Softball Superstars

On Wednesday 22nd May, nine students from Year 10 & 11 went to Sir William Borlase Grammar School to take part in the inaugural Softball fixture. On arrival, the confidence and ability of the Borlase students was obvious as they warmed up on their Softball pitch under the watchful gaze of their coaches and the umpires. They pitched, hit, caught and threw with speed and accuracy: they appeared a slick team. The Great Marlow team had, up to this point, experienced two short after school sessions, and two lunchtime sessions, with a different mix of students on each occasion. Most of these sessions were introductory in that they were about becoming familiar with the equipment and the rules. The GMS team are grateful for the input from a Softball expert Mr Le Marquand.

At first GMS players raced into a 5-1 lead. While Mr Bullock, and most of the team, were happy to call it a day at this point, SWB wished to continue playing more innings and quickly pulled things back. The score reached GMS 7-7 SWB after the second innings, GMS 7-19 SWB after the third innings before a late rally saw GMS lose by 26-13 at the end. SWB students and staff all commented on how well our players had performed and could not believe they had received so little training. Our team of Ben Harris, Rachel Goodwin, Pete Farrar, Chloe Wilkie, Alex Gray, Emily Groom, Sam Buckfield, Eddie Ntahira, Max Roberts and reserve Joelle Wilkie, earned their plaudits. We are hopeful of performing even better in the next feature.

On Wednesday 5th June a Year 9 GMS Softball team played against Borlase. With this team, however, it had not been possible to arrange any formal training sessions at all.  Captain Harry Donkin won the toss and opted to bat first, promptly standing up to take the lead as the opening batter. It took GMS slightly longer to find their feet and we trailed 5-0 and 10-2 after the first two innings.

The game, despite trailing, gave GMS students confidence.  Two incredibly impressive fielding displays restricted Borlase to only two further runs, while we started increasing our own tally. Runs from Emily Harness, Alex Moss and others, as well as a quite stunning catch from Joseph McNamara and quick fielding from Aimee Glover kept the score respectable. In addition, India Bonwick, Sam Robinson, Kirsten Barretto and John Fothergill all deserve mentioning for making the match memorable despite losing 21-8. Particular highlights were created by Freya Holliman chasing one of the Borlase batters to ensure that he was out, and Sam Robinson being caught out by rolling ball that promptly bounced over him as he stooped to collect it.

A wonderful spirit was maintained throughout and our players even thanked the Borlase students and staff for their help and the fixture. Cameron Lawrie, who tried his hand at both pitching and catching throughout the match, was singled out by Borlase staff as one of a number of impressive players.

Mr Le Marquand who umpired both matches, is chaiman of the Maidenhead Softball Club and keen to recruit new players. We will be liaising with him to provide taster sessions and coaching opportunities for Great Marlow students in the coming months. Imagine what the outcome would be if the students were trained. Keep your eyes out for notifications in the Sports Bulletin.