About the Club

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Ireland’s Largest Baseball Club

The Ashbourne Baseball Club is an amateur baseball club focused on growing baseball in Ireland through player development. The club is located in Ashbourne, Co Meath and draws players from Dublin, Co Meath and the surrounding area.

The International Baseball Centre

The International Baseball Centre, the home of the Ashbourne Baseball Club opened in 2015. The IBC is the finest baseball facility in Ireland and Ireland’s only international standard baseball diamond The IBC is the host field for the International Baseball Festival, an annual international baseball tournament. The crowning moment for the IBC was it being the host field for the European Baseball Championship Qualifying Tournament held in Ireland in 2018. The field is easily accessible from Dublin by public transit or car.

Club History

The Ashbourne Baseball Club was formed as a Little League team in 2009. In 2014, the Club entered its first adult team in the B Division of the Irish Baseball League. In 2018, the Club took its next step forward in entering a second adult team in the A Division of the Irish Baseball League. In 2019, a second team competed in the B division, the Ashbourne Stags. Growth continued in 2020 with the foundation of the Ashbourne Antlers, the clubs first adult co-ed slow pitch softball team. In 2021, a third team was added in the B division of the Irish Baseball League, the Ashbourne Titans.

Club Philosophy

The Club’s philosophy is growth through player development at all age groups. Coach Pitch is our youngest group, for kids under 9. It teaches kids the basics of baseball in a fun, game filled environment. Our coaches use games to teach kids about base running, fielding situations and batting. We set up games with other teams and throw underhand to the batters.

The Little League program is the foundation of the club. Many adult club members started their careers as players or coaches on the Little League team. Little League is for kids aged 9-12 and brings in more stable rules and mechanics to baseball. In Little League, kids start playing more specialised positions and pitchers and catchers are introduced. The field played on is a little bigger and a full league schedule is played in the early summer months every year.

Players 13 and 14 join our cadet program. In our cadet program, they train with our adult teams and play against other cadet teams in the Dublin area. In addition, they play in the B division of the Irish Baseball League with the Ashbourne Giants and Ashbourne Titans team. At the age of 15, they play full time in the B division.

The club has three teams in the B division of the Irish Baseball League, the Ashbourne Giants, Ashbourne Titans and Ashbourne Stags.

The Ashbourne Giants and Titans are focused on youth development. Players is made up of our players under the age of 21 with some older players and coaches supplementing the roster. Young players develop as they train with players and coaches of the three Adult teams. The coaches make sure the young players play in situations designed to build confidence, not destroy it.

The Ashbourne Stags is the home of adult players of all abilities and experience levels. It competes in the B division of the Irish League. The Stags is the place where new adult players join the club. Training with the experienced players on the team, their development is accelerated and become contributing members of the team quickly.

At the pinnacle is the Ashbourne Giants A division team. This team is the home of the best players in the club and competes at the highest levels in the Irish Baseball League.

2022 shows the success of the Club’s philosophy. Ten members of the club under the age of 25 participated as members of the Senior and U18 Irish National Teams.

Coaching Staff

Core to the success is its coaching staff. Club president Sean Mitchell is the former Manager of the Irish National Team. Casper Coffie, a coach of the Giants B team, is a former U18 coach at the European championships. Ashbourne Stags manager, Elvis Salesevic is a former assistant coach with the Croatian U15 national team. Trainings are run under their supervision with other coaches and experienced players of the club running drills for all its teams.

Softball

In 2020, the club created its first adult co-ed softball team, the Ashbourne Antlers. The Antlers play in the 2nd division of Softball Leinster.

Club Milestones

2009 Club Formation as Garristown Gruffalos

2012 Club moves to Ashbourne

2014 Ashbourne Giants enter B Division of Irish Baseball League

2015 Opening of International Baseball Centre

2015 1st annual Ashbourne International Baseball Festival

2018 Ashbourne Giants enter A Division of Irish Baseball League

2018 Club hosts European Baseball Championship tournament.

2019 Ashbourne Stags enter B Division of Irish Baseball League

2020 Ashbourne Antlers enter Softball Leinster

2021 Ashbourne Titans enter B Division of Irish Baseball League

Club Accomplishments

2015 Baseball Ireland Little League Champions

2016 Baseball Ireland Little League Champions

2017 Baseball Ireland Little League Champions

2017 Baseball Ireland B League Regular Season Champions

2017 Baseball Ireland B League Champions

2020 Baseball Ireland B League Division Champions

2020 Baseball Ireland B League Champions

2020 Baseball Ireland A League Finalists

2021 Cadet League Champions

2021 Baseball Ireland A League Regular Season Champions

2021 Baseball Ireland A League Finalists

2022 Baseball Ireland A League Champions