Standings

Standings calculated automatically from results. For Official Results and Standings please visit the Baseball Ireland website at [Results and Standings References: 1]

Playoffs

Regular Season Results

For Official Results and Standings please visit the Baseball Ireland website at [Results and Standings References: 1]

Weekly Recaps

Week 1

About

About Softball Leinster Division 2 2023

The 2023 Softball Leinster season features six, as in 2022, however, 2022 Champions Wicklow Wolves and second-placed Hippety Hipsters have been promoted to Division 1 for 2023, with no team relegated from that division. Bottom team in 2022 Marlay Mustangs have been relegated to Division 3 for the 2023 season and Homers and Base Devils have merged to become Homer Devils. 2022 Division 3 Champions Average Joes and third-placed Ashbourne Antlers have been promoted to Division 2. New teams for 2023 in Softball Leinster, and placed in Division 2 are Navan Dragons and Hypnotists.

Ashbourne Antlers and Navan Dragons both represent Co. Meath, Leinster; Average Joes, Homer Devils and Hypnotists all represent Co. South Dublin, and are based in Stannaway Park, Kimmage, Dublin 12. Castleknock Wildcats are based in Castleknock College, Dublin 15, and represent, Co. Fingal, Dublin.

ABOUT Softball Leinster

The Leinster Softball League has its’ origins in the Dublin Softball League (1982-1989) which became a founder member of Softball Ireland in 1990 after teams were discovered also playing Softball in Limerick and Cork. Now known as Softball Leinster, the Leinster Softball League is one of three Provincial Softball Organisations in Ireland – Softball Ulster and Softball Connacht Munster are the other two – with the winners of each Provincial League competing for the Softball Ireland National Club Championship.

Softball is like Baseball but the major differences are the Pitching is underarm in Softball as opposed to Overarm in Baseball; there are 10 players Fielding Defence in Softball as opposed to 9 in Baseball; and the Infield where the players run around bases in an attempt to get back to homebase in smaller in Softball than in Baseball.

Softball has three main variations: Fastpitch Softball where the Pitching can be as fast as in Baseball is primarily a Women’s Sport with a Professional League and College League in USA being the top leagues in the world; Slowpitch Softball where the pitching is underarm also but in a soft arc and much slower; and Indoor Softball which is as its’ name suggests played indoors. In the Indoor variation if the ball is hit off the far end wall and bounces back onto the ‘field’ without being touched it is a home run. Also in the Indoor variation a team loses a point for each player out and gains a point for each base reached without an out and getting home. The other two variations on Softball the scoring is very like Baseball with a point (called a ‘Run’) scored when a player makes it all the way around the four bases back home.

Scoring and Rules

The object of the games of Baseball and Softball are to hit the ball pitched at the batter and advance around four bases back home. Teams take turns Batting (Offence) and Fielding (Defence). The team that scores the most runs over 7 innings in Softball and 9 innings in Baseball is declared the winner. Each time a team takes turns batting it is an inning. The away team (‘road’ team) bats first (this is called the top of the inning) and the home team second (bottom of the inning) in each inning. An inning is over whenever the batting team has three players caught, run, or struck out.

A player does not have to get all the way around the four bases back home in the one play (‘at bat’) but can do so over a number of plays (players ‘at bat’). When a player makes it all the way around the four bases back home on the one play (in other words when the player ran all the way around four bases back home on their own hit) it is called a Home Run. Players may be struck, caught or run out. In addition when at home plate attempting to hit a pitch players have three strikes to be out but four ‘balls’ pitched (in other four bad pitches). If four ‘balls’ are pitched before three strikes the player may advance to first base. A player must run to first base when they hit the ball. If the ball passes over home plate within the ‘strike zone’ (an area the width and depth of home plate and from the batters chest to their waist). For an explanation on the Strikezone and its’ evolution over time please see the Major League Baseball page on the subject: https://www.mlb.com/official-information/umpires/strike-zone

Map of Ireland 2022 Counties, Boroughs and Districts showing logos and locations of Softball Leinster teams

Softball Gear Stock Image

References

Scoreboard References

[1] Softball Leinster (2023) 2023 Division 2 [Internet] Available from: https://www.softballleinster.ie/table/2023-division-2/ [Accessed 4 May 2023]

[2] Softball Leinster (2023) Ashbourne Antlers [Internet] Available from: https://www.softballleinster.ie/team/ashbourne-antlers/  [Accessed 4 May 2023]

[3] Softball Leinster (2023) Average Joes [Internet] Available from: https://www.softballleinster.ie/team/average-joes/  [Accessed 4 May 2023]

[4] Softball Leinster (2023) Castleknock Wildcats [Internet] Available from: https://www.softballleinster.ie/team/castleknock-softball-club/castleknock-wildcats/  [Accessed 4 May 2023]

[5] Softball Leinster (2023) Homer Devils [Internet] Available from: https://www.softballleinster.ie/team/homers/  [Accessed 4 May 2023]

[6] Softball Leinster (2023) Hypnotists [Internet] Available from: https://www.softballleinster.ie/team/stannaway-softball-club/hypontics/  [Accessed 4 May 2023]

[7] Softball Leinster (2023) Navan Dragons [Internet] Available from: https://www.softballleinster.ie/team/navan-dragons/ [Accessed 4 May 2023]

LOGO REFERENCES

IMAGES

[1] Baseball Ireland (2017) Baseball Ireland Logo Car Sticker [Internet] http://www.baseballireland.com/images/carsticker.jpg [Accessed 1 May 2017

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to Marlay Mustangs and Marlay Martyrs

ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish, North American & World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 11 May 2023

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2023

You may quote this document in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Reserved. The Logos and Photos used in this article remain the property of the organisations and individuals which own the copyright and are used here for educational and information purposes only.