The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THEY had some distractions before they left and they almost completed a perfect trip through the tournament. But nobody can argue that the Bahamas Government Departmental Softball Association’s 25-member team will be returning home today as the champions of the 2015 WBSC Co-Ed Slow Pitch Cup in Plant City, Florida.

The team, managed by Dereck ‘Duckie’ Christie, wrapped up the title yesterday with a 15-10 decision over Germany. The team finished with a 6-1 win-loss record after losing 9-7 to Great Britain on the final day of the pool competition on Friday when they also routed France 15-5 and Canada 7-6.

On Saturday, the Bahamas clobbered Curacao 17-4 and doubled up the Turks & Caicos Islands 18-8. That advanced the Bahamas to the Page Playoffs where they knocked off Germany 15-10 to advance to the championship where they played Germany again after they won over Canada in their playoff. The result turned out to be the same with the Bahamas winning 15-10 for the title.

“It’s so exciting because we had so many detractors back home about the team selection with who should have been there and who should not have been there,” said BGDSA president Edward ‘Big Time’ Russell. “But we put it all together. The guys put in a whole lot of work every afternoon with the little daylight hours we had. Dereck Christie really held the team together and we did it.”

Russell said after losing to Great Britain, they knew they had to get back to the way they were playing at the beginning of the tournament if they stood any chance of winning.

“The game we lost to Great Britain, we didn’t play our best ball,” Russell said. “We were down a few runs and we came back and lost the game by two runs. Once we got out of that and we went up against Canada, who was undefeated at the time, we gave them their first loss and they lost two games after that and that put us in first place.”

There was no most valuable player named, but Russell said Maryann Ferguson was definitely a workhorse on the mound pitching all of the games for the Bahamas. She had players like Timothy Clarke, Keiron Sands and Jamal Scavella, who rotated behind the plate as catchers.

Russell, however, said the offensive attack was led by their three big power hitters in Sherman Ferguson, Reynaldo Russell and Eugene Bain, who were hitting shots left, right and centre.

The other members of the team were Dornell Butler, Terrance Culmer, Karen Darville, Krystal Delancey, Vernetta Evans, Laurell Farrington, Theresa Francis, Jordon Gibson, Gregory Lockhart, Duane Mackey, Bernice Penn, Nat Porter, Antonia Simmons, Mary Sweeting and Ishmael Thompson.

On their return to the hotel Sunday night, Russell said they hosted a pool party with food and drinks. The team is due to return home as champions today.

This was the first time that the Bahamas has fielded a team in the World Cup Slow Pitch. However, in 2002, the Bahamas won the silver medal behind the USA in the men’s slow pitch segment.