SPORTS> Feature and Column
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SPORTS> Feature and Column
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Baseball-Ireland pitches for the big time
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-07-26 12:49 DUBLIN, July 26 - In 1996, a group of Irish softball players decided to form a national baseball team. They had little experience, less money and nowhere decent to practise -- just a boggy field, a few posts, a bit of netting for a backstop and some old softball gear but they were determined to compete in that year's European Championship. "We were very green," admits captain John Dillon, who played in that first B-Pool tournament in England. Ten years and a European bronze medal later, Ireland's national team are not only gunning for a place in the European premier league but also starring in their own film, "The Emerald Diamond", which premiered in Dublin this week after a U.S. tour. It is a long way from their early knockabouts when a group that included business executives, shop workers and teachers who played softball in their spare time decided to try something with more of what coach Sean Mitchell calls "an edge". The assembled Irishmen, expatriate Americans and immigrants faced off on a soggy Dublin field with many, already in their 20s and 30s, learning the arts of pitching, catching and batting for the first time. "We had no idea," said Mitchell. "We hadn't played in a proper field, we hadn't played in a proper competitive match." The Irish were confident, however. The newly-formed team looked at their competitors -- sides such as Poland and Lithuania -- and thought they had a good chance. After all, how big could an American sport be in Eastern Europe? "It was a bit of a shock," Mitchell recalled. HOME GROUND Ireland lost 23-2 to the Czech Republic in their first game and managed just 18 points to their opponents' 77 before the final game of the tournament, where they squeaked out a victory over Yugoslavia. The single win gave Ireland's players fresh impetus and they began work on securing a decent baseball field, delivered in 1998 thanks to a $140,000 donation from Peter O'Malley, former president of the Los Angeles Dodgers. |
