Ketwesepe lethal pitch proves a handful
Calistus Kolantsho | Friday February 28, 2020 15:15
If he has been living under the shadows, his illustrious talents came to the full fore during the BoFiNeT Softball League launch over the weekend. The Scramblers pitcher displayed an assortment of skills, which proved to be a menace to his opponents.
It was during a clash between Scramblers and Carats that he proved he has arrived on the big stage with a monstrous performance.
While Ketwesepe was in impeccable form, it baffles the mind that he has not received a national call up.
The soft-spoken 27-year-old’s interest in softball was sparked in 2006. “I was a student at Mookane Junior Secondary School by then. My brother was playing for Police IX and I used to go with him to the games. That planted a seed in me. At the school we only had football so softball brought something fresh,” he said.
He then dropped football and joined softball where he started off as an outfielder. In 2011, he was invited to join Botswana Games Central District team. Ketwesepe said he then shifted to pitching following in the footsteps of Sean Ntshebe who was a pitcher at Rail Giants.
“I used to watch him pitch and I learnt from him.
My family moved from Mahalapye to Francistown and I joined Scramblers in 2012. I was the youngest pitcher by then and I was groomed when the club was still under Botswana Defence Force (BDF),” Ketwesepe explained.
He said when Scramblers were dissolved, it was painful and the players were separated from each other with some joining BDF IX at SSKB. Scramblers became a society and the young man thought his dreams were going up in smoke. “I did not give up on my dream and I was in the forefront of resuscitating the club since 2014. We started recruiting junior secondary school students,” he said.
Ketwesepe said to be a good pitcher, one has to be brave and disciplined. “You have to work extra hard without being pushed.
When you get time, you take the catcher and start training. A pitcher is the engine of the team, if you are down that is the end of the team. Endurance is very important so you must be fit all the time. You work harder than other players,” he said.
Ketwesepe said he has been unfortunate not to receive a national team call up. He said dissolving his club had a negative impact on his career.
“Now I am starting afresh and maybe the selectors would now have an opportunity to see my craft. We have been playing a different kind of softball since last year. Last season we finished in position two in the north and we finished 10th overall. We missed out on the national championship twice,” he said. Ketwesepe said he intends to lead his side to the championship. Regarding their game against Carats, Ketwesepe said the game plan was to frustrate Carats by stopping them from batting.
“I knew that if we score before them, they become disorientated. Unfortunately, there was a concentration lapse and they scored one run. I have been studying some of their players for sometime before being Scramblers number one pitcher,” he added.
Ketwesepe is under the tutelage of Bobby Khupe and Peter Motsweta.
“I have been working with the two coaches since 2012.
They have vast experience and they encourage development. It is easy to work with them and all I have to do is to listen to their instructions. They nurtured my skills and I never thought one day I would be leading
Scramblers,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ketwesepe is also passionate with photography and he is a software engineer at Bytes Technology Group in Francistown. “My dream is to play professional softball. When I step up to the mound I expect a win. I wish I could be like Tony Moyo and play overseas,” Ketwesepe said.