“OUR aim was to show Guernsey that we are able to play at their level, and we certainly did that.”
Those were the words of Claudine Snape, Island Coach at Jersey Softball, after the annual Upton and inter-insular games on Saturday.
Hosted at Les Quennevais, Jersey Softball welcomed Guernsey’s best softball talent to compete for four prestigious trophies: the “A Muratti”, the “B Muratti”, the “D1 Upton” and the “D2 Upton”.
The final match of the day was the main spectacle where Jersey’s best faced off against their Bailiwick counterparts.
The Caesareans raced out of the blocks in the “A Muratti” clash, halting the Sarnian opening flurry at three, while claiming a whopping six runs by the end of the first innings.
Notably, an impressive hit from Keegan Peterson scored a home run, also bringing Snape home, who was loaded on second base.
Carrying the momentum into the second, impressive fielding meant the Guernsey A side were only able to add one to their tally, while the Jersey attack added three off the back of their second homer of the game.
This time, a phenomenal strike from Chris Le Lion soared over the Guernsey left field, giving the loaded bases, as well as himself, plenty of time to stroll home, taking the score to Guernsey A 4-9 Jersey A.
Guernsey mounted some resistance in the third, crawling two runs closer on their turn to bat, while completely nullifying the Jersey offensive efforts on theirs.
An equal fourth innings saw both teams claim two runs before their three outs, taking the score to 11-8 before the top of the fifth, where Jersey held Guernsey to zero.
Taking full advantage of holding the Sarnians on eight runs, the Caesareans edged further ahead using the red-hot bat of Peterson to score yet another home run on top of the effort of Heidi De Freitas bringing Caitlyn Henessy home.
Sensing defeat on the horizon for the first time in over a decade, Guernsey A put together an impressive six runs in the top half of the penultimate innings, equalling that of Jersey A in the first, and placing them right back in contention for the trophy.
Jersey just about remained ahead before the commencement of the final innings as three players in red scrambled their way to the home plate, placing the score at Jersey A 16-14 Guernsey A.
Having found their rhythm in six, the Sarnians continued their mighty comeback, adding another five to the board, placing the ball firmly in the locals’ court.
Sadly for the Jersey A side, it was not to be as they were only able to make one full run home before getting caught out to end the clash.
Snape continued: “We haven’t won [the A Muratti] in something like 12 years, and in the past, the matches haven’t been the most competitive. I’m so proud of the effort we have put in over this past year and it’s so nice to see such a difference.
“When you’ve put in all that effort, and all the training, to actually have something to show for it, particularly, to show Guernsey that we’ve improved is really rewarding.”
The “B Muratti” was a much lower-scoring game, with Guernsey B proving superior to Jersey B 8-2.
Preceding the inter-insular games were the Upton events – which, much like their football counterparts, are where the best Jersey and Guernsey league teams face off against each other.
The “D2 Upton” saw Guernsey’s offering of the Harrison Windows Hurricanes get the better of Jersey’s Raiders 13-7, while the “D1 Upton” also went in Guernsey’s favour with the NE Electrics Rookies topping the 3Ci Sport Flyers 22-6.
Despite lacking a number of key players on the Jersey side due to other commitments, the highly competitive nature of this year’s inter-insular clashes was a product of the recent developments in softball’s grassroots on Jersey.
Snape explained: “We’ve had some funding from the Jersey Community Foundation to support our development in terms of bringing in new adults to play, and to establish a youth pathway.
“Adults-wise you just have to look at Keegan [Peterson], he fired two home runs today and he’s pretty new on the softball scene.
“We’re also now able to provide youth training for secondary school-aged children on a Friday throughout the summer.
“Basically, we really want to keep on pushing and offering more people an opportunity to play the sport.”
If you want to get involved with Jersey Softball, feel free to reach out to them through their social media accounts, for example: facebook.com/JerseySoftballAssociation, or check out their web page: jerseysoftball.com
Jersey Softball A Team: AJ Blackwell, Caitlyn Henessy, Andy Romeril, Claudine Snape, Chris Le Lion, Erin Thompson, Keegan Peterson, Heidi De Freitas, Luke Hand, Inez Banasiak, Phil Bouchard, Michelle Le Lion, Robin Tadier.
Jersey Softball B Team: Ben Benander, Carey Benander, James Marshall, Chelsey Warner, Javier Gonez, Emma Hunter, Jordan Lane, Maritza Gouveia, Luke De La Cour, Rachel Mauger, Rob Duckett, Topaz Gay.
Results:
D2 Upton 2024: Harrison Windows Hurricanes 13-7 Raiders
D1 Upton 2024: NE Electrics Rookies 22-6 3Ci Sport Flyers
B Muratti 2024: Guernsey B 8-2 Jersey B
A Muratti 2024: Guernsey A 19-17 Jersey A
