National Softball League

The National Softball League or NSL is a co-ed Slowpitch Softball league created for the 2009 British Softball season (April - September). The league has run every season since then and grew to a 2 division league in 2017.[1] The inaugural season had 14 teams compete in 3 qualifying events, as well as the Premier Nationals (the top sports championship in the UK).

National Softball League
Current season, competition or edition:
2020 NSL 1 season
2020 NSL 2 season
SportSoftball
FounderRoger Grooms & Matthew Slorach
Inaugural season2009
DivisionsNSL1, NSL2
Venue(s)Farnham Park
Most recent
champion(s)		Pioneers (3rd title)
Most titlesH2O (4)
Official websiteeurosoftball.org

12 teams compete in NSL1 and 12 teams compete in NSL 2 with promotion and relegation taking place between the divisions. For 2019, the Manchester Thunder were relegated from NSL1 to NSL2 while the Manchester Mavericks were promoted from NSL2 to NSL1.

The 2018 season will see the addition of an NSL3 tournament in which 8 teams will compete in a 2-day tournament. The top 2 finishing teams will replace the 2 relegated teams from NSL2 (Pyromaniacs & Outlaws) for the 2019 season.

The concept of the NSL is to improve the top level of Co-Ed Slowpitch Softball in the UK by exposing more players and teams to top-level competition.

The league's founders, Roger Grooms and Matthew Slorach, came up with the idea to link the already existing tournaments into a series, where points were awarded based on the finishing positions of teams at each event. This concept has been expanded upon where the NSL now provides a pre-defined fixture list for the season which makes sure each team plays all of the others in its division in a home & away format.

Results

The winners and runners-up from each season of NSL play:

Year NSL 1 NSL 2
Winner Runner-up Winner Runner-up
2018 Pioneers Chromies Mavericks Warriors
2017 Chromies Pioneers KKs Naturals
2016 Pioneers H2O Manchester Dodgers Blitz
2015Chromies Slammers N/A
2014 Pioneers Blue Steel
2013 H2O Pioneers
2012 H2O Pioneers
2011 H2O Chromies
2010 H2O Chromies
2009 Chromies Baker Tomkins

Current Format

The two divisions for the 2019 season contain the following teams:[1][2]

# NSL 1 NSL 2
1 Bristol Tigers Bristol Bees
2 Blue Steel Blitz Bombers
3 Chromies Blitz Havoc
4 H2O Honey Badgers
5 KKs Leeds Terriers
6 Legends Misfits
7 LNZ The Mob
8 Manchester Dodgers Naturals
9 Manchester Greensox Nino Privados
10 Manchester Mavericks SPAM
11 Pioneers Tempest
12 Windsor Knights Warriors

Inaugural 2009 Season Standings

The original 2009 teams and standings were:

NSL 2009 league standings[3]
Team points RunsA
Chromies 43 141
Baker Tomkins 41 153
H20 38 113
Pioneers 38 159
Slammers 35 138
Dragons 34 138
Munster 29 151
Los Amos de la Noche 29 214
Niners 25 173
Windsor Knights 22 201
Manchester Marvels 22 214
Coyotes 15 261
Nottingham Arrows 14 250
Solent Mariners 14 299

The benefits of the NSL were seen during the 2009 season with 14 teams competing at the 2009 Premier Nationals (up from 7 teams at the 2008 A Nationals, which they replaced), increased interest from sponsors in the sport, and television coverage of the final at the Bristol tournament.

References
  1. "British Softball Federation Leagues - NSL 1". bsf.spawtz.com. Retrieved 2017-05-01.
  2. "British Softball Federation Leagues - NSL 2". http://bsf.spawtz.com/Competition/Details/116. Retrieved 2019-06-07. External link in |website= (help)
  3. "National Softball League". Retrieved 2009-10-09.
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