Just like in 2023, three high-level softball championships will accompany us this year 2024. Of course, both the men’s and women’s D1 championships are back with a few changes, and then the second year of the championship for the 30 best female softball players with the Super League. Note that the playoffs are disappearing, the last team in D1 is relegated, and the first team in D2 is promoted. Finally, the JFL (Locally Trained Player) rule, which we extensively explained in a previous article, applies to all softball championships.
Men’s Softball
The 2024 season will be smaller than last year. Indeed, only four teams are competing in the D1 race (Montpellier, Nice, Pessac, and Toulouse). The 2023 champion, Clapiers-Jacou, withdraws from D1 (and even D2) for financial reasons and even gives their European qualification to Toulouse, who didn’t ask for it.
In 2023, Hector Fernandez of Clapiers-Jacou finished as the best pitcher with a stunning ERA of 0.86, and Laurent Andrade as the best hitter with a batting average of .574 for nearly 50 at-bats.
D2, meanwhile, goes from three teams in 2023 to five in 2024 with Rouen, Evry, Paris, Devils, and Cobras.
The championship kicks off this weekend of March 9th. Eight matchdays will take place, each with six games between the teams. It starts in Pessac, then Montpellier, Nice, and Toulouse. So, these are just locations in southern France with four teams. What about the center and the north of the country?
Women’s Softball
While Saint-Raphael and Evry had been dominating women’s softball for a few years, the Grenoble Grizzlies struck hard in 2023 to win the championship and secure their ticket to Europe.
Clelia Costes of Grenoble is the best pitcher with an ERA of 1.98, and Pauline Prade of Saint-Raphael is the best hitter with an exceptional batting average of .638 for nearly 60 at-bats.
Out of the six teams present last year, there’s only one change. The Parisian teams desert the top level, and Pessac joins D1 and D2. Nice, which had been the bottom of the barrel, takes advantage of the Paris BCF’s exit to stay in D1. D2, meanwhile, becomes denser compared to last year with five teams. Paris BCF maintains itself in association with Nogent and Bourges.
So, we’re back in D1 with six teams again, who will start battling as of the weekend of March 17th. Ten matchdays will follow, with final phases at the end of September and beginning of October.
Note that the Open de France will take place on the weekend of March 30th and 31st, and the Challenge de France on May 18th and 19th. The Pharaonnes d’Evry will defend their title.
Super League
Launched with internal communication by the Federation in 2023, the Super League has met with great success among softball players. It’s a championship where the notion of a team is not the priority; only the standings by a points system (hitting and defense) allows ranking the best players. And in this game of points earned, it was Pauline Prade who totaled over 1000 points and won the 2023 trophy. She will defend her title this year.
It starts on March 23rd and 24th in Boulouris and April 20th and 21st in Bois-Colombes. For now, only two weekends compared to three last year. But this could change.
