Insurance company tournament thrives in the Manchester sunshine

Mon 7 Aug 2017

A sunny day in Manchester on Friday 4 August at Parrs Wood High School in Didbury was the perfect setting for the Insurance Institute of Manchester’s fourth annual softball tournament, which most participants felt was the best one so far.

In contrast to last year’s instalment, which had rain, rain and more rain, this year’s event was blessed with sunshine throughout the day and just a few decorative and non-threatening clouds, much to the pleasure and relief of all the teams competing.

Round-robin

The 10 financial services companies, including four making their softball debut at the tournament, were split into two groups of five to play an initial round-robin. Between games, players had the chance to network with colleagues and other members of the IIM.

Game rules were altered and simplified for safety and time purposes, and to cater for new players. Each round-robin game consisted of one inning where each team batted for 10 minutes. Indoor safety balls were used and players returned to their base following a caught ball.

Once round robin-games were complete, each team played a final against the team from the other group that placed in the same position.

The tournament won by St James’s Place, who beat HSB in a closely-contested final.

An instant raffle raised money for the men’s mental health charity CALM, with prizes including a bottle of Moet donated by QBE.

Comments

BSUK North West Coach Linni Mitchell said, “A big thanks to the members of the Manchester Softball League who lent a hand throughout the day, from helping erect gazebos to base-coaching brand new teams and to helping clear up empty beer cans at the end of the day. It’s great for us to see familiar faces returning to this tournament year on year, and really satisfying to see a handful of very enthusiastic MSL players whose love of softball began when playing in this very tournament with work colleagues in previous years.”

"Also, a big thank you to Tash Miotk,” Linni added, “who always puts so much time and effort into getting teams on board. I’m looking forward to next summer’s IIM tournament already.”

Tash Miotk, who has organised the event for the past four years along with fellow IIM Events Committee member Suchit Desai, said, “Thanks to everyone that came out to play, set up and umpire the IIM's annual softball tournament in aid of CALM and sponsored by Kempster Bowers, who provided prizes for the winning teams. Congratulations to St James's Place, who beat HSB in a thrilling final for first place."

BSUK North West Development Manager Luis Arrevillagas said, “This was our fourth tournament working with IIM and they get better each year. We love working with companies to set up events for their employees for team-building and networking. If your company wants to get involved in a corporate softball event, our Hit the Pitch programme has opportunities to get you playing. Contact me for more info information on la@bsuk.com.”