From the beginning, it was not clear who would emerge victorious as both sides played a cautious game. Bears went on the ascendancy in the third inning as Wells wilted under pressure. After Wells registered the first run, they put themselves under unnecessary pressure in a bid to make sure Bears did not score. However, Bears capitalised on Wells' mistakes to register three runs in the fourth inning. When everybody thought it was all over for Wells after Bears raced to a 5-3 lead, the Jwaneng girls woke up from the slumber and started hitting home runs.
Wells piled pressure and made life difficult for Bears. This worked well for the new champions as the game picked up. Bears faltered at the wrong time, just a few minutes before final count down and Wells were lucky to have been on the lead because at this point the game could have gone either way.
Wells' coach Otsetswe Modiega could not control his emotions after the win. He said they fumbled in the first inning and Bears have always given them a tough time in competitions and it was payback time.
Modiega said they had trained hard and they were out to win the cup this time round. He asserted that they respected Bears and had to be cautious at the beginning of the game. So far, he said, Wells have accumulated a lot of silver medals and winning gold is a big achievement.
However, Modiega was not happy with the organisation of the tournament. He said though there were many teams, some played only two games and this is not enough competition. He wished that the tournament could be played in a round robin system. Mmegi Sport could not get a comment from Bears as the coach was reluctant to talk.
Botswana Softball Association (BSA) spokesperson Pako Maforaga was happy that the tournament was a success. He said the level of competition was high as compared to last year. He added that the spectators had come in large numbers. He said they had not expected such a tough competition especially because the league is on a winter break. Maforaga said they could not use the round robin system because there were many teams.
"Using the round robin would mean taking a lot of time," he told Mmegi Sport. He said every team was given two chances to make it to the semi-finals.
