The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

When it counted the most, it was the veteran pitching performance of Thela Johnson that got the job done as the first time Lady Stingers were crowned the New Providence Softball Association ladies’ champions.

In the reduced best-of-five series that went right down to the wire in the fifth and deciding game, Johnson had to dig down deep, nursing a “busted” middle finger on her right pitching arm, to hold off the defending champions Johnson’s Lady Truckers in a marathon 11-5 decision last night in the Bankers Field at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex.

The Lady Stingers comprised of the majority of players who played with the Proper Care Pool Lady Sharks, who won the title in 2011. Johnson was a part of that moment and she was glad to win another title, even though she struggled.

“I pitched all five games with a busted finger,” said Johnson, who was named the most valuable player after she closed out the series last night on a three hitter with as many strike outs.

“I told them. Plenty people doubted this team, but I told them that we could do it and we did. Now we have a chance to go to the Nationals and try to win that as well. If I have to pitch all of the games, I will, but we will have some help when we get there.”

The Lady Stingers are a first year team put together by captain Kelly Smith and sponsored by the Sting Junkanoo Group. They will now represent the NPSA, along with the men’s champions Commando Security Truckers in the Bahamas Softball Federation’s National Round Robin Tournament at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex starting Thursday.

The Truckers clinched their title on Saturday night, beating the BTC Elite Warriors 3-1 in their best-of-five series. The Lady Stingers, on the other hand, had to go the distance for their 3-2 decision.

But manager Gary ‘Super’ Johnson, back in the league after a hiatus of about 5-7 years, said there’s no greater feeling than what they accomplished as a first year team.

“We started off kind of slow, but we had the consistency. The girls just hung in there and we pulled it off,” Super Johnson said. “Thela just had a great series and we’re looking forward to going to the round robin and winning it all after we get a couple days rest.”

While Thela Johnson did her share of damage on the mound, she was just as effective at the plate as she forced the Lady Truckers to intentionally walk her four out of the five trips.

In her first at-bat in the top of the first, she was walked with one out after Nadia Thompson led off with a walk. Keisha Pratt followed and she drilled a shot to left centre field to drive in the two runs on a triple and she came home on an error for a 3-0 lead.

Thela Johnson got her only chance to hit in the third and with one out, she tripled and scored on an error for a 4-0 Lady Stingers lead.

Then in the fourth, after giving up back-to-back RBI single to Randell Cooper and Lashandra Bethel, the Lady Truckers moved Mechelle Moss from short to replace starting pitcher Valencia Gibson.

But with one-out, Moss gave up a two-run single to Ranquel Cooper, intentionally walked Thela Johnson and then got out of a jam by retiring the next two batters, Keisha Pratt and Vonatta Nairn.

Johnson and the Lady Truckers had a chance to stop the game via the seven-run rule after five innings, but Krystal Delancy led off by getting on with an error and scampered home on Dawanya Pratt’s RBI single for a 7-2 deficit. They got their first run in the third from Sheena Taylor.

The Lady Stingers would go on to put the game out of reach in the seventh by scoring four more runs, highlighted by a two-run double from Raquel Cooper just before Thela Johnson was intentionally walked for the fourth time.

The Lady Truckers responded with three more runs on a RBI double Pratt and an in-the-park home run from Mechelle Moss, but the fat lady had already sung as the Lady Stingers began their celebrations once Thela Johnson got Theola Ferguson to fly out to Lashandra Bethel to end the game.

“It looked lik we didn’t come out here to play tonight until the seventh inning,” said Lady Truckers’ coach Mario Ford. “We came out here and we played fast. That was our biggest mistake this whole series - defence.”

Ford said they had two solid young pitchers, but they didn’t play as well as she should have behind them as the Lady Stingers did for Thela Johnson, whom he congratulated for getting the job done, pitching all five games.