Wells, BDF IX win Softball league
Spira Tlhankane | Monday April 13, 2015 16:02
BDF IX men’s team successfully defended their title by beating Panthers 10-3 in the final. Wells on the other hand, came from behind to beat Police IX 5-4 and won the league in the women’s category.
Wells had reached the final after overcoming BDF IX 18-0 in the semi finals on Saturday. Police on the other side went to the final after edging Dinare 9-5 in the other semi final.
The final match between Wells and Police was highly contested and Wells started well as they registered a home run through Iponeng Molapong in the first inning. Police drew level in the second inning only for Wells to reclaim the lead again after yet another home run.
Police soon took the lead for the first time in the game with a double after Gaamangwe Moagi made an error. After failing to register any run in the seventh inning, Wells capitalised and registered a double to win the game 5-4, an amazing comeback for the side.
BFX IX then battled it out with Panthers in the men’s final. BDF arrived there after beating Police IX 5-3 and knocking out the Botswana Railways softball sponsored team Rail Giants that morning. Panthers, qualified as the first in their bracket and they got to the finals after beating Police 4-3.
Panthers started the game with a convincing run in the first inning only for BDF IX to retaliate with two doubles to change the score to 4-1.
Both teams failed to make a run in the second inning, but Panthers looked like they would get back into it by registering a double to reduce the deficit.
The BDF IX men increased the lead in the same inning to take the game score to 7-3 after Jurry Manaka scored three home runs. BDF IX made life even more difficult for the Panthers by registering a run to increase the lead by 5 points.
It was already heading towards BDF IX’s advantage and things got even more worse for the Panthers as the home side wrapped up the game with two home runs to make it 10-3 final score.
Wells coach, Batsetswe Gontlafetse said he was happy with his team’s performance given the short time they had to prepare for the tournament. He said it was an amazing comeback for the team because they had been advancing as runners up. “We had lost against some of the teams that we won today,” he said. Gontlafetse said from the tournament they would focus on the upcoming Phikwe Extravaganza.
The team captain, Masego Morake said they dedicate the win to one of their late teammates who died earlier this year. “We beat BDF IX 18-0 and Keneilwe wore the number 18 jersey, therefore that game was for her,” she said.
BDF IX men’s team coach, Tapologo Moremedi said the tournament was tight but they were happy to have won it in the end. He hailed the team for working together to correct their mistakes that led to the earlier loss to Rail Giants. “I also want to thank BoFiNeT for a job well done, softball now has a future,” he said. The winners pocketed P100 000.00 while the runners up got P50, 000 each.