An up and down season for the Sliders ended on a high with Kirsty being voted as Female MVP at the Softball Ulster awards night and Tim receiving the Best Umpire award.
This year we welcomed a number of new faces and lost a couple of familiar ones. For the first time since the club’s formation a new captain in Dan with Will leaving part way through the season for Canada. Sliders’ results see sawed throughout the summer. Poor performances against the Cubs and Brawlers saw heavy defeats. There was also a first loss against the Aces for 7 years in a closely fought epic. However, there were plenty of positives. Sliders often played with 9 and responded to that defeat against the Aces by thumping them in the return fixture the following week. There was also a close short handed defeat to the big hitting Cubs which was close to a win and also two big victories over the Bucs.
Individually there were some strong performances. Jonny pitched well in his first season in green and was voted Sliders male MVP. Kirsty thoroughly deserved her league award improving throughout the year at 2nd and 3rd. Marian was club female MVP playing nearly everywhere in the infield and outfield at some point or other. The outfield worked hard usually as a three doing a lot of running. Dave hit a home run a game and there was a first career home run for Andrew.
Ultimately, third place is disappointing for Sliders who until last year were consistently inthe top two. The batting was good when we concetrated and dreadful when we didn’t! The traditional strong Sliders defence sometimes looked a little shaky. This can be put down to regularly playing short handed meaning that players were often out of position. It also meant the constant problem of the auto out which cost us more often or not. However, there is plenty or promise and with a bit of hard work in the off season Sliders plan to be challenging the top again next year!