World Series 2024

Guernsey have come away with a World Series medal after having beaten Godzillas in the Plate Final yesterday afternoon!

The team placed 5th overall out of a total 16 teams which is their best performance at the tournament to date and is something to be very proud of!

Saturday

Guernsey started the morning off strong with a 19-6 win over the official Ireland National Team, followed by a narrow 13-16 loss to Murica (previously known as Yanks who have won the tournament six times, most recently in 2022). Next came Pinoy Pride who could not slow the Sarnians, winning another game with a comfortable scoreline of 14-5. The game that followed was a competitive match up versus Wayne’s World (from Pardubice, Czech Republic), whereby many of the players were hot off a silver medal further to the recent Co-Ed Slowpitch European Championship. Ultimately both teams fought until the very end and the game ended on a 10-10 draw. Lastly came the Canucks, it was a late 6pm fixture after a long day and bodies were getting tired, the team also had to factor in overcast, low light conditions making it slightly more difficult to read the ball accurately. Guernsey added another win to their Saturday tally, prevailing over the Canadian’s 13-9.

Saturday Results Roundup

🇬🇬 19 – 6 🇮🇪

🇺🇸 16 – 13 🇬🇬

🇬🇬 14 – 5 🇵🇭

🇨🇿 10 – 10 🇬🇬

🇬🇬 13 – 9 🇨🇦

Murica lead the Blue Group winning all 5 of their games, closely followed by the British Isles who only lost 1 of 5, Guernsey and Wayne’s World sat on the same record of 3 wins, a loss and a draw. Pinoy Pride won 2 and lost 3, Misfits of Europe and Ireland also had a matching record of 1 win to 4 losses each. The Canucks did not manage to secure a win and lost all 5 of their games.

Sunday

An early start for the team with a 9am fixture vs Misfits of Europe, no doubt slightly achey, sore and feeling the effect of 5 games the day before. It was a slightly slower paced game and took a little longer for the team to get going, but they still managed to pull through and secured the win 10-7. The next game was the last of the Round Robin and it was a match up versus a newly formed team, British Isles, consisting of players from all over the UK, Jersey, as well as Matt Dorey, Josh Smith, Ruby Smith and Macy Cortez from Guernsey. What made this game harder than the others, is that some of these players face off against each other in their league teams week in and week out, they know where each other hits and where their safety shots are along with their fielding strengths and weaknesses.

Guernsey held their own throughout the game and very narrowly missed out on another win with the British Isles closing the highly contested match 4-2. The win for the British Isles meant they placed second in the Blue Group and went on to make the main Cup Final, where they went head-to-head with a strong German team in the UCE Travellers, who won the tournament 24-9.

Sunday Results Roundup

🇬🇬 10 – 7 🇪🇺

🇬🇧 4 – 2 🇬🇬

This concluded the Round Robin stage. Murica  managed to uphold their win streak from the day before and remained top of the Blue Group, only conceding a total of 33 runs across 7 games, Guernsey scored 13 of them. Closely followed by the British Isles with 6 wins and 1 loss. The remaining teams all had matching records – Guernsey and Wayne’s World with 4 wins, 2 losses and a draw. Misfits of Europe and Pinoy Pride with 2 wins and 5 losses, then Ireland and Canucks with 1 win and 5 losses.

With Guernsey placing 3rd in the Blue Group, they were drawn against Africa who were 4th in the Red Group for the Plate Semi-Final, narrowly missing out on a spot in the Cup competition.

When Guernsey last faced Africa in 2022, they lost by 1 run across both games, one Round Robin and the Plate Final. The team were not going to accept a repeat of this and were out for revenge, another great performance from the Green Army meant they were into the Plate Final after coming out on top 16-8.

This meant Guernsey were due to play Godzillas, who prevailed over the Sarnian’s last year in the lower tier Trophy Final. The team knew what was at stake and were not going to settle for any less than a gold medal. On a day that was scheduled to be a washout, it turned out to be hot and the sun was shining. The game started well but was shortly postponed due to a lightning strike nearby which halted play for 30 minutes, stopping the flow of the game. It recommenced shortly after and all continued, with the team attempting to get back into the rhythm that was created earlier on. Cheered on by their supporters who made the trip over to spectate and keep the team in high spirits, Guernsey managed to keep their lead heading into the 7th inning and with them being the home team, this meant they only needed 3 outs to win the game. Godzillas performed well and managed to get base hits through to the gaps in the outfield, however, they couldn’t quite capitalise on the runs needed to keep the game going and Guernsey won the Plate Final 23-13.

All in all it was a great weekend for Guernsey Softball, the squad excelled in all areas and certainly raised some eyebrows. It was a brilliant result and just goes to show what such a small island is capable of.

World Series Squad Release 2024

The island coaches have selected the following players to represent Guernsey at the upcoming BSF World Series, taking place on the 7th – 8th September at Farnham Park.

We would like to wish the team the best of luck.

 

Trophy Final Runners Up at 2023 BSF World Series

The BSF World Series took place at (a very hot) Farnham Park on the 9th – 10th September 2023. 

A total of 16 teams entered the tournament;

1. UCE Travellers*
2. ‘Murica 
3. GB Masters
4. Misfits
5. Godzillas 
6. Ireland*
7. Africa
8. Latinos
9. GB Futures
10. England
11. Canucks
12. Belgium*
13. Guernsey*
14. ANZAC’s
15. Pinoy Pride
16. SAFFA’s

*represents travelling teams

Round Robin Results

Guernsey, 17 – 6, Pinoy Pride

Guernsey, 8 – 7, Canucks

GB Futures, 14 – 1, Guernsey

Guernsey, 24 – 6, SAFFA’s

England, 18 – 9, Guernsey

Guernsey, 17 – 12, ANZAC’s

Belgium, 13 – 7, Guernsey

Being the 5th place team in the Blue Division meant a Trophy semi final vs the 6th place team, Ireland. The Green Army came out on top with a 12-11 win earning them a spot in the Trophy final vs Godzillas who beat ANZAC’s 21 – 7.

After a great game,  sadly it was the Godzillas who got to take home the title of Trophy Final winners, winning the game 29 – 15.

All in all a great weekend of softball was had and the team came away with a brilliant result, well played everyone!

We would like to thank our five supporters for taking the trip across the pond to come and watch and for carrying out some scoring duties.

You can read the BSF report here and you can watch our games back here.

 

World Series Squad Selection 2023

The  island coaches have selected the following players to represent Guernsey at the BSF World Series taking place on the 9th – 10th September at Farnham Park.

• Kaileigh Benford
• Danielle Corson
• Abbie Forman
• Cody Gallienne
• Jennifer Lindfield
• Hannah Simon
• Courtney Smith

 

• Andy Bent
• Ethan Brehaut
• Ben Corson
• Brandon Harrison
• Joe Mariess
• Shane Taylor
• Gavin Thornton

Guernsey placed eighth last year and came runners up in the Plate Final after a narrow loss to Africa, 21 – 22.

We are wishing the team the very best of luck!

Guernsey return to the BSF World Series

The World Series took place at Farnham Park on the 10th – 11th September 2022. 

There was a total of fourteen teams that entered;

*represents overseas/travelling teams. 

At the end of Saturday, Guernsey were sat on an equal 3 wins to 3 losses meaning they placed 4th in their group and were headed into the Plate Competition the next morning.

On Sunday; They started strong with a win against Belgium followed by a close one run loss to Africa, who after beating Godzillas for the second time over the weekend, they would face again later in the day.

Guernsey placed 8th overall after a narrow loss to Africa in the Plate Final, 21-22.

Our weekend MVP’s voted on by the team are Shane Taylor and Cody Gallienne, well done guys!

Game Results

Saturday

Guernsey, 9 – 8, Canucks (Canada)

Ireland, 8 – 5, Guernsey 

Guernsey, 11 – 3, Godzillas (Japan)

GB Futures, 12 – Guernsey, 3

UCE Travellers, 9 – 8, Guernsey

Guernsey, 12 – 6, Anzacs 

Sunday

Guernsey, 15 – Belgium, 8

Africa, 10 – Guernsey, 9

Guernsey, 20 – 16, Godzillas (Japan)

Africa, 22 – 21, Guernsey

You can read BSF’s article here

World Series Squad Selection 2022

The island coaches have selected the following 14 players to represent Guernsey at the BSF World Series taking place on the 10th – 11th September at Farnham Park.

• Chrissi McColl
• Cody Gallienne
• Courtney Smith
• Danielle Youlton
• Jussie Smith
• Kaileigh Benford
• Kirstie Marquis

 

• Ben Corson
• Matt Dorey
• Gavin Thornton
• James Brehaut
• Ross Machon
• Adam Bullock
• Shane Taylor

 

Guernsey last entered this particular tournament in 2009… it’s been a long time coming but we’re back, and we hope to put on a good show!

 

World Series 2009
Hampshire, United Kingdom
September 12th – 13th 2009

Guernsey at the World Series 2009 – Cup Winners. Report by 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

Go to the BSUK website for another report on the weekend.

 

Guernsey at the World Series – Cup Winners

World Series 2009