Two teams of Jersey softballers, the Thundercats and Transformers, competed in the Bristol DD Cup tournament over the bank holiday weekend with both teams taking home silverware.

The Thundercats had an excellent first day as they won all six of their games. The offense was working well with home runs, triples, and doubles had all around. Robin Tadier, team captain and trip organiser, pitched five of the day’s six games, and kept his opponents on their toes with some tactical pitching, resulting in strikeouts throughout the day.

The defense was working spectacularly, with some exciting plays like newbie to the sport, Rhys Benest, having a diving catch off a line drive down the third base line in his first ever game. A more exciting play came in the fifth game of the day when Scott Roberts caught a deep pop-up in right center field with runners on second and third base. He launched the ball towards home plate where Kelly Tadier expertly tagged out the runner coming to steal home, and quickly threw the ball to Chelsey Warner, who tagged out the runner attempting to steal third resulting in a rare triple play to close out the inning.  

Transformers also did well in the morning of their first day but found some tough competition in the afternoon which resulted in two wins, one tie, and three losses on the Saturday. Transformers pushed through the fatigue on the second day and found their groove again after their first game. Team captain Paulo Dos Reis also pitched an excellent weekend and even shutout an inning with three consecutive strikeouts. Short stop Stuart Emmanuel had some great diving catches throughout the weekend and one in particular noted by the umpire as ‘catch of the weekend.’ Other great plays included Caitlyn Hennessy’s first ever home run and some amazing left field catches by Cameron Ramsay.

The second day saw Thundercats drop a game from their winning record as they struggled to get the bats going against a strong defensive opponent. They met the same team in the semi-finals which was a tense and very competitive game, where both sides were tied on runs for three innings before Anthony O’Grady hit a home run, bringing in another runner on base to come ahead. A further home run by Niall Boylan sealed the victory, Thundercats finishing strong on the defensive side by holding their opponents to no runs to make it into the Cup final.

Transformers stomped their opponents in the semi-final 21:1 with some excellent batting securing their place in the Plate final. They battled through the final and pulled out all the stops including a sneaky play by third baseman Andy Romeril, where he defended home plate with a convincing fake throw to second in order to tag the runner on third base. Despite every player leaving their absolute best on the pitch they came up just short and finished runner-up in the Plate final.

Thundercats met a tough team in the Cup final and faced some very difficult but expert pitching against the female MVP from their opponents. It was back and forth on the runs in the first few innings but Thundercats kept their bats going and came out ahead later in the game whilst simultaneously holding their opponents in the field. They won the final 14-5.

Robin Tadier, Thundercats team captain and trip organiser, commented on the win: “The final score doesn’t do justice to how tough a game this was. The opposition’s fielding was almost impenetrable. We were inching around one base at a time, and it seemed that we were always getting closed down just as we had all bases loaded. We were all flagging, and how the team kept their nerves I do not know. I am incredibly proud of how everyone played across both teams.”

He continued: “After the Cup final players were recognised for their performance and Chrissie Hennessy from Transformers received female MVP in the plate final, whilst male MVP in the Cup final was our short stop on Thundercats, Anthony O’Grady, for his excellent batting and clutch field play.”
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Robin Tadier and the Thundercats will compete abroad again towards the end of the season in October this year as they return to their annual American tournament, Ad World Series, due to take place in Orlando, Florida.

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The first games of the 2018 Jersey softball summer league kicked off on Sunday with four exciting games at Les Quennevais playing fields.

The first game of the day saw the seasoned Jacksons Falcons take on a new team filled with returning players to the league this year, Romerils Raiders. It was a close game from start to finish as the Raiders worked together for the first time as a new team and boasted some excellent fielding. However, the Falcons proved a strong side and kept their lead for the majority of the game flexing their experience and training by taking home a win 10 – 5.

One of the two games in the middle of the day saw the Motormall Eagles take on the Watergate Warriors in a match that saw the Warriors gain an exceptional lead over their closely contested rivals. The Eagles offensive side wasn’t strong enough to keep them in the game as the Warriors took this one away 38 – 9.

At the same time on pitch 2 the champions of the 2017 Summer League, DMS Flyers, took on the Corefocus Cubs in a dramatic fashion as both teams tied in the final innings. The Cubs were up by 11 runs in the last inning with assurance it was a big enough lead, but in an unlikely comeback attempt the Flyers got the bats going to whittle away their deficit to a tie.

Finally, the last game between the CPA Global Pirates and the Trinity Tyres Phoenix closed out the day with a largely competitive and exciting match. Phoenix started out the game well with a lead in their batting, however, their defensive side was not strong enough to hold back the runs from their opponents who were keen to gain a lead. It was overall another close game as the Pirates came away ahead 16 – 11.

Next weekend will see two teams of Jersey players compete in the annual Bristol DD Cup Tournament. The Thundercats and the Transformers, a mix of players from different teams as well as players abroad, will compete in the two-day tournament vying for the chance to compete against some tough UK competition. We'd like to wish our Jersey players abroad the best of luck next weekend and we hope to see you come back with some shiny silverware to show off!