Voodoo's 3rd/4th @ GB Slowpitch Open

Seth Batting against Retro's


Jen Pitching against Thunder


Sonic Boom Taking Off after a hit


Baron Samedi said:

There were celebrations and smiley faces all round on Saturday 19 May, when the Voodoos notched up their best result so far this year, a fantastic third place in the C-grade Trophy at the GB Open tournament in Chiswick.

The team had a rocky start to the day when their first game against Raiders Gold did not quite go according to plan, with players missing and confusion and chaos reigning on the pitch. Even the sudden appearance of the long-awaited Voodoos shirts, which were hand-stitched by Haitian high priestesses and infused with magical secretions, failed to improve the game situation, although everyone looked much more attractive in the stylish lime green and white T-shirts. The game ended in a loss for the Voodoos, although there were many moments of outstanding play, such as Amy’s catches in left field and, er, some good hits and stuff.

The Voodoos’ next game was against the friendly Finsbury Dazzlers. Sneaky Agwe (a former Dazzler) was full of useful insider information on the team and individual players. The Voodoos batted and fielded well, and Camille made a spectacular tag at home plate to secure victory by one run for the team.

The final round robin game was against the unpredictable Common People. The Voodoos were ahead for much of the game, but the Peeps managed to hang in there and the game finished even stevens with a draw. The Voodoos finished second overall in their group.

On to the next round, and the Voods were up against the Retros, who to everyone’s surprise had resurrected themselves for the purposes of this tournament, and had hired two GB players to bolster their threadbare squad. Meanwhile, Voodoo shortstop Sonic Boom proved he was one of the greatest shortstops in the tournament with some fantastic plays. In the battle of the Greens v the Oranges, the Greens emerged to fight another day. It was a crucial game but the Voods were up to the task and played their most successful game of the day. The Retros’ fielding efforts were no match for the Voodoos’ batting power, and the team batted round the order, scoring at least nine runs or something in one innings alone. The game ended with the Voodoos thrashing the Retros by five runs.

While the Retros walked off in despair and disarray, the Voodoos threw themselves into the Trophy semi-final against the mighty Clapham Thunder with gusto, although by that time they were one man down and had to play six women and four men. Pitcher Jen stepped up to the challenge and performed brilliantly. Alas, the excellent Thunderers eventually emerged from the battle victorious, although their nerve was shaken and they were bruised and battered from their encounter with such supernatural softballers.

That marked the end of the Voodoos’ day of softball, but they were happy with their performance and performed their customary ritual dance and chant (“I DO believe in Voodoo – I DO! – I DO!”) to thank the ancient Vodou deities for watching over them and helping them reach such dizzying heights of success. Thankfully the traditional Voodoo ritual of sacrificing the weakest player was deemed to be unnecessary on this occasion and the team went to the pub instead.

Seth said:

We arrived in Chiswick, killed some chickens and came third! We started in complete disarray with 9 players and lost to Raiders Gold, beat the Dazzlers 9-8, drew with the Common People, coming second in the group. We didn’t even need to use our ‘buy-back plays’ (too complicated to explain!). We beat the Retros in the qualifier by 5 runs (despite them playing 2 GB players!!!), much to Baron Samedi's delight, and finally lost to the Thunder in the semi.

So third place overall was a great improvement on Slough. Highlights were Camille tagging out the runner trying to score the tying run at home to get the third out, and end the game against the Dazzlers, Tee Hee and Jen pitching in the wind and changing balls, and Witch Doctor delivering the shirts.

Big thanks to Witch Doctor for getting and carrying the shirts and to Tee Hee, Witch Doctor, Mike, Mojo for lifts

Tee Hee said:

Apart from the first game, we put in a great performance at the GB Open. We just needed to get there on time and it would have been even better!

Agwe said:

We can’t really say we came third! There are two semi finals so there is a loser from the other semi and we should play them to see who came third – we were either third or fourth! - if being technical.

Mike said (after seeing himself in the team photo):

Hat hair! I need a haircut.

Miss Loco said:

I hope everyone enjoyed Chiswick on Saturday as much as I did, and can't wait for the next tournament. Big thanks to Witch Doctor for the best t-shirts ever, Sonic Boom for sending the pics and Seth for organising everything.