The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The Lady Truckers outslugged the defending champions Lady Stingers 21-13 to snatch a 1-0 lead in their New Providence Softball Association (NPSA) best-of-5 semi-final playoffs.

The two-hour affair was the only match played last night as the NPSA now has played one in both the men’s and ladies’ postseason opening matches in the Banker’s Field at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex before they take a break for the pending threat of Hurricane Matthew.

What looked like a blowout after the Lady Truckers took a 9-1 lead at the end of the first inning turned out to be a display of miscues after miscues on both sides of the field as both teams responded to each challenge mounted by each other. That was until the third when the Lady Truckers tacked on seven more runs and they added three more in the fourth to eventually secure the abbreviated five-inning stoppage by the mercy rule.

“The ladies came out and they showed why they are the Truckers” said Lady Truckers’ manager Darren Bowleg. “Defensively, we made some boo-boos that enabled them to get back into the game. We have to cut back on them, but if we keep hitting the ball the way we did, ain’t nobody can beat us.”

The Lady Truckers exploded for 15 hits off losing pitcher Thela Johnson, who struck out just two batters. But Marvelle Miller was almost as generous in picking up the win, issuing 12 hits with only one strike out to the Lady Stingers.

In pulling off the win, the Lady Truckers came up with six hits on nine runs in the first inning as they batted around the clock, highlighted by third sacker Shevette Taylor’s two-run single, catcher Marissa Burrows’ RBI double, right fielder Theotha Ferguson’s run-producing single, left fielder Natasha Paul’s big RBI triple and a solo in-the-park home run from speedy first sacker Crystal Evans.

They added two more runs in the second on a lead off single from Taylor and a RBI double from Burrows, who eventually came home on an error.

Another big inning came in the third as the Lady Truckers took advantage of some costly errors by the Lady Stingers. The rally saw Taylor and Ferguson come through with a RBI single each. The other hit came from shortstop Melinda Bastian.

But in the fourth when it counted the most, Burrows had a one-out RBI single and second sacker Kenice Symonette added a two-out RBI double that produced the insurance runs to eventually stop the game.

Game two is not scheduled until after Hurricane Matthew passes, but Bowleg said once they can cut back on their errors and the hits and they will be okay.

As for the Lady Stingers, their first run came in the top of the first, thanks to left fielder Keisha Pratt’s RBI single to plate Thela Johnson, who had a two-out single.

They didn’t score again until the third when they batted around the clock, producing nine runs to make it a contest up to that point. In the rally, catcher Vonetta Nairn led off with a one-out triple and scored on Johnson’s RBI ground out. Pratt and first sacker Kelly Smith had back-to-back singles before shortstop Aitya Deal had a RBI single, second sacker Amber Johnson added another, Nairn came around again for a three-run double and Johnson finished it off with a RBI single.

The Lady Stingers sent all nine batters to the plate, but this time they only got three more runs in the fourth as Deal singled and scored on right fielder Lashanta Greenslade’s RBI double and after Lynette ‘Reds’ Kelly got on base on an error with two out, she and Greenslade came home on another error.

But Lady Stingers’ manager Gary ‘Super’ Johnson said the performance was in no way indicative of the way the defending champions are capable of playing with some players playing out of position with all of their starters not available for the game.

“We have to play defence. We probably gave up 15 unearned runs,” Johnson said. “The ball on the infield and we didn’t make the plays. You have to play defence in order to beat this team. This is the playoffs. This is one of the better teams. They finished second (in the regular season), so you can’t expect to beat them by saying you can beat them. They hit the ball well tonight and they scored plenty runs. We’re not going to win like that.”

Maybe it had something to do with their uniforms. They changed their lime green tops to wear pink with matching socks in honour of Breast Cancer Month.