Sport

Softball clubs fight for Easter tourney berths

Watching closely: Scramblers (maroon) are on song. PIC TSELE TSEBETSAME
 
Watching closely: Scramblers (maroon) are on song. PIC TSELE TSEBETSAME

Defending men national champions, Scramblers, once again, continued with their dominance after they came out tops with Rail Giants and Rebels also making it to the finals. The 10 teams will battle it out for the remaining three spots for the Easter weekend tournament. The teams have been placed in three groups. Blue Angels, UB Giants, Vikings and BMC are in group A, while Dinare, Panthers and Blue Angels are in group B. Police, Bears and Stingers make up the last group.

The top team in group one qualifies for the first slot. The team that tops group B plays the winner of group C. The winner of the duel qualifies for the second slot.

The loser from the game between the group B top team and the group C winner then faces number two from group A. The winner qualifies for the third slot.  Despite winning the southern league, BDF IX faced a late season slump and will be hoping to do better in the eliminations. They face stiff competition from the likes of Dinare, UB Giants and Police IX.

BDF IX coach, James Moremodi admits his team has performed below par late in the season. “My team is not doing very well but we will work on it. We have not been doing well,” he said. Meanwhile, Dinare, Police IX and Bears will represent southern women in this year’s edition of the tournament while Rail Giants, Scramblers and Motlakase will represent the north.

The annual Easter tournament was not staged last year after the Botswana Softball Association (BSA) refused to sanction it.

The association was not happy that the organisers had not followed the resolution made at a 2012 ordinary general meeting that any team wishing to host an event should notify the national executive committee 90 days in advance. The tournament was first held in 2009 and this year’s edition runs from Good Friday until Sunday in Jwaneng.