The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Coach Leon Evans said Saturday night’s victory over the defending champions Spanish Wells Bulldogs was just the tip of the iceberg for his CV Bethel Stingrays senior boys softball team.

Evans and his Stingrays finally won the Bahamas Softball Federation’s annual Austin ‘King Snake’ Knowles Invitational Softball Championship title with a 13-9 decision over the Bulldogs.

It was the second loss in the tournament for Spanish Wells as they also relinquished their girls title to the North Andros Seminoles 14-1.

Meanwhile, the Central Eleuthera Explorers clinched the consolation third place with a 7-3 win over North Andros and the CR Walker Knights doubled up arch-rival CV Bethel 14-7 to secure the girls bronze medal as the three-day tournament came to a close.

Stingrays 13, Bulldogs 9

CV Bethel led from start to finish as Spanish Wells had to use three pitchers, including pint size Kade Roberts, who brought a lot of excitement to the game when he came out of the dugout in the top of the second. However, the damage had already been done with the Stingrays leading 8-3.

Second base Peron Rolle, who was named the most valuable player, had a 3-for-4 night with a run batted in, scoring three times. Irvin Storr was 2-for-2 with three RBI and a run scored, Cheoi Ferguson was 2-for-3 with a RBI and a run and Courtney Strachan was 1-for-3 with a RBI and three runs scored.

“It feels very good. Spanish Wells has been dominating this tournament for some time, but we just wanted this one to stay here in Nassau,” said coach Evans after getting soaked with water from his players in their celebrations. “We thought we had a very good team.

“The results showed that we are ready to play. We worked very hard this year and we played fundamental softball. In the end, it really worked out for us. We have a very young team. We only have two 12 graders, so the team will still be intact for next year. But we hope that after winning this title, we can also win the GSSSA (Government Secondary Schools Sports Association) title too.”

Ellis Adderley was the winning pitcher and Kirby Albury suffered the loss.

Trent Pinder had a perfect 2-for-2 night with three RBI and Pinder helped his cause by going 1-for-2 with a RBI and two runs in the loss.

Seminoles 14, Bulldogs 1

Dalexia Bain had a perfect 2-for-2 night with two RBI and two runs scored as the center fielder collected the MVP award for her effort.

North Andros broke the game wide open in the second inning when they batted around the clock and put 12 runs on the scoreboard.

Lourinique Johnson was 1-for-2 with two RBI and a run scored and Theresa Woodside was 2-for-3 with a RBI and two runs scored for the Seminoles.

Natoria Knowles spun a one-hitter with four strike outs for the win. Kerigan Pinder gave up 14 hits and struck out four in a losing effort.

“This is the best feeling after a terrifying loss last year, especially against the team that knocked us out of the playoffs last year,” said North Andros’ coach John Ingraham.

“This is a privilege and an honour to be carrying the Austin Knowles championship title back to North Andros.”

Ingraham, who got doused with water during premature celebrations before the game was actually called, said his Seminoles worked on their offensive attack and they were much more aggressive than they were last year.

Explorers 7, Seminoles 3

After missing out on the opportunity to get into the final, coach Sherwin Major said their goal was to make sure that they didn’t go back to Eleuthera without anything.

“We were disappointed in the semifinal game earlier today (Saturday), so we came out sluggish and CV Bethel just jumped out on us,” Major said. “But we still got some hardware. When you come to the tournament, you have to always remember to come with your A game or you will go back licking your wounds.”

Micah Bethel went 1-for-2 with a RBI, scoring two runs and Stanton Cooper was also 1-for-2 with a RBI for Central Eleuthera.

Bethel, the MVP of the round robin, also tossed a three hitter, striking out two for the win. Jonathan Scott suffered the loss.

Torrie Scott was 1-for-2 with a RBI, scoring a run and Fernando Colebrooke was 1-for-1 with a run scored in a losing effort.

Knights 14, Stingrays 7

Ashley Woods and Crystal Johnson were both a perfect 2-for-2 with a RBI and two runs scored, Jireh Sturrup was 1-for-2 with two RBI and two runs and Diva Burrows was 0-for-2 with two RBI as CR Walker picked up the third place medal that they dedicated to their coach Tyrice Curry.

Burrows went the distance for the win on the mound and Tacra Collie was tagged with the loss.

Apparently, Curry had to go to the Princess Margaret Hospital on Saturday morning for observations and was eventually admitted.

“This is the first time that I really worked with them, but I think if they had hit the way they are capable of hitting in the semifinal game, they could have been playing for the championship title,” coach Burrows said. “We really wanted this one against CV Bethel because that could be the team we end up playing for the GSSSA title. We also did it for coach Curry.”

In a losing effort, Shavaya Adderley and S Johnson both were 1-for-2 with a RBI and run scored for the Stingrays.

In the playoff games held earlier on Saturday, North Andros def. CR Walker 11-4 and Spanish Wells nipped CV Bethel 5-4 on the girls side. CV Bethel took care of Central Eleuthera 8-2 and Spanish Wells held off North Andros 3-1 on the boys side.

In other games on Saturday, Spanish Wells clobbered Government High 21-3 in a girls game, while in the boys games, Spanish Wells knocked off RM Bailey 8-2, CR Walker doubled up Kingsway Academy 12-6 and Spanish Wells won 5-2 over Central Eleuthera.

Results of games played on Friday are as follows:

Boys - Central Eleuthera def. RM Bailey 12-1; North Andros def. Jordan Prince Williams 4-0; Central Eleuthera def. CR Walker 8-4 and CV Bethel def. Government High 11-2. In the girls games, Central Eleuthera def. CV Bethel 10-5 and CR Walker def. RM Bailey 9-5.