National Softball League


The National Softball League or NSL is a co-ed Slowpitch Softball league created for the 2009 British Softball season. The league has run every season since then and grew to a 2 division league in 2017. The inaugural season had 14 teams compete in 3 qualifying events, as well as the Premier Nationals.
12 teams compete in NSL1 and 12 teams compete in NSL 2 with promotion and relegation taking place between the divisions. For 2019, the Manchester Thunder were relegated from NSL1 to NSL2 while the Manchester Mavericks were promoted from NSL2 to NSL1.
The 2018 season will see the addition of an NSL3 tournament in which 8 teams will compete in a 2-day tournament. The top 2 finishing teams will replace the 2 relegated teams from NSL2 for the 2019 season.
The concept of the NSL is to improve the top level of Co-Ed Slowpitch Softball in the UK by exposing more players and teams to top-level competition.
The league's founders, Roger Grooms and Matthew Slorach, came up with the idea to link the already existing tournaments into a series, where points were awarded based on the finishing positions of teams at each event. This concept has been expanded upon where the NSL now provides a pre-defined fixture list for the season which makes sure each team plays all of the others in its division in a home & away format.

Results

The winners and runners-up from each season of NSL play:

Current Format

The two divisions for the 2019 season contain the following teams:
#NSL 1NSL 2
1Bristol TigersBristol Bees
2Blue SteelBlitz Bombers
3ChromiesBlitz Havoc
4H2OHoney Badgers
5KKsLeeds Terriers
6LegendsMisfits
7LNZThe Mob
8Manchester DodgersNaturals
9Manchester GreensoxNino Privados
10Manchester MavericksSPAM
11PioneersTempest
12Windsor KnightsWarriors

Inaugural 2009 Season Standings

The original 2009 teams and standings were:
TeampointsRunsA
Chromies43141
Baker Tomkins41153
H2038113
Pioneers38159
Slammers35138
Dragons34138
Munster29151
Los Amos de la Noche29214
Niners25173
Windsor Knights22201
Manchester Marvels22214
Coyotes15261
Nottingham Arrows14250
Solent Mariners14299

The benefits of the NSL were seen during the 2009 season with 14 teams competing at the 2009 Premier Nationals, increased interest from sponsors in the sport, and television coverage of the final at the Bristol tournament.