Co-ed Slow-Pitch
Softball
Co-ed Slow-Pitch
Softball
Co-ed Slow-Pitch Softball began in Guernsey in the summer of 1990. In an attempt to eventually attract more people to the Fast-Pitch game, the GSA decided to offer an alternative, i.e. Co-ed Slow-Pitch, a game principally the same, but not dominated by the pitcher and able to be played in a more recreational format of mixed-sex teams.
Past tournament images are available in the photo gallery
As Guernsey business is eclipsed by the finance industry, the first ever league was aimed very much at the banking organisations and their individual sports and social clubs. The Co-ed Slow-Pitch leagues proved a success and have steadily expanded from year to year, with this year being no exception. The atmosphere of a mixed social sport coupled with the underlying trend for competitiveness between the banking and business teams exceeded expectations. The sport grew so rapidly that the GSA had to introduce additional leagues to sustain the ever increasing amount of teams wishing to participate. Now there are three leagues participating. The majority of players in division one are from Fast-Pitch teams, who initially started playing Co-ed Slow-Pitch purely to help newcomers to the sport.
Over the years, Co-ed Slow-Pitch has not provided a natural feed of players into the Fast-Pitch game as we had expected. Some regular Fast-Pitch players have become keener to play in the technically challenged, Co-ed Slow-Pitch league.
With Co-ed Slow-Pitch being played in both of the larger Channel Islands, Guernsey and Jersey, it is now possible to compete against each other annually on a club basis and more recently for the "Muratti" Trophy. This is a one-off game, following the Channel Islands football tradition, where the islands' selected teams do "Battle". In the first in 2001 Jersey took the honours, much to Guernsey's disappointment. Guernsey won them back in 2002 and then Jersey retrieved them in 2003 & 2004 and also retained them in 2005 and 2006, however, Guernsey won it back in 2007.
As the Co-ed Slow-Pitch leagues range from recreational to competitive, the game has offered everyone, whether experienced or not the opportunity to compete at a level at which they are comfortable. The year 2000 saw a new competition introduced to our calendar in the form of The Guernsey Open Co-ed Slow-Pitch Tournament. This has now become a permanent fixture in the GSA season. It takes place in May and attracts teams from the United Kingdom, especially our friends from the Solent Leagues.
For more information on this tournament and other events, please visit our related pages.
