Softball in Ireland

Softball is governed in Ireland by the Softball Ireland, itself a member of the International Softball Federation.

History

1982 marked the first softball league in Ireland, the Dublin Softball League. The Irish Softball Association was formed in 1989. It has been in various guises since then including the Irish Baseball and Softball Association, the Irish Baseball and Softball Federation and then back to the current Irish Softball Association. The Irish Softball Association is the governing body of softball in Ireland. The ISA is responsible for the running of tournaments, Leagues, development and international competition in both co-ed slowpitch and ladies fastpitch softball^[1].

Domestic Competitions

Competition	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002
Leinster League	Batpak	Batpak	Dodder Dynamoes	Dodder Dynamoes	Dodder Dynamoes	Dodder Dynamoes	Dodder Dynamoes	Marlay Martyrs
Brian Walshe Cup		OddSox Green	Batpak	Dodder Dynamoes	BatPak	Dodder Dynamoes	Dodder Dynamoes	OddSox Green
Irish Open Softball Trophy	The Stingers UK	The Stingers UK	Batpak	Saints Stingers UK	BatPak	London Breakers UK	OddSox Green	???
Intervarsity Championships	University of Limerick	University of Limerick	University of Limerick	University of Limerick	University College Dublin	University of Limerick	University of Limerick	University College Dublin
Start of Season Blitz	Munster Marauders	Munster Marauders	University of Limerick	Oddsox Green	Dodder Dynamoes

Competition	2001	2000	1999	1998	1997	1996
Leinster League	Batpak	Marlay Martyrs	Marlay Martyrs	Marlay Martyrs	BatPak	Marlay Martyrs
Irish Softball Cup	Dodder Dynamoes	Los Banditos	Dodder Dynamoes	OddSox Red	Oddsox Red	Marlay Martyrs
Irish Open Softball Trophy	Saints Stingers UK	Dodder Dynamoes	Oddsox	WarPak	BatPak	Marlay Martyrs
Intervarsity Championships	University College Cork

Clubs/Teams

See List of softball clubs in Ireland

National Team

The National team has competed with some success in recent years. The main competition being the "European Softball Federation CoEd Slowpitch Championship"^[2]. The event has been dominated by the Great Britain team winning all six installments. The venue for 2008 was in Southampton, UK^[3]

Position	2008 - Southampton (GBR)	2006 - Ljubljana (SLO)	2004 - Linz (AUT)	2002 - Mladé Buky (CZE)	2000 - Dublin (IRL)	1998 - London (GBR)
1st	Great Britain	Great Britain	Great Britain	Great Britain	Great Britain	Great Britain
2nd	Ireland	Czech Republic	Ireland	Ireland	Czech Republic	Czech Republic
3rd	Czech Republic	Ireland	Czech Republic	Austria	Ireland	Ireland
4th	Jersey	Slovenia	Austria	Czech Republic	Guernsey	Guernsey
5th	Slovenia	Croatia	n/a	Germany	Germany	n/a
6th	n/a	n/a	n/a	Slovakia	n/a	n/a

European Club Championship

2007 saw the inaugural European Cup Co-Ed Slowpitch Championship. The event was held in Limeil-Brévannes, France from 19 September 2007 to 22 September 2007. There were five teams competing with Dodder Dynamoes representing Ireland. The London Chromies were crowned champions beating Dodder Dynamoes 10-3 in the Grand Final. The 2008 Championships, held in Dupnitsa, Bulgaria from 2 September to 6 September, were won by Baker Tomkins of Britain beating Dodder Dynamoes 16-11 in the Grand Final. The 2009 Championship saw an increase in the participants to 7, with the event is again being held in Dupnitsa, Bulgaria from 26 August to 29 August. 2009 winners, Dodder Dynamoes (with some assistance from other Leinster League players), became the first Irish team, club or national, to win an ESF sanctioned championship.

Position	2009 - Dupnitsa (BUL)	2008 - Dupnitsa (BUL)	2007 - Limeil Brevannes (FRA)
1st	Dodder Dynamoes	Baker Tomkins	London Chromies
2nd	Dragons	Dodder Dynamoes	Dodder Dynamoes
3rd	ASKOE Linz Stamm Bandits	ASKOE Linz Stamm Bandits	Sparks BAK Mlade Buky
4th	Sparks BAK Mlade Buky	Balkan Stars Sofia	ASKOE Linz Stamm Bandits
5th	Balkan Stars Sofia	N/A	Limeil Brevannes les Caribous
6th	Baker Tomkins	N/A	N/A
7th	Krpan LL Novo Mesto	N/A	N/A