It may come as a surprise but Softball seems to be the new sport of choice for adults in Galway City with over five teams playing in a new league and the membership growing every day.
The Club has announced it will have its first-ever competitive league commencing on Monday, June 28, 2021, in St Marys College, Galway.
Over seventy players have been divided over five teams, with six male and four female players needed to make up starting team with subs coming in at various times and positions.
Historically Galway Softball Club has only competed in one-day blitzes in Dublin and the sports version of the All-Ireland which takes place in UL every august which is called the IOST (Irish Open Softball Tournament).
The IOST has 24 teams from the island of Ireland competing over a weekend, playing 8 games to win the final. Galway Tribes have never got to the IOST final, so hopefully, 2021 will be the year and after playing an unbeaten blitz in Dublin recently expectations are high for a strong performance and some medals coming to Galway. Softball is now an Olympic sport so with a bit of luck, in the future, Ireland will have a team competing and we have a Galway representative.
Galway Softball Pro Joe Naughton “It’s been a very exciting few months for Galway Softball, we had 15 players four years ago and to now have 60 players in a four-team league is just beyond our expectations.
He went on to explain a bit more about the sport “It’s a great game for anyone looking to start playing some sport, we have an age range for 20-55, as its Co-Ed, we have lots of couples and many people playing team sport for the first time, with twelve different nationalities helping the forty Irish form the league it really is a sport for everyone in Galway and of course, there is plenty of team meetings in the pub after matches.”
Galway Softball Club has also secured local sponsorship for the inaugural league with An Púcán, Kennys Bookshop, Irishscores.com, Electrical Mechanical Controls Ltd & Megadale Automation agreeing to name sponsorship of each of the league teams.
Speaking on Galway Softball Clubs announcement, Softball Ireland President Colum Lavery said “We are delighted to welcome the Galway Softball League to the Softball Ireland family. The growth of Softball in Galway has been a joy to watch over the last number of years and the efforts of the club members during the lockdown has been phenomenal.”
Lavery added “Galway have shown that there is a need for and demand for social, co-ed sporting activities post COVID, and we believe Softball offers the perfect mix of social interaction together with both recreational and competitive sport depending on the level you wish to play at. Today is about celebrating the success of Galway Softball Club and celebrating the inaugural league which launches this Monday.“
Speaking about the inaugural Galway League, Vinny McGrane Galway Softball Chairman said “It’s a great day for Galway Softball to be able to announce the inaugural Galway League. Without our sponsors, we would have really struggled to get this off the floor so a big thank you to An Púcán, Kennys Bookshop, Irishscores.com, Electrical Mechanical Controls Ltd & Megadale Automation. The fact that Galway Softball can attract the support of such impressive companies is a great measure of our current success.”
He went on to explain how the recent rise in players happened “There have been huge efforts to make this happen and I would like to thank Softball Ireland for their support over the years, the Galway Sports partnership for their funding, Galway Softball Committee for their many hours spent working on how to get a league going, and all the people that kept the club going since 1998. But most of all the players and coaches who have made this possible.”
Details on teams and fixtures for the inaugural Galway League are available on the club website Galwaysoftball.com and if you are interested in playing details are available there.
