Devon Women's Softball League Finals 2022
The Devon Women’s Softball League has gone from strength to strength in its second full season of play. The addition of a new division and an increase in teams of over 50% saw more than 80 games played in the league during 2022.
The culmination of a very successful season concluded at Creedy Park in Sandford, as the Division Winners faced one another to see who would become the League Champions of 2022.
Division Winners:
| South Division Winners | West Division Winners | Central Division Winners | East Division Winners |
| Paignton CC |
Moorland Maidens (Buckland Monachorum and Yelverton Bohemians CC) |
Exmouth CC | Ottery St Mary CC |
Semi-finals
Ottery St Mary won the toss and elected to field, getting off to a good start, taking a wicket in the first pair and restricting Exmouth to just 24 runs from the first four overs. Ottery continued to take wickets regularly with Christine Walker taking 3 wickets for 27 runs off her 4 overs. Gradually though Exmouth grew in batting confidence and with some good scores form Lou Timlin (17) and Anna Higgins (14), they posted a total of 101/5 for Ottery to chase.
Their good bowling performance (Polly Carr 4-1-9-0) filled Ottery with confidence as they went out to bat, but with a wicket from Debbie Chilcott and a run out the ball after, Ottery found themselves on the backfoot. Whilst Exmouth struggled to find their line and length, their fielding was on point and whilst Ottery were hitting the ball, they did not hit a boundary during their whole innings. It seems that the one boundary would have made all the difference as Ottery, needing 33 off the last four overs, were short by just four runs. It was a very tense finish to the semi-final and a great game of cricket.
In contrast to the other semi-final, Paignton won the toss and elected to bat. After a tentative few overs, Julie Simpson finished the first pair’s over with 14 runs (4,4,6).
Paignton continued to score well and with 5 boundary 4s from Steph Kaczalska and a further 4 boundary 4s from Imogen Wray, Paignton ended on an impressive 154 with the loss of just one wicket.
Moorland Maidens, whose ethos is fully inclusive, came to the crease with a large total to chase. They started positively and carried this attitude throughout their batting performance, but with the loss of regular wickets they could never really build a total and Paignton took the win and would meet Exmouth in the final.
3rd/4th Play off
Moorland Maidens vs Ottery St Mary
On Pitch 2, Ottery St Mary played Moorland Maidens for the 3rd/4th play off. Ottery won the toss again, but this time choose to bat. It was the right decision. Scoring at just over 9 runs an over, they completed the innings with 149/3 with an impressive 30 off 15 balls from Polly Carr and 15 runs off 14 balls from Harriet Squire.
Lesley Thomson got the Moorland Maidens off to an excellent start, scoring 13 off 9 balls and Kate Hutchinson (17) finished the innings well. But with the loss of 10 wickets in between these two batters, once again Moorland never really looked like reaching the total and Ottery St Mary were the clear winners.
The Final
Paignton again won the toss and elected to bat. Moving from the grass to the artificial did not agree with Paignton and they struggled to find the batting performance they found against the Moorland Maidens. With some tidy bowling from Debbie Chilcott (4-1-9-2) and some more athletic fielding, Exmouth once again restricted the scoring. Paignton, with no boundaries scored, posted a total of 86/6.
Needing just over 5 runs per over, Exmouth came to the crease knowing they could do this if they kept their nerve. Confident from their bowling performance, they took no risks, lost only two wickets, and batted their way to victory!
Congratulations to Exmouth CC who became the Devon Women’s Softball League Champions for 2022!
It has been a whirlwind story for Exmouth, who only started their women’s section in July 2021 and have since gone from strength to strength.
Well done to Paignton too, who are one of the few clubs in the county to offer softball and hardball cricket for women at their club. They have worked hard for many years to develop a sustainable model and boast a thriving girls' section.
The day was a perfect end to a competitive season and clubs look forward to doing it all again next year.
Many thanks to all the clubs for their hard work and dedication to the women’s game, especially the captains and managers of the teams. Thanks also to Sandford CC for hosting and Chris Cotterell for the photos.
If your club is interested in women’s softball, then please email Ann-Marie Presswell.
