The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The pennant winners Sigma Wildcats and the Sting Truckers had to go two different routes in winning their respective opening matches in their New Providence Softball Association best-of-five playoff series.

On Saturday night in the Banker’s Field at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex, the Wildcats wasted very little time in stopping the fourth place College of the Bahamas Lady Caribs 12-2 in four innings. However, the Truckers got off to a slow start before they eventually rolled past the fourth place Chances Mighty Mitts 8-2.

Truckers 8,

Mighty Mitts 2

Trailing 2-1 going into the bottom of the fourth, Sting got a monster two-run home run from Jamal ‘Sarge’ Johnson to fuel a two-run bottom of the frame for a 3-2 lead.

The Truckers went on to tack on four more runs in the fifth, highlighted by a run-producing double from Marvin Wood and a RBI single from Johnson as they stopped any chances of the Mighty Mitts pulling off an upset.

“When you take a team for granted, you put yourself in the same position as they are,” said Truckers’ manager Perry Seymour. “They’re a young team and we finally realised that they were out to beat us, so we had to step up our game.”

Thomas Davis, who had given up the first run of the game on a two-out solo homer to Chances’ catcher Michael Ingraham, watched as the Mighty Mitts took advantage of two costly mistakes as Chedi Ferguson and Kenneth Curry added an unearned run in the second and fourth.

But for the final three innings, he got the job done, holding the Mighty Mitts at bat, despite getting a runner on base in both the fifth and sixth and two in the seventh. Thomas gave up just one hit with seven strike outs during the final stretch for the win.

Losing pitcher Victor Grant, who started off real hot, giving up just two hits, surrendered seven hits as the Truckers picked up steam over the final three innings to seal the deal.

“We lost our bats and when they started scoring, we lost our composure,” Grant said. “We tried to fight our way back into the game, but they were just the better team tonight. Consistency will be the key and every inning we have to bring our game. Once we score one more run than them every inning, we won’t have a problem.”

But Seymour said come Thursday night when they play game two, they will definitely be much better prepared.

“We will learn from this game and come out from the first inning,” he said. “We can’t get back down to their level. We have to play at our level from the start.”

Wildcats 12,

Lady Caribs 2

With the game already out of reach, College of the Bahamas’ coach Colin ‘Troppy’ Knowles decided to intentionally walk Vonetta Nairn to pitch to pitcher Mary ‘Cruise’ Edgecombe with two out as they trailed 11-2 in the bottom of the fourth.

All Edgecombe did was politely rip a single into left field that sent Khatrel Dorsett, who came in to pinch run for Vantrice Bowleg, home from second base with the 12th and final run as the gamed was stopped via the 10-run rule.

“I didn’t expect for them to walk Vonetta to pitch to me, but like Troppy said, that was probably the dumbest thing he ever did,” said Edgecombe of their former manager, who is back in the league with his wife Oria Wood after a long hiatus.

“Once I realised what they did, I made up my mind to go for it. It felt good. This is the playoffs, so we are trying to score as much runs as we can and get the game over as quickly as we can. But in the meantime, we are still trying to focus on getting our plays down-packed for the playoffs. So I felt it was a pretty good start for us.”

It was Edgecombe’s only hit for the game, although she was hit by a pitch in the first inning by losing pitcher Ashanti Darville. Nairn got on base on all three of her trips with a pair of RBI singles and her intentional walk, scoring twice.

Bowleg also made it safe on base in her three plate appearances with a walk, triple and double. Mechelle Moss, the league’s youngest player, had a perfect 3-for-3 day with a RBI, scoring three times.

The Wildcats, who are hoping that they will meet the defending champions Brackettes in an all Sigma-sponsored championship, broke the game wide open when they scored six runs on five hits in the first inning as they sent all nine batters to the plate.

The Lady Caribs didn’t get on the scoreboard until the third when Elricka Gibson led off with a walk and eventually scored on Akira Rose’s RBI double. Their final run came in the fourth as Tyrice Curry got to first on an error, stole second and scored on another error.

Curry, by the way, had to come in the game in the second to relieve Darville before Darville came back and finished the game.

Oria Knowles said while this is a learning experience for the College of the Bahamas, she’s still delighted that they made it to the postseason.

“The girls were not as ready as they should have been, but I’m looking our next game.”

As they prepare for Tuesday night, Knowles said their attack will have to start on the mound.

“Our starting pitcher Ashanti Darville wasn’t on her game tonight. She had some difficulties with her arm,” she noted.

“So we’re hoping that will be corrected by the time we come back on the field on Tuesday night.”

The winners from both the ladies and men playoffs will advance to play in the Carl ‘Bang Bang’ Johnson’s best-of-seven championship series. They will play for the rights to represent the NPSA in the Bahamas Softball Federation’s National Round Robin next month at the Banker’s Field.

The NPSA is paying homage to the late Johnson, the former manager of the Electro Telecom Lady Hitters, who suddenly died during the regular season.