The first two weeks are in the bag for the returning Edinburgh Softball League. Played under unseasonal bright blue skies, one of the hardest things for fielders and batters to deal with has been the bright yellow thing that has dominated the sky over Edinburgh the past few weeks (reports that this is called the sun have yet to substantiated!)

Due unfortunately to a team being forced to drop out of the league, all 13 teams took to the field to stake their claim that a winter of preparation had paid off and that they could contend for one of the 3 titles on offer. The league format has been re-jigged slightly with the Inglorious Batters being promoted to the top league with the Capitals and Demons being relegated from last year. This has seen the top division being made up of 7 teams with the further 8 battling it out in the division below. As this is Scotland we could not let the opportunity pass for a bizarre split situation to occur which will see Division 1 split after the first round of head to head games into a top 4 and bottom 4. They will then battle it out for the trophies and medals on offer with the teams in each section.

Week 1 was kicked off by the newly promoted Inglorious Batters going down to the Dalmeny Dodgers 19 – 4. In Division 1, a tight battle saw the Forgers coming out on top of the Vandals in a 1 run ball game 9 – 8. Defending Champs the Souls got their title defence off to a winning start by defeating the Doh’Nuts 28 – 4 with The Vultures scoring an opening week victory over the Laxadaisicals 34 – 18. Wednesday night saw the Broken Batz fight it out against the Rally Caps. The game was settled in the Rally Caps favour by a score of 22 – 2. In Divisions 1, the Demons came up against the Haar Hitters but went down to a score of 20 – 4. In the final game of the week, the newly relegated Capitals took on the Bolts with the final score of 23 – 8 going in the Capitals favour.

Week 2 gave the teams a chance to once again prove that the week 1 result was no fluke or give the vanquished a chance to attune for the defeat. The Marabou Storks got their campaign off to a winning start with a 25 – 3 win over the Inglorious Batters with the Haar Hitters showing they will be a force to reckon with this season by knocking off the Vultures 19 – 13 to go to 2 – 0 for the season. Tuesday night saw only one game going ahead with a titanic struggle being settled the way of the Vandals who overcame the Demons in a slugfest 41 – 34. Wednesday saw the Broken Batz get into the win column with a 25 – 10 win over the Doh’Nuts. In Division 1, the Capitals managed to advance to 2-0 with a hard fought victory over the Forgers 19 – 12 which could have gone either way. The last games of the week saw the Souls defeat the Dalmeny Dodgers 17 – 11 to go top of the league with 2 wins from their opening 2 games. Division 1 came to an end with the Bolts striking down the Laxadaisicals 25 – 6 to advance to 1-1 for the season.

The season has kick off in cracking fashion and long may the glorious weather continue. However this being Edinburgh we all know that it would foolish to pack away the water proofs just yet…….