland
9 USA
10 Bez Kids (Germany)
11 Canada
12 Craicers

Trophy Competition
1 England
2 GB Development
3 Anzacs
4 Africa
5 Munster
6 Ireland

As you can see from the results of the other two competitions, ‘GB Masters’ won the Plate Group (we only lost by one to them!) and ‘Ireland’ made it to the Trophy Group and Gsy beat them in the first round.

This growing competition has been dominated over the past decade by Africa and the United States and then, for the past two years, by the Anzacs.  But for the first year in a long time English teams took over the tournament.  Not only did England win the main Trophy Competition, beating the GB Development Team in the Grand Final, but the GB Masters team won the Plate Competition.  And if you want to stretch the point, the Cup Competition was won by Guernsey, who has at least some connection with the United Kingdom!!

A few thank you’s!

Thanks must go to our coach, Steve Mahy, for his calm and patient approach – you are inspiring!
Thanks Peej (Paula Mahy) for all the scoring and support –you are a star!
Thanks also to our supporters Wendy, Nick and Kelly – it was lovely having the extra voices encouraging and cheering us on – it was great!

One Final comment.

The Future is looking bright for Guernsey Mixed Slowpitch.  Guernsey has been invited to the 2010 Europeans which take place 5th – 11th July.  This should be achievable following the great news that Intertrust will be sponsoring the Island Slowpitch Mixed team.

After this year’s dynamic performances from Guernsey in the Muratti and the Uptons we would be mad not to compete – we have not competed in this competition since 1998 (this was mainly down to funding and player commitment).

I am also encouraged by our girls whom are developing into great players and if they continue to show commitment and competitiveness they can only get better!!

Sally