Most people in Denmark has heard about Baseball and most Danes have an idea of what Baseball is. Our experience has been that the same cannot be said about Softball or Fast Pitch Softball as it is called. During last week’s First and last day of the week, Aarhus got to know Softball a little better.

The Games

Monday 21 was the first Softball Game Day at the home field in the 2018 season. Last year’s second division winner and the runner up – both from the same club in Odense – came to Aarhus to play two games of Fast Pitch Softball against last year’s last place holder… Århus Softball Team.

It was two exciting games although both where lost and ended early due to the “mercy rule”. However, having in mind that Århus played with a mixed team of completely green players, experienced players and a few “inbetween’ers”, Århus put up a good fight against the two strongest teams in the league.

Most importantly: the team experienced playing a real game together as a team.

At the end of the week, Sunday, Last year’s winner “Oldstars” visited Aarhus once again, but this time the other team playing Århus was not from Odense, but Øksendrup. Øksendrup is the home of “Østfyn Oysters” – the only team Århus Softball Team managed to clear a win against in the 2017 season.

The fact that Oysters where to visit Aarhus, gave some hope to the Århus Team.

The first game against Oldstars was almost a replica of the Sunday before. Few errors, good at bats and Århus was generally playing a good game. Oldstars where simply a better team and therefore took the win once again.

Århus played a fantastic game against Oysters up until the end of the third inning. Århus had the lead and was playing arguably better up until Oysters hit a grand slam home run, which turn the tables on the scoreboard. The score was now 9-11 and although the lead wasn’t too big, it affected the moral of the Århus players.

A few innings later Oysters won on mercy.

It’s not about winning

Although every player on the Århus Team wants to win, it’s not about winning. It’s a work in progress and having a team of new players who needs to learn how to work together as a team takes time. Last season’s softball team was a team that could barely set a line up and played six of their games with only 8 players or less. Not winning games is not a result of failure, but experience learned on the way to victory.