B.T.L. takes female softball crown
Good evening, I’m James Adderley with your latest dish of Sports Monday. The National Softball Tournament was staged inside Rogers’ Stadium over the weekend with the nine best teams in the country making the big dance.
We pick up the action on Sunday as the double elimination format forces C.T.C. Lady Rebels of Belize City and the Esperanza Wolverines of the Cayo League to face each other in an elimination match to get into the championship series with undefeated B.T.L. waiting in the wings.
It’s a 3-2 ballgame when C.T.C.’s Lynette Gabrielle gets a hit of the Esperanza pitcher and makes it to first, only to severely twist her right ankle. Mercifully she would return, but only for a short while in this match because of the severity of her injury.
It’s a 9-4 lead in the bottom of the fifth when Sherlene Banner gets this batter to pop up for the out. The next batter hits softly to first base for that easy out, and this pop up ends the confrontation as team C.T.C. with the 9-4 win moves on, needing to beat the defending champion B.T.L. twice under the system utilised to claim this year’s national title.
In the bottom of the very first inning C.T.C. Lady Rebels erupts for six big time runs. Greta Davis should be out here, but Nerissa Rowland fumbles the play to load the bases, And of course manager Raymond Lashley, a wily veteran does smell danger. He calls the pow-wow. Nevertheless, here’s another out not executed by B.T.L. because of the late tag as C.T.C. gets onto the scoreboard with the bases still loaded.
Ashanti Anderson’s fly to the outfield is then caught, but the runner at third beats the throw to score. Janelle Smith’s single up the middle brings another run home. Hortense Thurton then smacks Barbara Cadle hard. The outfield can’t catch up with it, the runner from third speeds to home plate, makes it but both Gabrielle and the third base coach Greg Moguel do need help off the field as a result of?I guess we will just say too much excitement.
Team C.T.C. goes on to post the 12-2 blow out and force a final match-up with B.T.L., who suffered their first loss of the tournament.
So it’s for all the marbles and it’s money time as B.T.L bats against the Lady Rebels. It’s Nerissa Rowland against C.T.C.’s Carla Humes as Rowland’s swing drops on the outfield to bring home Lisa Jones with the first run of this confrontation.
Mary Flowers’ punch has just enough on it to bring Rowland home from third for the second run of the match. With two on, Ruth Lamb takes Carla Humes deep enough to bring home Jolene Davis all the way from first base and we now have a three-run inning.
In their turn at bat, C.T.C. Lady Rebels come back very strong. Mary Flowers gets hit hard by Greta Davis who brings home Marsha Wills from third to get C.T.C. on the board, and Davis is herself brought home from third thanks to the bat of pitcher Carla Humes.
In the top of the fifth, Mary Flowers helps her cause with this R.B.I. in the person of Martha Rhys to make it a 5-2 score.
That’s all Mary Flowers would need as B.T.L. goes on to post the 5-3 victory thereby claiming the National Softball Title of the beautiful jewel called Belize for a second year in a row – and we got to say congratulations.
Turning to the football scene, the RFG Insurance Cup Tournament as presented by the Belize Premier Football League took off yesterday Sunday inside Sugar City Orange Walk with the usual marathon package featuring all fourteen teams participating this year.
In the first round, Mango Creek eliminates F.C. Belize 2-zip, Belmopan bombed Cayo Avengers 3-nil; New Site Erei whips Wagiya 2-zip, the Bulls blanked Benque Viejo 2-nothing, San Pedro Seahawks edged Hankook Verdes on penalties, Placencia Pirates got past Boca F.C., also on penalties, while Kremandala jolts Juventus 3-1.
The semi-final round finds Mango Creek eliminating New Site Erei on penalties and the San Pedro Seahawks fall to Placencia on the PK’s.
In the championship match up, Placencia Pirates prevailed over Mango Creek F.C. on penalty kicks to grab this year’s marathon title. Hey guys, we just want to remind you that marathon is not a full-length ball game. Nevertheless, we want to say congratulations to the newcomers, Placencia Pirates, you’re looking good.
In the meantime, B.P.F.L. coordinator Ruperto Vicente gave us the league’s assessment of this year’s season.
Ruperto Vicente, Manager, B.P.F.L.
“The teams appear to be well matched up. At the beginning we thought that fourteen teams would have weakened the league, but looking at what we are experiencing here this afternoon, or all of today, we realise that these teams are up to the task and they are well matched up.”
Quame Scott
“Fourteen-team competition, is it good or is it bad, because sometimes when you do it and you stretch it so far there is discrepancy in parity sometimes.”
Ruperto Vicente
“And I must agree with you, our player population is very small, and that is one of the things we need to look at. So the league again, along with the federation, is going to have to review the situation after this season and then decide whether we are going to continue with fourteen teams or not. But if there’s a huge disparity between the teams, then we must cut down the number of teams in the league because it’s not going to be good for competition, it’s not going to be good for marketing.”
Of course folks, regular season now gets underway this Sunday, September fourth with fourteen teams divided into two groups. In group A: Placencia Pirates play Wagiya Saturday at the Michael Ashcroft, Cayo Avengers faces Benque Viejo United out west, and Kremandala will be at the M.C.C. Grounds against Hankook Verdes.
Over in group B: San Pedro Seahawks take on Boca F.C. at Independence, Juventus and Belmopan United get together at the People’s Stadium, New Site Erei sees Mango Creek inside the Carl Ramos Stadium, and Calcutta Bulls will host the F.C. Belize up north. Make sure you’ve got those playing dates in.
Turning to the track and field scene, the Belize Defence Force Sports Day Marathon produced enough winners over the weekend and we must express our appreciation to the army for producing this particular event.
The Karen Fitness 5K was won by Rene Cavanas in nineteen minutes thirty-six seconds. He beats out Hilberto Teck and Mateo Cal in that order. On the female side it was Teresita Grajalez in twenty-five minutes, fifty-seven seconds, forcing Jacqueline Galvez into second and Joycelyn Galvez third.
Ian Grey, a former superstar of track and field, took the male 10K in thirty-seven minutes, nine seconds as Daniel Cho and Luis Martinez finish second and third respectively.
Lionman sprint winner Elizabeth Zabaneh took the female 10K in fifty-four minutes, thirty-seven seconds, beating out Shalini Zabaneh by some three minutes as Jamie Usher pulled up third, Agnes Palacio fourth. And check out this face for fifth place as our colleague Janelle Chanona gets edged out by Jane Usher. Hey Janelle, please look behind you next time.
In the meantime folks, maximum respect is due to Louis Haulze, who emerged the overall winner in the 21K marathon with a time of one hour, twenty-five minutes, fifty-six seconds. Luis August took second and Kurt Hyde third. We got to say Louis Haulze has certainly blossomed into one of the premier long distance runners in this country, and we say keep up the good work.
Elsa Lucas took the female run in two hours, seven minutes, thirty-nine seconds, beating out Noriko Kimpara and Kaya Cattouse in that order. Hey, Kaya Cattouse… very young girl but certainly looks like she has a bright future. Of course we must give maximum respect to our friend and veteran athlete Kathleen Tillett who pulled up third in this category.
And now looking into the prime time event on the presentation people, Marco Castellanos took the mighty twenty-six mile marathon in mighty fashion with a time of two hours, fifty-nine minutes, forty-three seconds, beating out his nearest challenger, Wilhelm Bailey by over half and hour. Wilhelm Bailey nevertheless beats third place finisher Derrick Castillo by over eleven minutes.
That’s it for now though, we want to thank our cameramen for their great work over the weekend. Jah over all, I’m James Adderley.
