Irrepressible Puakaa Foils Scramblers
Koketso Kgoboge | Monday February 20, 2017 15:21
In his top five innings before he was substituted, Puakaa hit Scramblers to 10 strike outs, he gave two walks and only one hit-by-pitch with no score. Puakaa is a record holder of the fastest pitcher at the World Baseball and Softball Junior Championships (WBSC) with a 79 miles per hour pitch. He set the record at the WBSC championships held in Michigan, United States of America last year. He said his focus is beyond the league games. “I want to help my team to the (BoFiNet) championships but I am focused on improving my speed more than anything. I am chasing the world (fast pitch) record.”
Puakaa began like a house on fire in the first inning taking out all Scramblers batters with his power packed pitches at the batting mound. In defence, Scramblers took time to recover from the Puakaa trauma and when still caught up a Morulaganyi Moalosi hit sent Thapelo Pilane home for a Carats opener. The home side recovered quickly with a quick play to take Carats out with two men on bases.
The young pitcher again sent Scramblers back to their dugout without a hit in the top two innings. His team lacked on attack and failed to deal with Scramblers slow pitch game. They could only register a single run through Thato Ntau to make it 2-0 in the bottom two.
In top three the usual suspect returned Scramblers home but with a single hit that did not count. Gofaone Pilane added one for the Carats in the bottom three. Fourth Inning ended 0-0. Puakaa made way for Gofaone Pilane in the top five.
“We substituted him to protect him. He is still a developing player. We are unstoppable defensively but we are lacking offensively something we need to improve,” Carats caretaker coach Ralph Lebopo said.
Pilane matched the youngster sending Scramblers out without a hit. Carats captain, Thapelo Pilane wrapped up their astonishing performance with a home-run before the empire took the ball to signal game over.
In an earlier game between Ghetto Yankees and Rebels, another power pitcher Odirile ‘Oddar’ Kerebotswe sent his side through to the top 12 with a consistent pitch that saw Yankees manage only three runs to 13 for Rebels.
Rebels sprung to a 7-0 in the first inning, 3-2 and 3-1 in second and third inning before the game ended in the fourth inning.