About BSA

Find out more about the Bristol Softball Association

The largest league in the South West.

Our 3 divisions play on 3 evenings during the week (Div 1 on a Wednesday, Div 2 on a Thursday and Div 3 on a Tuesday) and gather for post-game drinks at the Abbots Leigh Cricket Club. All diamonds are at Watson’s Field, just off the A369 near Abbots Leigh, and are fully marked with all-weather, astroturf batting boxes.

Come along on an evening, watch a game and chat to some of the players or committee members if you want to see what you’re missing!

Alternatively, you can contact a committee member here.

BSA History

The Bristol Softball League began in 1989 on the Downs.  After four years,  players wanted to move to marked out pitches, run a tournament and have a place we could call home. After a spell at Horfield sport centre and Golden Hill sports centre  – the  league took a  big step forward  and moved to Clifton College sports centre in 1997.

The partnership with Clifton College sports centre had a huge beneficial effect, improving the quality of the pitches, a home for the Bristol Tournament in July and somewhere we could hold training courses for umpiring and Coaching.

Throughout the early noughties Bristol was at the forefront of British softball – the GB squad held all day open coaching sessions on the Astroturf  pitches, in 2003 Bristol hosted the A, B and C grade Nationals and was the first recipient of the BSF “League of the year award”.

Development continued in 2005 with the addition of a new Bristol Tournament – now the Bristol Wreck.  An end of season fun tournament it took off  and the tradition of playing on Sunday in Saturday night’s fancy dress costume continues to this day.

In 2010 the BSA moved from one side of the Clifton college sports ground to the other.  Post-match beers are now held in the Abbotts Leigh Cricket club, astroturf batting boxes have been installed to prevent excessive wear and tear and to safeguard league matches. These are still the only ones in use in the country.

The BSA is a softball league where the sky is the limit.  We have had numerous players represent the GB squad (9 times European champions),  whilst our umpires travel the world umpiring in Canada, USA and Ireland.”

Other Useful info

Softball is a national sport and just about every county has a softball
league.  Here are some useful links to them and to a number of other
useful organisations that are linked to softball.