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Tournament Report

Leeds Inaugural First Ball, May 4th 2024, The Umpire Strikes Back

Teams from Leeds, York, Manchester and the East Midlands joined us at our home grounds at the AWMA for a one day recreational charity tournament, raising money for Leeds Mind and the Leeds Softball Association. The raffle, the dark side and light side jokers, and a fancy dress party in the evening all proved popular, raising a considerable amount for Leeds Mind. We would especially like to thank the Softball Shop, BSUK and anyone else that donated prizes to the raffle, with a special shout out to our President’s mum Eileen Handby, who crocheted over a dozen adorable Star Wars characters that were immensely popular.

After the initial round robin, Freeze (Manchester) topped Group A and The York Wall (an alumnus team from the University of York) Group B. The jokers were used to make and overturn some cool plays. As captains could only play one per inning, they had to pick their moment, and hope their opposition were not able to overturn a joker with one of their own. Our tournament MVPs were Josie Banks (Hippos), Theo Holland (The York Wall), and Laurie Salfred-Ingham (Freeze).

In the knockouts, the top four teams played for the Empire Trophy (a Star Destroyer) and the lower four teams for the Rebellion Cup (a Millenium Falcon). The Hippos (+ a cast of Coyotes – Hippotes? Coyoppos?) represented Leeds in the Rebellion Cup Final against the B-sides from the East Midlands league. Hippos were victorious 11-6, securing their first ever tournament final win, congratulations Hippos! Freeze (Manchester) faced the Yorkshire Dales (Leeds) for the Empire Trophy. Freeze went ahead in the first inning, and stayed ahead throughout the final game. Freeze won 12-5, finishing the day 5-0, and securing the Star Destroyer Trophy as champions of our First Firstball in Leeds.

We hope to do this again next year, and would love to see you all there again. May the Fourth be with you!