As this was the first Cargilfield fixture for these girls in well over a year, you can imagine there was much excitement as we boarded the bus and headed for the short journey to ESMS at Ravelston.

The girls were split into two 8 a side teams for a game of softball pairs with both teams starting on 200 runs.

The A team lost the toss and were put into field first.  The girls bowled incredibly well with the pick of the bunch being Esme who took a hat trick in her first over!  Our fielding at first was a little sloppy as we got used to the bounce of the ball on the astroturf surface but after a few mis-fields, the girls soon got into it.  Lottie stopped many boundaries by fielding bravely and Lucy and Annika took two terrific catches.  Further wickets fell through the bowling of Lucy, Isabella, Judith and Mariella with the final ball of the innings, leaving Mary Erskine with 209 runs.

With the bat, all of the girls played with a sense of freedom and let the bat swing, playing some fierce shots scoring lots of boundaries.  Top scorers were Isabella and Mariella with 16 each but nearly all of the girls scored in the teens.  We only lost 3 wickets in total and therefore came out on top with a tremendous score of 124.  Player of the match goes to Esme for her 4 wickets, including the hat trick and for scoring a solid 12 runs from 11 balls.

Bea captained the B team and opened the batting with Lily.  The pair got off to a positive start with a partnership of 16, and they particularly impressed with their running between the wickets, even running 4 on one delivery. Next in were Emilia and Lyla who were the pick of the batters, with Lyla contributing 3 boundaries through some powerful leg-side hitting; Emilia also played a beautiful straight drive for 4 as they made 24 off their 2 overs. The tail of the innings was very competent and careful, with just one wicket lost and boundaries for Sophia, Amenah, Lara, and Amalia. This left us with a very impressive total of 68 runs from the 8 overs.

However, where the girls really shone was in the field. They began strong with a run out by Lily in the first over, her first of 3 which were all amazing pieces of fielding, direct hits from midwicket. Lily was definitely the player of the match as she also got a wicket with her bowling, crashing the ball straight into middle stump. The excellent fielding continued with Amenah creating a run out and Lyla taking a superb catch off her own bowling, giving her a phenomenal wicket maiden and an incredibly strong overall performance. Lara was able to finish it off with a clean bowled off the last over, holding MES to just 13 runs.

Overall, there were outstanding performances  from all the girls, who have lots to be proud of.  It was lovely to be out playing in matches again and thankfully we avoided the rain and the traffic back!  Well done to all the girls on their play and enthusiasm throughout the afternoon.