After a two year hiatus from tournament play the Pattaya Sports Club Softball Team returned to competitive play with an outstanding and completely unexpected runner-up finish in Bangkok on Dec 11.
The Pattaya team visited the Thai-Taiwanese field for a friendly tournament to prepare for the prestigious Thai-Taiwanese Tournament in Feb 2012 which will feature 15 teams from 9 countries. Because of the advanced age and physical and emotional ailments of most of the players on the Pattaya team, our focus was on having fun. We did that and more, after the round robin part of the tournament we had earned the 3rd seed in the single elimination finals.
The Pattaya Sports Club Softball Team as they lined up for the tournament in Bangkok, Sunday, Dec. 11.
We faced the Home Run Team from Bangkok in the semi final, a team we had lost to earlier in the day, and much to their shock, but less to ours, we easily beat them. This earned us a spot in the championship game against the Thai-Taiwanese A Team, who hadn’t lost a game all day. Despite our best efforts and dreams of glory, reality set in and we were taken to the cleaners, so to speak. But a runner-up finish in tournament play builds our confidence for a respectable finish in our next tournament in Feb.
The Pattaya Sports Club softball group plays every Sunday and is always looking for new players and welcomes everybody regardless of age, skill level, experience or time away from the game. We play slow pitch recreational pick ups games every Sunday at 12 noon and finish about 3pm. Show up a bit early to warm up, and get your name on the lineup.
We have some spare gloves and all the other equipment needed to play. We charge 40 baht to play which covers field maintenance, bats and balls, ice and all the free water you can drink (other beverages are available at reasonable prices). Spectators are always welcome as well, so come on out and give it a try!
To find the softball field, go south on Sukumvit, 800 meters past Theppasit Road (that is the intersection by the Outlet Mall), turn left off of Sukumvit onto soi 87, go 4.3km, turn left on soi 15, after 600 meters the softball field is on the left. There is a map and more information at www.pattayasports.org.
