Men’s softball team bows out of World Cup qualifiers
Calistus Kolantsho | Tuesday February 15, 2022 06:00
Botswana lost to South Africa in the Africa qualifiers that were played in Pretoria over the weekend. The country started the qualifiers on a good footing beating debutants, Kenya 10-0. In the second match, Botswana started to believe that they had a chance to qualify for World Cup that will be played in New Zealand after beating South Africa 2-0.
Screws went off for the local lads when they were beaten 4-3 by South Africa in the final match played on Saturday afternoon. The premier international men’s softball event will take place in Auckland, New Zealand in November. Speaking to Sport Monitor, coach Pako Maforaga said the team reacted far better than he anticipated, given the two months of training they had.
“We made some errors during the final and we literally brought some life to South Africa. We cannot learn forever. As coaches we need to do what we should and players up their game,” he said.
Maforaga said everyone involved must take collective responsibility.
“If we each do what we must, then we would succeed,” he added.
Upon return from Pretoria, there are no any planned games in the international circuit. However, Maforaga said locally they should continue to plan.
Botswana team line up: 8 Simwandza Eric, 6 Manaka Jury, 4 Dekoker Brain, 2 Radithobane Thabiso, 3 Mazulungwa Tiro, 5 Kenosi Kefilwe, 7 Thamuku Baolopi, 9 Ditiro Tshepo, DP Motsholathebe K, and 1 Kagiso Mogale.
Bench: Kunyalala Samuel, Mazulungwa Pami, Gudu Unaswi, Kganetso Albert, Monkemedi Gofaone and Kgosimore Moses.