The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas national team showed that they know how to win by a blowout and the slightest of margins as they pulled off their double header at the WBSC Co-Ed Softball World Cup in Plant City, Florida, yesterday.

On day one of the four-day tournament, featuring eight countries, the Bahamas routed Bulgaria 17-2 in their first game and came back and nipped Germany 12-11. Originally nine countries were scheduled to participate, but the United States of America withdrew.

The schedule of games was changed slightly, but Edward ‘Big Time’ Russell, president of the Bahamas Government Departmental Softball Association, who is responsible for the team at the tournament, said it didn’t have any effect on the team, managed by Dereck ‘Duckie’ Christie. He said they got off to a great start.

“Everything was excellent. Everybnody hit and we played good defence,” Russell said. “Everything went well. We got everybody in the game because we didn’t want to tire anybody, so everything went well.”

While this is the first time that the Bahamas has fielded a co-ed team in the World Cup, Russell said after being a part of the men’s team that finished as runners-up to the United States in 2002, they knew what to expect and they went to the tournament prepared.

“We knew we had to have our younger persons in the outfield to track the ball because the fields are extra large and we are not accustomed to those large fields,” Russell said. “So we had to have our fresh legs out there. So when we put the team together this year, most of our players were on the infield and we put more of the younger legs on the outfield. So they are holding their own.”

• Here’s how they feared in their

first two games yesterday:

Bahamas 17, Bulgaria 2

Eugene Bain went 2-for-3 with a single and a double, Raynaldo Russell was 3-for-3 with a home run, a double and a single and Maryann Fowler was 3-for-3 with three singles. Fowler was also the winning pitcher.

Bahamas 12, Germany 11

Sherman Ferguson knocked in Gary Hanna with the winning run on a RBI double in the bottom of the seventh to seal the victory. Hanna had gotten on base on a single.

Raynaldo Russell had a pair of doubles, Eugene Bain had a homer and a single and Maryann Fowler doubled and singled. Fowler picked up her second win on the mound.

Today, the Bahamas is slated to compete in a triple header starting with France at 9am, Great Britain at noon and Canada at 3:30pm.

“From what I’ve seen, we should be able to beat France. They haven’t won any games yet,” Russell said. “Our next challenge should be Great Britain. They have about two power hitters on their team, but we could match that. We have about three or four. So we should be okay.”

Also yesterday, Eugene Bain and Raynaldo Russell participated in the Home Run Hitting Contest. In the end, Bain fell short of winning the title with just two. The winner from Curacao had a total of four. Russell didn’t make the final.

After today’s triple header, the Bahamas is scheduled to play their final two games on Saturday against Curacao at 1:30pm and Turks & Caicos at 3:30pm.

The playoffs and championship games are all set for Sunday.