Softball Bundesliga 2008

The German softball championship 2008 began on April 20, 2008 with the first day of play in both the North and South Softball Bundesliga and ended with the final tournament of the four best teams on September 20 and 21, 2008 in Mannheim. The German champions were the Hamburg Knights ahead of the runner-up Neunkirchen Nightmares as well as the Mannheim Tornados and the Haar Disciples .

Regular season

The regular season was played as a double round tournament , so that each team played against every other team both at home and away. Two games were played on one day as a so-called double header , which means that both teams faced each other four times. The four best-placed teams of the regular season played in the play-offs for the championship, the worse-placed teams in the play-downs for non-relegation.

1. Bundesliga North

Only 6 teams competed in the 1st Bundesliga North, so the teams played against each other not just twice but three times. This increased the number of games for each team from 20 to 30, compared to 24 games in the 1st Bundesliga South. However, due to the small number of participating teams compared to the South Division, the play-downs had to be dispensed with, so that an approximately equal number of games was guaranteed for all teams.

In the final accounts, the Hamburg Knights were able to defend their title as northern champion with 26: 4 wins over the Neunkirchen Nightmares . The Wesseling Vermins found themselves in third place , while the Brauweiler Raging Abbots secured the last playoff place. The playoffs missed the Cologne Cardinals with 9:21 wins and the promoted Kiel Seahawks , who only had one win in the very last game of the season against the Cologne women.

Final table:

	team	G	V	Pct.	GB
1.	Hamburg Knights	26th	4th	.867	0
2.	Neunkirchen Nightmares	22nd	8th	.733	4th
3.	Wesseling Vermins	18th	12	.600	8th
4th	Brauweiler Raging Abbots	14th	16	.467	12
5.	Cologne Cardinals	9	21st	.300	17th
6th	Kiel Seahawks	1	29	.033	25th

1st Bundesliga South

The first Bundesliga South was clear from the Mannheim Tornados dominated that confidently with only one defeat in their first season game as last year Südmeister were. Also in the 1st Bundesliga South only seven instead of the eight possible teams competed, as the two relegated teams of the 2007 season, the Deggendorf Dragons and the Dreieich Vultures , the Augsburg Dirty Slugs, were the only newcomers.

Behind the Mannheim Tornados, the Haar Disciples , the Freising Grizzlies and the Herrenberg Wanderers secured their participation in the playoffs, while the Darmstadt Rockets , the Augsburg Dirty Slugs and the Karlsruhe Cougars had to make the play-downs.

Final table:

	team	G	V	Pct.	GB
1.	Mannheim tornadoes	23	1	.958	0
2.	Hair Disciples	18th	6th	.750	5
3.	Freising grizzlies	16	8th	.667	7th
4th	Herrenberg Wanderers	10	14th	.417	13
5.	Darmstadt Rockets	8th	16	.333	15th
6th	Augsburg dirty slugs	5	19th	.208	18th
7th	Karlsruhe Cougars	4th	20th	.167	19th

Playdowns

Play-Downs North

The play-downs in the north were omitted, as only two teams should take part in them. Since two teams also have to participate in the relegation from the Bundesliga, a play-down round to play off the seventh and eighth place in the table was not necessary.

Play-Downs South

The play-downs in the south were played from August 2 to 30, 2008 in a group of three between the Darmstadt Rockets, the Augsburg Dirty Slugs and the Karlsruhe Cougars. Although the Rockets could only win one of a total of four games, this victory was enough for them to avoid the relegation round for membership in the Softball Bundesliga 2009.

Final table:

	team	G	V	Pct.	GB
1.	Darmstadt Rockets	9	19th	.321	0
2.	Augsburg dirty slugs	7th	21st	.250	2
3.	Karlsruhe Cougars	7th	21st	.250	2

Play-offs

The play-offs began at the same time as the play-downs on August 2, 2008, but ended on August 24, 2008. The teams placed higher in the regular season were able to prevail in the cross-over games, so that two teams from the Bundesliga North and two teams from the Bundesliga South could drive to the final tournament.

Play-Offs:

	Quarter finals									Qualified for final tournament
	N1	Hamburg Knights	9	9	3
	S4	Herrenberg Wanderers	2	2	2
										N1	Hamburg Knights
										S2	Hair Disciples
	N3	Wesseling Vermins	13	0	10	2	2
	S2	Hair Disciples	12	10	3	3	8th
	N2	Neunkirchen Nightmares	17th	2	10
	S3	Freising grizzlies	0	1	3
										N2	Neunkirchen Nightmares
										S1	Mannheim tornadoes
	N4	Brauweiler Raging Abbots	2	0	0	2
	S1	Mannheim tornadoes	1	20th	8th	8th

Final tournament

The final tournament for the German softball championship took place on September 21st and 22nd in Mannheim on the places in the Roberto-Clemente-Field of the Mannheim Tornados. At the same time as this event, games 3 and 4 of the 5-game final series of the German baseball championship between the Mannheim Tornados and the Buchbinder legionaries took place on the Mannheim baseball facility on the same weekend .

The games of the final tournament were temporarily broadcast by zaplive.tv , albeit without comment or display of the score. The host also offered a live ticker on the Internet for the Sunday games.

Group stage

On Saturdays, the group games were played on fields A (the softball field) and B (the baseball field), during which the Hamburg Knights remained unbeaten and thus made it directly to the final. They were able to secure this direct entry into the final with a 4-3 win after two extra innings in the last game against the Mannheim Tornados, although Mannheim as the looking-up team had a runner on third base in the lower half of the 8th inning with only one out . The Haar Disciples remained without a win and so had to let the Neunkirchen Nightmares take part in the second day of the tournament after a 2: 4 defeat in the last group game and finally took fourth place.

Game 1 - Saturday 10 a.m. (Place A) team 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th R. H E. Hair Disciples 0 0 1 0 0 - - 1 3 4th Hamburg Knights 1 5 5 0 X - - 11 6th 2

Game 2 - Saturday 10 a.m. (Place B) team 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th R. H E. Neunkirchen Nightmares 0 0 4th 2 0 0 0 6th 7th 3 Mannheim tornadoes 0 0 4th 0 1 0 2 7th 12 3

Game 3 - Saturday 1 p.m. (Place A) team 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th R. H E. Mannheim tornadoes 0 0 0 2 4th 2 0 8th 7th 3 Hair Disciples 0 0 4th 0 0 0 0 4th 5 2

Game 4 - Saturday 1 p.m. (Place B) team 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th R. H E. Neunkirchen Nightmares 0 0 0 0 0 - - 0 1 2 Hamburg Knights 4th 0 0 2 1 - - 7th 10 2

Game 5 - Saturday 4 p.m. (Seat A) team 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th 8th 9 R. H E. Hamburg Knights 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 4th 5 1 Mannheim tornadoes 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 7th 4th

Game 6 - Saturday 4 p.m. (Place B) team 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th R. H E. Hair Disciples 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 7th 2 Neunkirchen Nightmares 0 0 2 0 2 0 X 4th 6th 1

Group table:

	team	G	V	Pct.
1.	Hamburg Knights	3	0	1,000
2.	Mannheim tornadoes	2	1	0.667
3.	Neunkirchen Nightmares	1	2	0.333
4th	Hair Disciples	0	3	0,000

Finals

The finals were played on Sundays and began with the semi-finals between the Mannheim Tornados and the Neunkirchen Nightmares to get into the final against the Hamburg Knights. The Neunkirchen Nightmares were able to return the favor for the defeat the day before and made a pure north final with their 4-2 victory. In this game, the Mannheimers could neither use the home advantage nor the advantage of the team that looked up and had to bury their hopes of defending their title and be satisfied with third place in the final score.

Semi-finals - Sunday 10 a.m. (place A)
team	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	R.	H	E.
Neunkirchen Nightmares	2	0	1	1	0	0	0	4th	5	2
Mannheim tornadoes	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	7th	5

In the final, the Nightmares had to admit defeat 6-0 to the Hamburg Knights after 1 hour and 53 minutes, who thus became German softball champions in 2008.

Final - Sunday 1 p.m. (Place A)
team	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	R.	H	E.
Neunkirchen Nightmares	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6th	1
Hamburg Knights	0	2	0	0	4th	0	X	6th	10	1

During the award ceremony, the individual awards for the best players in the final tournament were also given:
Best Batter: Shalayna Nutter-Gaudet (Mannheim Tornados)
Best Pitcher: Vivian Melzer (Hamburg Knights)
Most Valuable Player : Valentina Mommer (Hamburg Knights)

Web links

• Official website of the 1st Bundesliga softball
• Event website of the final tournament

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Schedule 1. Softball Bundesliga North: http://www.baseball-softball.de/bundesliga/index.php?id=00000156 . As of October 2, 2008.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Tables of the 1st Softball Bundesliga 2008: http://www.baseball-softball.de/bundesliga/index.php?id=00000158 . As of October 2, 2008.
3. ↑ Schedule 1. Softball Bundesliga South: http://www.baseball-softball.de/bundesliga/index.php?id=00000157 . As of October 2, 2008.
4. ↑ Participants 1. Softball Bundesliga South 2007: http://stats.baseball-softball.de/archive/2007/sbbls/ . As of October 2, 2008.
5. ↑ Schedule 1. Softball Bundesliga South Play-Downs: http://www.baseball-softball.de/bundesliga/index.php?id=00001383 . As of October 2, 2008.
6. ↑ Schedule 1. Softball Bundesliga play-offs: http://www.baseball-softball.de/bundesliga/index.php?id=00001381 . As of October 2, 2008.
7. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated December 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Archived copy ( memento of the original dated December 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . As of October 2, 2008.   
8. ↑ ^{a b} Results of the final tournament on the organizer's website Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 26, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . As of October 2, 2008. 
9. ↑ ^{a b} Results of the final tournament on the DBV website http://stats.baseball-softball.de/sbdm/ . As of October 2, 2008.
10. ↑ Boxscore Neunkirchen Nightmares vs. Mannheim Tornados Archived copy ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . As of October 2, 2008. 
11. ↑ Boxscore Neunkirchen Nightmares vs. Hamburg Knights Archived Copy ( Memento of the original dated February 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . As of October 2, 2008. 
12. ↑ Summary of the results of the German Softball Championship 2008 of the DBV Archived copy ( Memento of the original from December 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . As of October 2, 2008.