2024 Pre-season Preview: Thunder Eye a Consecutive Championship
The Manchester Softball League 2024 season kicks off on Wednesday May 1st. Despite a very wet start to the year teams are ready to play with Thunder eyeing a consecutive title.
Thunder were 2023 champions with Mavericks close behind them, losing only lost two games to Mavs’ three. Can Mavericks get the edge for a title win this season? Camels were third with a gap of four games behind the leaders. They’ll need to close that gap for a chance at the top spot. Second team Camels II will be joining them in division 1 with last year’s division 2 winners, Manchester Dodgers.
Thunder co-captain Luis Arrevillagas gives Thunder’s plans for the season.
“Manchester Thunder Softball Club has been working hard over the offseason to continue to build its four teams, to make them more competitive and even more inclusive. Thunder wish to retain the Division one title in 2024 and we have recruited a couple of new players to strengthen our line up. We’re looking forward to competing at the Nationals in the Summer against other league winners in the UK in Slough, representing Manchester. We’re looking forward to playing against the teams that have come up from Division two and meet new faces on the field. We are also looking forward to playing our more established competition; it’s always a great game against the Mavs, Camels and all other Div 1 teams.
“We’re looking forward to playing against the teams that have come up from Division two and meet new faces on the field.”
We want to wish everyone in the league a great season and we would also like to thank the exec members who give so much of their time to allow us to play in arguably the best league in the country.”
Dodgers’ captain Nicola-Jane Dyson says they’re ready for division 1.
“Manchester Dodgers used the season in Div 2 to re-group, recruit and build and started strong with back to back wins through the first rotation finishing undefeated at the half way point. Great vibes continued into the second rotation with all the team having fun, gelling well and racking up more back to back wins. This continued to the end of the season with just one loss in their all but perfect season. Promotion was gratefully received and we look forward to a good season back in Div 1 and having more Dodger Fun and wins along the way.”
“We look forward to a good season back in Div 1 and having more Dodger Fun and wins along the way.”
Just below in division 2 we are missing the relegated Greensox, who failed to register this year. Speeders have also dropped back into division 2. Tigers finished third last season and will be looking for a promotion competing against close rivals Titans. Both teams were equal on 9 wins and 7 losses last season. Freshly promoted from division 3 are the competitive Screwballs, a team in their fourth season. Along with them are division 3 winners Stingers.
Captain Chloe Patient gives her thoughts on the new season.
“We’re as ready as we’ll ever be for div 2. We’ve all been getting as much indoor softball as possible over the winter and keeping our skills sharp. It’ll be a very different experience this year but I think we’re up for it and the team are ready to go. I don’t think there’s any particular crunch games (although it will be nice to catch up with the Bats!) – all the teams in the division are solid and we want to come and give them all a decent game. I just want the team to be as good as they can be and if that means we win, that means we win. The main thing is that it’s still fun, and we’re still us. Bring on the journey.”
“The main thing is that it’s still fun, and we’re still us. Bring on the journey.”
This season, divisions 3 and 4 will be combined in an initial 11 team rotation. The division will then split into 6 & 5 teams, with the latter forming division 4. Hackers and Freeze dropped down into division 3 for 2024. Third place Bandidos missed out on promotion last year by only two wins. Coming up from division 4 are Barflies and Phoenix Fireballs.
Barflies captain Chris Radford speaks to MSL.
How does it feel about going into div 3 for the first time?
“Strange…! We’ve been used to the fun and games of division four for a long time and were always content with finishing in mid table there. We were all pleasantly surprised about how last season went and feel like we did pretty well as the underdogs against a few of the division three sides, so it’ll be interesting to see how we get on this time around. We’re all looking forward to the challenge!”
“Obviously, the plus side of getting beaten so quickly means you have a better chance of being at the front of the queue for chips after the game.”
Who do you see as the ones to beat?
“Hard to say…we’re expecting all the teams to be strong. The div 3/4 round robin gives us a great chance to play against a load of different teams so that’ll be fun. Looking forward to starting off the season vs. the Sluggababes as we always enjoy playing against them and have had a few back and forth games with them over the last couple of years.”
Are there any games that you feel will be particularly challenging?
“Erm…! All of them…?! Bandidos gave us a proper thrashing last year so we’ll be aiming to try and narrow the gap in the scoreline if we can! Obviously, the plus side of getting beaten so quickly means you have a better chance of being at the front of the queue for chips after the game.”
Are your team ready for the step up?
“We’ll see when the first pitch is thrown! Our pre-season training will start at about 6:30 on 7th May. We’ve kept most of the squad together, so we’re all familiar with what our strengths and our (many!) weaknesses are, which is great.
We’re losing a couple of players but will hopefully have one or two new faces joining us too. Regardless of what happens, we’ll give it a good go, have a laugh when we play (often at each other’s expense) and celebrate or commiserate with a drink after. We can’t wait to get started!”
We were sad to see that Swingers and Greensox failed to register for this season and hope to see them in 2025.
