The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

SUNSHINE Auto Lady Wildcats and BTC Elite Warriors emerged as the best teams in the New Providence Softball Association, clinching the men and ladies’ pennants respectively Tuesday night in the Banker’s Field at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex.

Now the race is on to see whether or not the Johnson’s Lady Truckers and Ira Dez Hitmen will repeat as the ladies and men’s champions, or if there will be two new champions crowned for a chance to represent the NPSA in the Bahamas Softball Federation’s National Round Robin Tournament at the end of October.

On Monday night, the Wildcats - managed by Anthony Bullard and led by battery mate of pitcher Mary ‘Cruise’ Sweeting and catcher Dornette Edwards, knocked off the Bommer G Lady Operators 7-3 to secure the ladies’ pennant with a 13-5 win-loss record. The mark was identical to the Johnson’s Lady Truckers, but the Wildcats took the top spot by winning their head-to-head series.

Meanwhile, the Warriors - managed by Erin Adderley and featuring brothers Sherman Ferguson and Jeffery Woodside - blasted the Sports Centre Dorsey Park Boys 21-10 for the men’s regular season flag with a 16-2 record. The Dorsey Park Boys dropped to 5-13 for fifth place.

On Thursday and Friday nights, the opening round in all series in both the ladies and the men’s divisions will get underway. There will be no games, however, on Saturday night.

In Thursday’s opener, the Wildcats will take on fourth place Lady Stingers and in the men’s feature contest, the third place Hitmen will take on the second place Commando Security Truckers. On Friday, the third place Lady Operators face second place Lady Truckers and the fourth place Chances Mighty Mitts take on the Warriors.

The games, as usual, will start at 7pm and league president Godfrey ‘Gully’ Burnside indicated that as competitive as the regular season has been, he anticipates that the post season will be even more interesting.

“The ladies’ division is going to be very exciting because we have so many young players involved with the Operators and the Lady Truckers. They are two of the youngest teams in the league,” Burnside said. “They will be playing against each other so I expect that series to go at four or five games.

“Then you have two more of the experienced teams in the Sunshine Auto Wildcats, who won the pennant and the fourth place Lady Stingers, who will be led by their ace pitcher Thela Johnson. I think it’s going to be very exciting. It could go either five games or it could end up in three games.”

As for the men’s division, Burnside said he predicted that the Mighty Mitts, managed by Alphonso ‘Chicken’ Albury and coached by Darrel Dorsette, will be the surprise team in the post season and they have made it.

“I hope they won’t surprise me when they play the pennant winning BTC Warriors, who have an outstanding and pretty young team as well. In the other half of the men’s series, the defending champions Ira Dez Hitmen will have their hands full with the Commando Security Truckers, who look ready to reclaim their crown in the NPSA.”

Going into the playoffs, Burnside said they’ve had some nights when they witnessed some outstanding plays and he expects all of the match-ups to be very competitive because the teams stepped up their games as the regular season started to wind down.

“We have some young outstanding players who I expect to take centre stage when the playoffs get underway,” Burnside said. “We could end up seeing some short three-game series or they could end up going the distance. It all depends on who bring their A game to the park.”

If there is any concern, Burnside said it’s watching how the Hitmen have struggled down the stretch during the regular season. But with their title on the line, Burnside said the playoffs could be a totally different story if the Hitmen step it up and play like true champions.

The semi-final of the playoffs will be a best-of-five series, while the two winners in the ladies’ and men divisions will advance to the best-of-seven championship series.