PLANT CITY, FL - The International Softball Federation’s (ISF) II Slow Pitch World Cup tournament began on Saturday, Oct. 8th and featured eleven teams representing six countries.

This years competition took place in Plant City Stadium and the Randy L. Larson Softball Fourplex on the grounds of the ISF’s world headquarters complex. The first Slow Pitch World Cup was held in 2002 at the same location with Great Britain taking first place.

World Cup play is for adult slow pitch teams. Teams from the U.S. are invited to participate while international teams go through the national governing body for softball in their country for approval.

After suffering their first defeat of the tournament, which forced an if game, the Clan Softball team from Scotland won the International Softball Federation’s (ISF) II Slow Pitch World Cup on Monday, Oct. 10th. The winners posted a 9-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Fishery (Lakeland, FL) to finish with an overall record of 8-1. The gold medal game saw the Tampa Bay team open a 1-0 lead before Clan Softball tallied five runs over the first two innings on their way to the title.

Tampa Bay forced the if game by downing the Scots 12-5. After opening up a 12-0 lead by scoring runs in each of the first five innings, the Fishery team saw the Clan score in the bottom of the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. This was not enough as the Clan was handed their first defeat after winning all four of their pool play games and then their first three games in bracket play.

Tampa Bay earned the opportunity to face Clan Softball for the World Cup by winning 4-2 over A.F. Masonry (Plant City, FL), who took home the bronze medals.

A.F. Masonry lost to Clan Softball, 11-5 in the morning, which sent them on to the bronze medal game against Tampa Bay Fishery. Tampa Bay advanced by eliminating Great Britain1, 7-5, in a decision that ensured the event’s second edition would have a new World Cup champion.

The 11-5 Clan win over A.F. Masonry got off to a bad start for the hometown hitters, with the team from Scotland racking up seven runs in the top of the first inning, and building their lead to 9-0 before A.F. Masonry finally scored three times in the bottom of the fourth.

For Tampa Bay Fishery, their 7-5 win over Great Britain1 had a similar outcome to the two teams’ meeting in round robin play when the Florida team won a close game that featured a lot of offense (13-12). This time around it was a big fifth inning that spelled the eventual ouster of the team from overseas. Tampa Bay trailed 4-1 after four innings, but scored six times in the top of the fifth to send themselves on their way to the rematch with the A.F. Masonry team in the bronze medal game after having lost to them 12-9.

Things weren’t necessarily easy for the Clan team in their road to the gold medal game. And not just because of their loss to Tampa Bay Fishery. In their first game of the day, the Scots found themselves trailing Great Britain1, 13-1, but they not only rallied to tie the game in the sixth inning, but won it with a two-out, walk-off home run by Jon Weaver in the bottom of the seventh. Great Britain1 had gotten all their runs in the first (five runs) and third (eight runs) innings.

The final day had two other one-run games as well, with the Wild Rovers (Ireland) getting past Great Britain2, 9-8, and the Cayman Islands edging Nassau Four (Bahamas), 12-11. The Wild Rovers got knocked out in their next game though, a 21-11 loss to Tampa Bay Fishery, and the Cayman Islands suffered a similar fate, falling 9-6 to Great Britain1.