FARNHAM PARK SET FOR FESTIVAL OF BASEBALL

Over 350 baseball players from across the British Isles will descend on Farnham Park, near Slough, later this month for the inaugural BBF Summer Cup.

The event, which features 24 teams spread across three groups, is being held at the National Baseball and Softball Complex on Saturday 22nd July and Sunday 23rd July.

“This is the first event of its kind and will be a showcase for the best of domestic British baseball,” said Tom Thornhill, President of the British Baseball Federation, the sports national governing body. “As well as clubs from England and Wales, we are delighted that Baseball Scotland and Baseball Ireland will be sending strong teams to the tournament.

“Its going to be a great weekend of baseball and we hope local people and British baseball fans will take the opportunity to support this growing sport.”

There will be 46 games held over the weekend including playoff games to decide the winners of the Gold, Silver and Bronze groups.

The Gold Group is made up of teams of National Baseball League (NBL) and Triple A teams. The Silver Group is for Double A standard players and Bronze includes Single A and development teams.

Teams competing in the Gold Group include the London Mets, the current national champions, Baseball Ireland, Baseball Scotland and BC Vetra alongside other NBL teams such as the Croydon Pirates, Sheffield Bruins, Liverpool Trojans and Essex Baseball Club.

The Silver Group includes the Bournemouth Bears, Bracknell Inferno, Norwich Iceni and the University of Nottingham as well as the Bristol Bats, Formosa Islanders, Newcastle Nighthawks and Long Eaton Storm.

In the Bronze Group, there will be two representative teams from the South West and Wales and East of England Baseball leagues.

They will be joined by the London Mets A and Croydon Pirates A teams as well as the New Forest Thunder Knights, Stockton Grizzlies, Guildford Baseball Club and the Kent Mariners.

On Saturday the first games start at 9.00am and go through until 5.40pm. The first games on Sunday start at 8.00am with the playoffs starting at 2.30pm.

Spectators are welcome and there is no entry fee.

NBL photography by Jody Davies Photography