Welcome To The Manchester Lions Softball Website!

The Lions are a long established softball team playing in the Manchester Softball League. As far as Manchester teams go we are well organised, dynamic and extremely competitive both in the Manchester League and at tournaments up and down the country. The Manchester Lions were originally formed by Dave Wareham several years ago in 2006. When the team started they were in Manchester 3rd division. Due to hard work and commitment the Lions were quickly promoted to MSL's (Manchester Softball Leagues) First Division.

Since then the Lions have continued to improve and finished 3rd in Division 1 in the 2007, 2008 and 2009 season. As well as doing well in the Manchester Softball League, the Lions have also dominated at the various C Comp and B Comp tournaments over the years. We are now established as a very strong B-Comp league and tournament team and hoping to continue to improve this year. In 2009 we won the "C" nationals in the spring and the "Gold" Nationals later in the same year. In 2010 we went up to Platinum level and won that too! This is the first time a British Softball team has won national championships at 2 levels in a single calendar year and possibly the first time any team has won all 3 levels in 3 consecutive seasons. Last on our calender is Edinburgh where we hope to make the show pitch final! (AND WIN!)

To put icing on the cake, at the BSF awards in 2009 the Lions were announced as team of the year for our outstanding softball achievement and improvement. This is the first time a Manchester team has won the award!

The photo above was taken shortly after we won the Gold Nationals in 2009.

Latest Lions Softball News...

Lions Robbed in Edinburgh

Usually its either a poor batting performance or errors fielding that knock you out of a semi final at a tournament but in Edinburgh this year it was simply a terrible decision by the Blu that knocked us out.

In the semi final - Situaltion: bottom of the innings against the Slammers, 2 runs ahead, 2 outs, runners on 1 and 2, woman up to bat. So the woman batting is the winning run or the last out so the game can only go on for a couple more minutes whatever happens. And the Blu calls 'ball game' so the game reverts. This stupid, ridiculous, non-thinking decision by the Blu not to play out the last minute or so of a Semi Final game cost the Lions a place in the Edinburgh Show Pitch Final. Its amazing how many players from other teams said the same to us (thanks for everyones support).

Full write up to come

Manchester Lions – Platinum National Champions 2010

This weekend the Lions broke another softball record by becoming National Champions at the BSF Platinum Nationals in Bristol. The Platinum Nationals is the highest level "league teams" can compete at in the UK and the Lions are over the moon with the result.

The Lions team comprised of Gill Watkinson (Captain), Gordon Milson (Vice Captain), Michelle Norfolk, Lindsey O’Farrell, Michelle Watkinson, Angela Killion, Victoria O’Farrell, Chris Fulton, Andy Pfister, Adam Roberts, Ed Watkinson and a guest appearance from Zak Hak (in place of injured Lee).

It wasn't a walk in the park tho, competing against the best league teams in the country was always going to be tough.

The Saturday was a round robin where you played every team. This gave the seedings for the Sunday. After Beating the Mavericks, then Losing to the Nottingham Thieves the Lions got there act together and beat the Windsor Knights and the stacked Mescalitos team. We didn’t end the day well with a loss to the Sox but the game didn’t matter as after day 1 we were #1 seed (as standings table shows).

The Sunday was a double elimination. Our first game was against the Sox's who had already beaten the Mavs the hour before. Still hot from the game before the Sox managed to beat the Lions which put the Lions vs Mavs to play off to stay in the competition. The game was close and could have gone either way but it was the Mav’s who were sent home and out of the competition. The Windsor Knights then got knocked out in a close game. The semi final game was against the Thieves who, after a nip and took game were also defeated.

This left two Manchester teams in the final.. the Lions vs Greensox. The greenies were never really in the game, with the score 5-1 going into the top of the 7th innings (yes a awsome fielding performance ment the Sox had only score 1 run in 6 innings). The Lions promptly closed out the innings to win 5-3 with a bat in hand.

This means the Lions have won Silver, Gold and Platinum National titles in 3 consecutive years. If thats not a progressing team I don’t know what is!

Fantastic result.. well done to Manchester’s new National Champions!

Final Standings:

1) Lions (Platinum National Champs)
2) Greensox
3) Nottingham Thieves
4) Windsor Knights
5) Mescalitos
6) Mavericks

You puff that chest out Gordon and show them how proud you are!

LIONS ARE PLATINUM NATIONAL CHAMPIONS 2010!!!

A fantastic win over the Greensox in the Platinum Nationl finals means the Lions are officially the best league team in the country!

Full write up coming soon, but well done to everyone! Your all National Champions!

This is without a doubt one of the greatest achievements in UK Softball history! 3 National titles in 3 years at 3 levels!

Cowboys, Indians and a Cow beat the Dodgers in last game of season

Since becoming national champions the Lions are proving their worth back in their home town. Having already secured 2nd position in the league this was a relatively unimportant game for us but hugely important for the Dodger. If they won they would have secured 3rd place in the league, but they didn’t.

Traditionally at the last game of the season the Lions went in fancy dress. The theme was Cowboys and Indians and everyone looked great.. even Ed who came as a cow ‘boy’. Missing a few regular guys (ie. We only had 3), we had cowboy Dave and Chris (from the Mav’s) playing for us (THANKS).

The Lions always looked in charge and the game was never really felt close, the Lions were relaxed, the Dodgers couldn’t score and then a rally in the 3rd innings where we scored 8 basically put the game out of reach for the Dodgy ones.

Maybe it was Fultons leather chaps in Left Field, Statto’s agro afro style wig at pitch or the cow at short stop which put the Dodgers off but they didn’t seem to get the bats going. That coupled with a very solid fielding performance with a couple of good plays from 3 to 1 which meant the Dodgers finished 4th in the League.

Final Score was Lions 15 – Dodgers 7

Lions 10 – Outlaws 2

In the Lions penultimate game of the year there was no real worry for the jungle kings. Following on from our National’s win at the weekend the Lions came out firing with a lead off home run from Chris, shortly followed up by a second from Gordon. Andy went to the wrong venue which gave Dave his first 2010 debut in the first innings to fill in (thanks Dave!).

The Outlaws 2 runs came in the first innings and were all because of errors in the Lions defence. By the second innings the Lions got it together and 6 scoreless innings kept the YeeHaa team at just 2 runs and never looking like scoring any more. The Lions had several doubles and triples as well as a second homer from Gordon.

A Solid performance from the 2010 Platinum National Champions! Belowis a video of the last couple of innings! (thanks Dave).

The Lions confirm 2nd place in League with Win over Bullfrogs

Last night the Lions sealed the 2nd spot in the Manchetser Softball League with a 23-8 win over the Bullfrogs - formerly the Lions second team. This is the first time since 2001 that a new team has broken into the top 2 of the first division. This is the highest the Lions have ever finished and with a record of 13-3 is already the best season we have ever had. Interestingly it was a record of 15-3 which won the league last year.

Opting to bat first the Lions turned it on from the beginning.. scoring 11 in the top of the first innings which instantly put a frog in the throat of the opponents. In the field it was a interesting line up, Edmundo making an unusual appearence at Short, Fulton a even more unusual appearence at 2nd base. The match saw 3 different people playing 1st base, including a season debut for Norfolk! A quck shut out put the Lions back in the batting box to score more runs!

Despit a mini rally later in the game to avoid the mercy in the 5th, the Frogs were unable to hop over the plat enough times to avoid it in the 6th.

A extremely comfortable win for the mightly Lions over their former 2nd team.. they know who the daddies are!

Lions beat the Mavericks 27-21 in Yo-Yo game

This was a big game for us, the winner would be one step closed to coming second in the Manchester Softball League. Historically the games are always close and often go to an 8th innings.

In a high scoring run fest the Lions came out on top after scoring an impressive 27 runs. The game started off well for the Lions, batting round the order to give the Mav’s something to chase. A couple of uncharacteristic fielding mistakes put runners on base and the Mav’s pulled back the lead. Shaken (but not stirred) the Lions managed to add a couple more runs to keep our noses in front.

Then the toast came.. and it was burnt. The Mav’s started hitting some good shots. With the win behind them the hits sailed over the outfield for a couple of home runs. The others batted well and after going round the order the game swung in the Mav’s favour and put the pressure back on the Lions.

We responded well and pulled some runs back, before the Mav’s scored again to take the lead. A big last innings from the Lions put the game out of reach of the Mav’s.

It was a exciting game in which both teams batted really well (it has to be when a total of 48 runs were scored).

Lions Beat Greensox 13-12!

For the first time in 2010 Manchester Softball League the Greensox were defeated.

This was a Lions performance that showed true grit and determination as a team after what has to be described as a very shaky start at best. The Lions were the away team and batted first. A couple of base hits got runners on base then with 2 outs we scored 3 runs which gave the whole team a confidence boost. Unfortunately the Greensox replied by batting round the order and scoring 7 runs. There were a lot of mistakes by the Lions which added to the Sox confidence.

The whole game was very close with both teams batting relatively well and both teams making mistakes in the infield. Danny hit 2 home runs which put the pressure back on the Lions. Sheed made some solid catches in the outfield and Gill had a big out against Pablo at 2nd. Every innings we tapped away at the Sox's lead and a right field home run by Gordon scored some vital RBI's. Going into the 6th innings we were 9-8 in the lead. A few fly outs to the outfield by both teams resulted in no score in the 6th. Knowing we had to score in the 7th to give us a chance Adam led off with a Solid double, followed by a base hit to put 2 people on base. Sheed up to bat and a swing and a miss at the first 2 pitches wasn't ideal, the next pitch was short and hit the plate. As Shane pitched, Sheed swung and creamed the ball in the gap between left field and left centre. This send birthday boy Pablo out deep into the outfield to chase the ball down. All the while the base runners were flying round the bases. The Sox were unable to get the ball in and gave Sheed her first home run of the year - and what a time for it. This put us 4 runs ahead going into the bottom of the 7th. Despit loading the bases the Sox were only able to score 3 runs to give Lions the win.

This was a fantastic win prevents the Sox having the perfect season and gives us a great shot at second place in the League. It was a display of great composure (yeah right) but shows that we are improving every game and have the potential to win the league.

MVP's:

Sheed home run Watkinson - you do realise next time you say your arm hurts your likely to get the response 'WHATEVER'

Gordon lock on Milson - flawless batting performance

Not a great batting performance but another win against the Dodgers

Pitch 1 at the USG in Manchester saw the Lions at home to the Jammy Dodgers. Historically these games are always close and after the last match when the Lions won in the closest game of the season the Dodgers were out for revenge.

As the home team the Lions were in the field first and in a 3 up 3 down situation due to a couple of fly balls it was us up to bat. A power bunt from Ed and a home run from Lee saw the Lions take a 2-0 lead. The Dodgers just couldn't get the bats going and in the first 10 batters, 9 were out with only 1 runner getting on base.

The Lions struggled to find their bats as well and after the first few innings it was a 3-0 scoreline. As the match went on the wind picked up and the rain came which caused havoc for the pitchers. As such there were a few walks towards the end of the game which pretty much loaded the bases for both teams. Fortunately for us the Dodgers failed to score any runners and we scored 3 so took a 8-3 lead. In the closing inning the Dodgers managed to score a single but the final score of 8-4 with a bat in hand is a respectible total.

While it wasn't a batting game, there were som good fielding plays. Witty had a great pick up from a hard hit ground ball on 1st, Lee played excellently at SS, Sheed and Lins took some tricky catches in the windy outfield and Gill played a solid 2nd base. After declaring before the game that she doesn't have to warm up throwing because 'I have only ever had to throw the ball from catch 5 times' - Ang had 2 plays to one which were executed with upmost precision getting the out's both times (who'd have though she only made that play 5 times before - she looked like a pro).

MVP's were Lee and Witty

Not Even The Lashing Rain Can Stop The Lions

This weeks match in The Manchester Softball League was against the Outlaws. It is fair to say that they gave us a better game this time round but were still no match for the mighty Lions.

With the game due to start at 7pm, around 6.58pm the heavens opened and it rained.. hard! Lions were away team so whilst huddled under their brollys sent the Outlaws out to field. Unfortunately we didn't leave them out there too long as we struggled to get the bats going in the pouring rain.

For the first few innings it was slow, the rain continued and neither team managed to bat well. The Outlaws had a couple of base hits but then couldn't convert them to runs. Lee had a fantastic evening with the bat (batting 1000) and making every play and Andy was solid with a 666. Ed hit a home run over right field and Gordon managed to hit a home run under right field (megging!). Despit the rain it was a fun and well humored game, although Roxy didn't think so!

The final score was 11-2, which given the slow start and the weather was a good solid result. This result keeps the Lions in 2nd place in the Division 1 of the Manchester Softball League with only 1 game left in this round of games.