This weekend the Sweden Baseball Softball Academy has scheduled an “Open House” in which coaches and players are welcome to see the training process of the players of the Academy. The purpose is to open the doors of the Academy and show coaches how the practices are set up and how the important winter practice sessions are carried out. Players who have applied to start the Adacemy this fall can also get a good start in their preparations for the Academy year 2012/2013.

On hand this weekend is Italian national team softball coach Paola Marfoglia, strength and conditioning coach Jared Elliott (Tampa Bay Rays), pitching coach Jerry Nyman (Kansas City Royals) as well as MLBI Academy Consultant Tom Gillespie. The Swedish Academy is run by Tony Klarberg, who oversees the day-to-day operations and practices.

During the five days of the “Open House” the players will have their normal weekday schedule (Thursday, Friday, Monday) and also have day-long clinics over the weekend. In wintertime, the Academy uses the indoor batting cage at the baseball field, tennis hall, and gym, for the practices. In a few weeks the players will also go outdoor and practice on the turf soccer field next to the baseball field.

The Swedish Academy differs somewhat from many other European Academies. It is integrated in the Swedish school system and is a three-year program at the Leksand Gymnasium in Leksand. The players all attend school in Leksand and practice between 8-10 times per week. The national program attracts student/athletes from all over Sweden since it’s accreditation (and funding) was approved by the Swedish Ministry of Education, starting with the 2011/12 school year. The accreditation assures the Federation that a prospective player – regardless of where he lives – has the right to get funding for his education from his home city when he is selected to attend the Academy in Leksand.

The Academy is a joint venture between the Swedish Confederation of Sports, the City of Leksand, and the Swedish Baseball and Softball Federation, with strong support from Major League Baseball International. It was started by the Swedish Baseball and Softball Federation in 2006 in co-operation with the City of Leksand.

Baseball Senior National Team

• Dennis Cook, Head Coach
• Stephen Labay, Bench Coach
• vacant, Pitching Coach
• Rickard Reimer, Assistant Coach
• Doug Skiles, Assistant Coach
• Ulf Steinvall
• Patric Blomqvist
• Julian Benitez

Softball Senior National Team

• Mattias Grimstoft, Head Coach
• Israel Nukunuku, Bench Coach
• vacant, Pitching Coach
• Karl Knutsson, Assistant Coach
• Peter Qvick

21U National Team Baseball

• Doug Skiles, Head Coach
• Rickard Reimer, Bench Coach
• Joakim Claesson, Pitching Coach
• Karl Knutsson

Junior National Team Baseball

• Håkan Börjes, Head Coach
• vacant, Pitching Coach
• Mattias Olsson, Assistant Coach
• vacant

Cadets National Team Baseball

• Stefan Nielsen, Head Coach
• Robert Claesson, Pitching Coach
• vacant, Assistant Coach
• Ante Carlstedt

Press Release Swedish Baseball and Softball Federation

The Swedish Baseball and Softball Federation held their Annual Meeting last weekend (March 26th) in Stockholm.

During the Annual Meeting, the SBSF member clubs and districts approved last years Report, the proposed budget for 2011 as well as the Operational Plan for 2011-2014. 14 clubs and one district was present at the Annual Meeting, held at Quality Hotel Nacka in Stockholm.

The Operational Plan for 2011-2014 emphasizes development initiatives in order to
1. Strengthen the clubs and districts
2. Develop more coaches and leaders
3. Increase recruiting in clubs
4. Develop competitions and events
5. Raise the competitive level of Elite players and National Teams

In the elections, Mats Fransson was re-elected as President for the Swedish Baseball and Softball Federation for a period of one year.

In the other elections for the SBSF Board, there was three vacancies to fill after the resignations of board members Henrik Jörgensen (Helsingborg), Åsa Höglund (Sundsvall) and Johnny Stormats (Leksand). To fill the vacancies, Maria Jönsson (Göteborg), Jenny Wonisch (Norrköping) and Karl Knutsson (Sölvesborg) was elected to the SBSF Board, while Lars Sundin was re-elected as member to the board. Stormats will continue to preside over the Competitions Committee outside of the SBSF Boardroom.

The SBSF board for 2011 is as follows:

• Mats Fransson, President
• Karl Knutsson, Vice President
• Ulf Steinvall
• Ola Sund
• Maria Jönsson
• Jenny Wonisch
• Lars Sundin

The Skövde Saints won the 2011 edition of the Swedish Softball Indoor Championship last weekend in Enköping. After winning three of four games in the preliminary round the Saints beat Sundsvall 4-2 in the finals. Leksand finished in third place, edging out Enköping.

Individual Awards:

• Minna Kulokorpi, Söder – Best Batter
• Nina Sarajärvi, Skövde – Best Pitcher
• Priya Mohlén, Skövde – Most Valuable Player

Final Standings:

1. Skövde I
2. Sundsvall
3. Enköping
4. Leksand
5. Söder

(Skövde II played out of competition)

For complete results and more pictures check out the official website of the Swedish Baseball and Softball Federation

Photo: © Swedish Baseball and Softball Federation

The Swedish national indoor Softball championship will be played at the Sports Hall in Enköping this weekend. Six teams will compete in the tournament, which traditionally kicks off the new baseball and softball season in Sweden. Last year’s winner Söder, as well as Enköping, Leksand, Sundsvall and two teams of Skövde will be on hand. However Skövde II is playing out of competition since some of the players will play on both teams of the club. Check out the official website of the Swedish Baseball and Softball Federation for a detailed schedule.

Photo: © SBSF

For more information contact the Swedish Baseball and Softball Federation

Results Playoffs:
Semi-Finals:
Skoevde Saints – Sundsvall 2-0 (12-2, 14-4)
Soeder – Enkoeping 2-1 (0-10, 9-5, 13-4)
Finals:
Skoevde Saints – Soeder 3-1 (14-6, 5-7, 11-4, 11-1)

Regular Season Standings:

1. Skoevde Saints 16-2
2. Soeder 12-5
3. Enkoeping 12-6
4. Sundsvall Mosquitoes 6-12
5. Leksand Lumberjacks 2-8
6. Norrkoeping KFUM 1-16

Box scores, complete results on Heatstat.se

Final Standings:

1. Söder
2. Sundsvall
3. Skövde
4. Goteborg
5. Enköping
6. Norrköping
7. Leksand

Complete Results and Pictures on Official Website of the Swedish Baseball and Softball Federation

Skövde and Söder will play in the Softball European Cups. Swedish champion Skövde is going to play the A-Pool in Haarlem, Netherlands. Söder is set for the B-Pool Cupwinners Cup, where the site isn’t determined yet. Söder, which finished second in Sweden this year, even could host this tournament according to the report on the official website of the Swedish Baseball and Softball Federation.

The board of the Swedish federation also decided to pay for the travel costs for the European Cup participating teams, starting in 2010.

Results Playoffs

Semi-Finals:
Skoevde Saints – Enkoeping 15-0, 17-7
Soeder – Sundsvall Mosquitoes 5-3, 2-3, 11-1
Finals:
Skoevde Saints – Soeder 4-0, 16-11, 9-0

Final Standings Regular Season

1. Skoevde Saints 25-1
2. Soeder 21-5
3. Sundsvall Mosquitoes 16-8
4. Enkoeping 16-10
5. Karlslund Eagles 9-17
6. Goteborg Hajarna 5-19
7. Leksand Lumberjacks 2-12
8. Norrkoeping KFUM 2-24

Complete Results and Stats at Heatstat.se

Baseball Digest: Piazza helps grow Baseball in Italy
Baseball Digest: Baseball in Spain gets boost from International Events
Sports Features Communications: Sweden aims at Baseball World Cup with Olympic bid in mind

Results:
Preliminary Round:
Group A
Sundsvall
Enkoeping
Goteborg
Leksand

Group B
Soeder
Skoevde
Karlslund
Norrkoping

Soeder – Karlslund 6-0
Enkoeping – Goteborg 4-3
Skoevde – Norrkoping 7-0
Leksand – Sundsvall 5-12
Karlslund – Skoevde 1-7
Norrkoping – Soeder 3-10
Sundsvall – Enkoeping 4-2
Goteborg – Leksand 2-1
Skoevde – Soeder 0-2
Enkoeping – Leksand 2-1
Karlslund – Norrkoping 9-1
Sundsvall – Goteborg 6-0

Playoffs:
Quarterfinals:
Sundsvall – Norrkoping 9-3
Soeder – Leksand 8-0
Enkoeping – Karlslund 2-1
Skoevde – Goteborg 11-0
Semi-finals:
Soeder – Enkoeping 3-1
Sundsvall – Skoevde 0-4
For Third Place:
Enkoeping – Sundsvall 1-2
Final:
Soeder – Skoevde 1-2

The Baseball team is going to have an exciting season with the Prague Baseball Week in July and the IBAF Baseball World Cup in September. The Swedish city Sundbyberg hosts a pool in the preliminary round with Sweden, Netherlands Antilles, Canada and Olympic Champion South Korea. The Softball team prepares for the B-Pool European Championships in Antwerp, Belgium from July 27th to August 2nd and hopes to qualify for the A-Pool.

Roster Baseball at Mini Camp:
Tomas Häggbom (Eskilstuna), Curtis Dionne (Goteborg), Michael Andersson, Stefan Fahlin, Christoffer Johansson, Kent Karlsson, Robin Lausen, Petter Lundbergm, Sami Säkkinen (Karlskoga), Håkan Börjes, Daniel Farth, Rickard Leander (Leksand), Markus Rosenkvist (Norrköping), Tomas Börjes, Nicklas Melin, Rickard Reimer, Kristoffer Sjöberg, Mattias Stenis (Rättvik), Oscar Carlstedt, Joakim Claesson, Petter Diurlin, Björn Johannessen, Peter Johannessen, Magnus Pilegård (Stockholm), Peter Elfving, Philip Gajzler, Per Lindgren, Joaquin Pedroso, Robert Porsklint, Johan Tisell (Sundbyberg), Mikael Andersson, Tony Dermendziev, David Leander, David Wennerlund (Tranås), Petter Vesterlund

Coaches: Kalle Knutsson, Magnus Höglund, Douglas Skiles, Julian Benitez

Roster Softball at Mini Camp:
Amanda How, Jonna Källström, Ida Westin-Eriksson (Enköping), Petra Holm, Kristina Härdner (Goteborg), Lisa Sjölin, Malin Thente (Karlslund), Malin Ellström, Lisa Ingels (Leksand), Sara Kallfors, Anna Rosenqvist (Norrköping), Lina Larsson, Ann-Sofie Rickardsson (Skövde), Frida Sahlin, Elsa Sjögren (Sundsvall), Ulrika Fräsén, Julia Johansson, Johanna Melin (Söder), Anna-Karin Solén-Westling (Tex Town Tigers, NED)

Coaches: Mattias Grimstoft, Tomas Wallén, Alana da Silva, Helena Poddany

Pitcher Annele Huckins of the Skövde Saints was perfect in her performance on Saturday. When Skövde beat Söder Black&Blue (13-0) in the Swedish Softball League, Huckins threw a perfect game, striking out all 15 batters she faced in the five inning shortened game.

Huckins, a graduate of Concordia University, is now 4-0 for the season with an ERA of 0.47. In her 15 IP, she has allowed only one hit, with 4 BB and 41 K’s.

The Saints are currently leading the standings in the Swedish Softball League with a perfect 8-0 record.

Standings:

1. Skövde Saints 8-0
2. Leksand Lumberjacks 2-0
3. Enköping 5-3
4. Sundsvall Mosquitoes 2-2
5. Söder 2-4
6. Karlslund Eagles 1-5
7. Norrköping KFUM 0-6

by Kristian Paelviae

Enkoeping, Sweden

As usual, the Swedish fastpitch softball season started indoors – with the traditional Swedish Indoor Masters, played for the 17th consecutive year, on March 1-2, 2008. This year, six women’s fastpitch teams gathered in Enkoeping to play for the SIM Cup over the three days the tournament covered.

And just like last year, the victory was for Skoevde Saints to celebrate. Anchored by tournament MVP Nina SARAJAERVI’s pitching the team fought back the other teams including Sundsvall Mosquitoes in the final, 4-0. The tournament saw a lot of tight games, with only two of 20 games settled with the mercy rule.

Elsa SJOEGREN, Sundsvall, was voted Best Pitcher of the tournament, while Ulrika FRAESEN of Soeder Black and Blue was voted Best Batter.

Round robin standings:

1. Skoevde Saints 5-0
2. Sundsvall Mosquitoes 4-1
3. KIF Eagles 3-2
4. Soeder Black and Blue 2-3
5. Norrköping Blue Sox 1-4
6. Enköping Wildcats 0-5

Semifinals:
Skoevde – Soeder 3-2
Sundsvall – KIF 4-3

Consolidation game (3rd price):
Soeder – KIF 2-0

Final:
Skoevde – Sundsvall 4-0

Photo: © Peter Blomqvist

1. Skövde Saints 23-1
2. Leksand Lumberjacks 17-5
3. Alby Softboll 13-11
4. Söder 9-13
5. Sundsvall Mosquitoes 9-15
6. Enköpping 7-17
7. Karlslund Eagles 4-20

Playoffs:
Semi-finals (best-of-three):
Skövde -Söder 2-0 (16-1, 19-1)
Leksand – Alby 0-2 (0-20, 0-22)
Finals (best-of-five):
Alby – Skövde 0-3 (4-15, 3-11, 2-9)

After winning the European Cup B-pool in San Marino earlier in August, Skövde Saints secured that they would be the Swedish team represented at the 2008 European Cup A-pool, winning the National Finals against Alby in three straight games.

Both teams had an easy road to the Finals, Alby beating Leksand 21-0, 22-0; and Skövde beating Söder 16-1, 19-1.
But in the finals Alby had problems to match the depth and strength of the Skövde team. The first two games on Albys home ground easily went to Skövde, 15-4 and 11-3, thereby only one win was necessary when the finals returned to Skövde for the last weekend.

And the Saints did not waste any time, as they finished off their rivals 9-2 in the third game and thereby securing the club’s second straight Championship. Starter Nina Sarajärvi went the distance for the Saints, pitching seven innings with ten strikeouts. Offensively it was all about Finals MVP Anna-Karin Solén Westling, who hit 3 for 4 with 5 rbi’s, including a homerun-in-the-park, and leadoff hitter Robin Flier who went 2 for 2 with a couple of walks and four runs. Solén Westling hit .643 in the final series with 11 rbi in the three games played. Key factors was also the strong playoff pitching by Nina Sarajärvi (2-0, 2.00 ERA, 14 IP, 2 BB, 13 K) and Kristi Leiter (2-0, 2.55 ERA) and a solid defense.

Over the course of the full outdoor season, Skövde Saints only lost once in 29 games, scoring 450 runs and giving up only 50.

Karlskoga won the first game of the Swedish Finals 7-0 against Sundyberg after excellent pitching and an offensive outburst in the ninth inning. Karlskoga’s ace Adam SOWELL returned to the rotation after missing the semi-finals with an hand injury.
And what a comeback it was…

He recorded six innings pitched, no runs, no walks, six strikeouts and five hits. Sundbyberg threatend big time in the sixth inning, but apart from that Adam Sowell was cruising.

Karlskoga got things going in the first inning with a basehit from lead-off Petter LUNDBERG, when he hit a fly ball towards the foul-line that the Sundbyberg leftfielder lost in the sun. Sundbyberg erased this initial setback with a beautiful doubleplay by Eric MERCADO, Oliver GAJZLER and Robert PORSKLINT on Joe ROVIROSA’s sharp grounder to short. Third batter SOWELL drew a walk, Shawn VANCE singled to move SOWELL to second, and when Stefan FAHLIN hits another flyball to leftfield that is also lost in the sun, Karlskoga can take the lead as SOWELL scores from second.

This 1-0 lead remained through eight innings, as SOWELL and Sami SÄKKINEN for Karlskoga, and Will RIKARD and Rickard LJUNG for Sundbyberg all pitched flawlessly.

In the sixth inning Sundbyberg mounted a big threat on the Karlskoga lead. LJUNG leads off with a basehit, Will RIKARD lays down a perfect dragbunt to third to put runners on first and second. Philip GAJZLER hits a basehit to centerfield to load the bases. A perfect throw from Karlskoga centerfielder Christoffer JOHANSSON prevents LJUNG from trying to advance beyond third base.
This means Sundbyberg has bases loaded, no outs and a golden opportunity to take the lead in the game.

But SOWELL had other plans. First he gets Per Lindgren to strike out swinging, after Adam falls behind 2-0. Next batter is Robert PORSKLINT who hits a flyball to rightfield, but too short to tempt LJUNG to score from third.SOWELL goes on to strike out MERCADO, and the inning and also Sundbybergs chances to swing the game is gone.

In the eight inning, with SÄKKINEN pitching, Sundbyberg has LINDGREN on first base when PORSKLINT hits a liner in the leftcenter gap.
Karlskoga outfielder LUNDBERG makes an almost impossible diving catch and stops the possible rally from Sundbyberg. If Petter had missed this catch, LINDGREN had almost certainly tied the game from first base.

In the top of the ninth inning Karlskoga adds six runs to their tally with five hits (two doubles and a triple) and aided by two Sundbyberg errors.

Stefan FAHLIN and Olle ÖIJEN both had two hits for Karlskoga, and were the most productive hitters for their team. SOWELL, SÄKKINEN and Ronny FRID, who pitched a perfect ninth, all pitchted outstanding for Karlskoga. Elias SÖLVELING at second base reached anything that was hit in his direction, and made a couple of very good defensive plays. For the home team catcher Peppe ELFWING played very solid defense and caught the only Karlskoga player trying to steal a base.LJUNG played good defense too, and caught a superb fly ball in the third inning.

KAR 100 000 006 7 9 0
SUN 000 000 000 0 6 4

BoxScore

Robin FLIER is hitting .642 (36-for-56) after going 11-for-14 against Sundvall a week ago and Priya MOHLEN is 24-for-48 (.500) to pace the league leaders. Ann-Sofie RICHARDSON (.461) and Amanda KARLSSON (.413) are also dangerous hitters. Ameli SKOGLUND and Sofia SVENSK are the top players for Sundsvall.

Malin BLOMSTER is hitting a scorching .581 (25-for-43) and Jenny WONISCH is batting an impressive .568 (25-for-44) to give Alby one of the top hitting duo’s in the league. Margareta ODMAN-ERIKSSON is another good hitter who is 23-for-47 (.489) for third-place Alby.

The Leksand Lumberjacks (14-4) are the No. 2 ranked team in the Austrian Softball League and boasts an abundance of talented hitters. Karin HJELM is hitting .615 (15-for-24) while teammates Sandra AXELSSON (.392) and Jennifer SILATA (.307) have also been productive for Leksand.

In other action this past weekend, Soder (9-11) swept past the Karlslund Eagles (4-12) in two lopsided games, 22-11 and 20-8, and the Sundsvall Mosquitoes (3-13) spanked Enkoping (3-13), 20-3 and 18-2.