The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Softball Federation has cancelled its annual Austin Knowles National High School Softball Tournament and is asking for its members to throw their support behind the Long Island Softball Association as a result of the devastation left behind by Hurricane Joaquin.

The tournament was scheduled for the weekend of October 22-25 at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex when the schools are on their mid-term break.

Long Island was hit the hardest by Joaquin over the weekend and federation secretary general Daphne McKinney said they thought it would be best to cancel the tournament for high school boys and girls as the island has been one of its major supporters since the inception of the tournament.

“We are encouraging all of our members to make a special effort to donate to islands that have been impacted by Hurricane Joaquin,” McKinney said. “Every form of assistance will help on their road to recovery.”

While she noted that while there are other islands that have been impacted, Long Island has produced a team every year for the tournament and they didn’t want to put it on knowing that there’s no way that they will be able to participate this year.

“We are encouraging all of the island associations to make donations and we will make the necessary arrangement to get it into Long Island and the other islands that have been affected,” McKinney said. “There’s no means of us contacting Long Island right now and so we know that the tournament is not going to be a concern for them right now.

“They are experiencing a major devastation on that island and so we want to make sure that we do whatever is necessary to assist them in their recovery. There is a possibility that we could look at taking a team to Long Island to help in their recovery over the mid-term break when the tournament should have been held.”

The BSF, now headed by Ted Miller who replaced out-going Burkett Dorsett in May, is the first sporting body that has made an appeal for its members to lend their support to Long Island and the other islands affected by Hurricane Joaquin.

“We want each member association to donate to the head of their association or executives on the islands and then we will take it from there,” McKinney said.

The Austin Knowles Tournament, held in honour of long-time executive and contributor Austin ‘King Snake’ Knowles, who hails from Eleuthera, is the first of two tournaments that the federation has scheduled for this month. The other is the National Round Robin Tournament for the fast pitch night league teams.

That tournament is scheduled for the weekend of October 29 to November 1 at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex. The federation was hoping to start the championship that same weekend and conclude it in Abaco over the weekend of November 6-8.

But McKinney said as soon as the federation makes final arrangements for the tournament, they will make an official announcement. But for now, she indicated that they are working on throwing their support behind the relief efforts for Long Island and the other islands affected by Hurricane Joaquin.