Category: League

News relating to the Softball Ulster League

by Media Officer

Final preparations for 2023 SU season underway

Softball Ulster are pleased to announce the greatest number of teams ever registered in the region.

The 11 teams who competed in 2022 have returned and are joined by a brand new team – The Newtonabbey Phoenix.

The task of fitting in 12 teams to a round robin schedule while arranging training days for Ulster players and meeting the deadline of finishing the league due to the SINCC date set by Softball Ireland simply proved impossible. Therefore, this year’s league will be a two division competition, with 6 teams in each division based on last year’s finishing positions and our newest team entering directly into Division 2.

Division 1
Brawlers
Sliders
Buccaneers
Smokin Aces
Cubs
Cyclones

Division 2
Hawks
Angels
Wolfhounds
Eagles
Barracudas
Phoenix

At the conclusion of the league, a playoff game will take place between the lowest finishing team in D1 and the champions of D2.

This will decide which of those teams competes in D1 next year. Further info on the requirements for this game as well as the league schedule will follow shortly!

The next event on the Softball Ulster calendar is the Start of Season Blitz, which is scheduled for Sunday, 23 April, with league play beginning soon after.

Logo for the Newtownabbey Phoenix softball club
by Media Officer

Newtownabbey Phoenix become Softball Ulster’s 12th team

The Newtownabbey Phoenix, a new softball club formed in late 2022, have become Softball Ulster’s newest team after registering to take part in the upcoming 2023 season.

The Phoenix’s home ground is at Three Mile Water Pitches in Newtownabbey, and their current training time is 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays.

With the registration of the Phoenix, Softball Ulster’s membership now stands at 12 teams, with six clubs having been added since 2021. Five of Softball Ulster’s clubs are now located outside of Belfast.

by Chairperson

Bylaws and League Rules 2022

In preparation for the launch of the 2022 Softball Ulster League, the Softball Ulster Council have published the 2022 Bylaws and League Rules document. The Bylaws and League Rules will be agreed at the Captains Meeting to be held virtually on Friday 29th April 2022.

You can download the document by navigating to ‘Rules and Regulations’ in the menu bar above, or following this link: https://softballulster.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/su-bylaws-and-league-rules-2021-v1.1.pdf

We look forward to seeing everyone on the pitch from this Sunday 1st May as the Softball Ulster League kicks off.

Belfast Cubs (2021)
by Chairperson

Belfast Cubs are Ulster Champions

Congratulations go to the Belfast Cubs who have won their first Softball Ulster League title, knocking the Brawlers off the top spot for the first time in five years. The Cubs kept us waiting until the final game of the season before being crowned Ulster champions.

Commiserations go to the Brawlers who just missed out on the top spot after four rounds of tie-breakers had to be applied to the standings in order to find the winner. The Brawlers are still on the podium, along their club-mates the Smokin’ Aces, who both take silver and bronze medals respectively in 2021.

The final standings for 2021 are therefore:

League Standings (2021)

PosTeamPPctWLFGBRSRADiffHomeRoad
1340.7506200220801404-0-02-2-0
2340.7506200225971283-1-03-1-0
3310.6255301148167-193-1-02-2-0
4250.3753503152239-872-2-01-3-0
5160.0000806114276-1620-4-00-4-0

We look forward to an exciting season ahead of us in 2022, hopefully with some returning and new faces making an appearance. In the meantime softball season continues with the End of Season Tournament on Sunday 12th September in Lisburn, and the Autumn League commencing on Sunday 19th September at Colin Glenn.