It was a first for me last night as I attended the Atlantic Challenge between the Irish Women’s Softball team and Team USA on the All Weather pitch at Bective Rugby Club.
The Irish team flies out tomorrow to take part in the European Championship and this will have set them up to see the speed of opposition that play the game at the highest level.
When Team USA, in fact, the U19 team made up mainly of College athletes, played France at the weekend they were 10-0 up after the first innings. It was always going to be a one-sided affair but Ireland were more competitive holding the visitors to two runs in the first and scoreless in the next two turns at bat.
It got a little tougher after that but Irish cheers greeted every out and every catch, as well as the few hits we got along the way.
The highlight of the night was when Skylar Wallace of Alabama State stepped up to hit a Grand Slam home run in the fourth inning bring in four runs off loaded bases.
The Irish U19 team won Silver in Europe last year and as a sport, they received their first grant funding this year when the beneficiary of €5,000 from the Olympic Federation of Ireland Discretionary Fund.
Last night was an opportunity to have the team play in front of a curious home crowd. Working with Sport for Business members Sport Endorse they put on a show with temporary seating and a temporary pitch with pads in the corner and a fenced perimeter.
The Irish team supported from between the third and home bases, mingling with the kids and parents that had come to support. There was popcorn, candyfloss and beer and the sun shone through the early evening.
The majority of the Irish team are playing in the US, and are first or second generation, Irish. one-quarter of last night’s team had an Irish accent but it is events like this that can look to inspire new players.
The sport is back on the Olympic programme for 2020 and Ireland will bid to get a spot over the coming weeks. The six best teams from the European Championships taking place next week will go into an Olympic Qualification tournament in Utrecht at the end of July from which the final place will be allocated.
Ireland are ranked 22nd in the world in the Women’s game and sixth in Europe so there is a chance. That would escalate the sport in many ways and revive all those memories of rounders played as a kid. Who knew that one day it could get you close to representing Ireland at the Olympic Games.
