The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Alcott Forbes fired a three-hitter and both Rashad Seymour and Geron Sands homered as the Dorin United Hitmen blasted the YII Shipping Bulldogs 13-0 in four innings to snatch a 1-0 lead in their semifinal of the New Providence Softball Association men’s best-of-five playoff series last night.

The game in the Banker’s Field at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex, abbreviated by the mercy rule, was played just before the pennant winning Bommer G Truckers faced the fourth place Blue Chips Buccaneers. However, the final score in the feature contest was not available up to press time.

Forbes, fresh off his appearance on the men’s national team that returned home recently from the Pan American and World Championship qualifying tournament in Medellin, Colombia, said he wasn’t as sharp as he expected, but he gave a lot of credit to his team-mates.

“The team hit very, very well. I didn’t pitch that well, but I was able to keep them scoreless,” said Forbes, who also struck out five batters, while he was struck out in his only two at-bats.

“The team was a great experience for me and I think it was a great experience for the team. Coming back here and playing in the playoffs, you can only get stronger. I think the Bulldogs caught us at the wrong time.”

Game two is scheduled for Saturday night and Forbes said his regular season second place Hitmen intend to keep the pressure on the third place Bulldogs.

“I’m coming to the game to give it my all and if we can hit the way that we did tonight (Thursday), they will end up getting swept.”

While Forbes managed to hold the Bulldogs at bay on the mound, his Hitmen team-mates ended up scoring three runs on three hits in the first, six runs on five hits in the second and four runs on as many hits in the third to secure the easy victory.

In the bottom of the first inning with two out, Forbes’ national team-mate Hosea Hilton along with Jameko Sands had back-to-back RBI singles and Everette Neely followed with a bases loaded run-producing single before Forbes struck out to kill the rally.

In the second, the Hitmen matched all nine batters to the plate as Keiron Munroe got the rally started with a two-run single. Hilton kept it going with a RBI single and Seymour came through with a towering three-run homer. But after Neely grounded out, Forbes got struck out for the second time to once again spoil the show.

In the third with the game already out of reach, Sands belted a two-run shot deep over the center field fence to score Javon Saunders, who led off with a walk.

With one out, Hilton produced another RBI single, scoring Richard Bain, another member of the national team who got on base with a double. With the bases loaded, Neely got a RBI sacrifice fly to plate pinch runner Rodney Taylor (for Hilton) before Seymour got tagged out on the next play to stop their assault.

All of the Hitmen’s runs came off Angelo Butler, who came in from left field to take over the pitching chores from Shan Adderley, who only threw two pitches - both balls - to Garfield Bethel, another national team player, before the Hitmen lodged a protest claiming that he should have sat out before he was ejected in the last game the Bulldogs played in the regular season.

“We just didn’t hit,” said Bethel, who got one of the four hits for the Bulldogs. “Our pitcher was suspended and we were missing one or two of our players. But we should be okay for game two on Saturday.”

As for his performance on the mound, Bethel admitted: “I missed one of two pitches, the home runs they got, but I didn’t pitch that bad. I threw a lot of strikes. We just had one or two mistakes that caused us a lot of runs.”

The Bulldogs also had their best opportunity to score in the top of the first when Butler and Adrian Pinder got consecutive singles off Forbes and eventually got on third and second, but was left stranded there.

After getting mowed down 1-2-3 in the second and third, the Bulldogs got a lead off double from Pinder, but he was left on base again as Forbes closed out the game with another 1-2-3 performance, including striking out Alex Haley and Nardo Gilbert for the final two outs.

The Hitmen and the Bulldogs are slated to play the feature game on Saturday. The 7pm opener is expected to be between the Truckers and the Buccaneers.