Sports Monday looks ahead to softball competition
Good evening, I’m James Adderley with yet another dish of Sports Monday. The heavy downpour over the weekend forced the postponement of most sporting activities here in the Jewel. Since we live in the tropics, it’s no biggie; we simply shifted gears and caught up with Jude Lizama, tournament director of the National Softball Tournament slated for this weekend inside Roger’s Stadium.
Jude Lizama, Dir., National Softball Tournament
“The national tournament brings the associations from all over the country. They have an opportunity to send two representatives, in other words, their first and second place teams within their region. And they will come for the weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday to take part in the nationals at Rogers’ Stadium. We are seeing ten teams come in. Corozal wasn’t here last year, so we kinda made an improvement on that. Stann Creek has two teams, Cayo has two teams, Belize City has two teams, and Belize rural has two teams. We have six associations, so there actually should be twelve, but this year Orange Walk wasn’t able to field any representatives; we’re hoping that they will come next year.”
“The format is a double elimination format. We’re hoping to get four games in on Friday starting at three-thirty. And that’s kinda a new venture for us because we’ve seen it necessary since we’ve had games start really late and we’re trying to set a curfew and be able to get games in. So we do have those four games starting at three on Friday and then we’ll be able to play five innings for those games. The first fourteen games are going to be five innings and then the last five games will be full seven inning games.”
James Adderley
“You do expect to conclude on Sunday?”
Jude Lizama
“Yes, we are always able. We’ve had some late finishes, but we are hoping that with our new shortened format and our earlier start on Friday we will be able to get outta there before eight o’clock on Sunday evening.”
“The defending champion is B.T.L. Part of the goal for them is that they can then represent the national federation at the Champion of Champions that is held for the Central American region. And so the winner for this will then go on to the regional or the Central American Club Championships next year.”
James Adderley
“Are there any new features added to this year’s tourney?”
Jude Lizama
“Not really. The time is in a sense more like time management, the shortened game, but we are trying to standardise the way the tournaments are run so that we don’t have a new bag of tricks every year and we are trying to make it all inclusive. So we’re looking at a new format for next year because we’re expecting to have the team from Orange Walk come in. That gives us a pool of twelve teams and we’re having trouble trying to manage ten teams for three days, so we’ll probably start seeing a format where we do regional early rounds so that when the championship weekend is held, it’s probably going to be down to a pool of six teams. If you look at the national teams you’ll probably see all the national team players taking part in the tournament representing their various teams and their representative areas. So you should be able to see the highest standards. And I think that what is pleasing to the softball family is that Corozal, being new, have shown tremendous potential since the last time we’ve seen them. So we appreciate that there is growth taking place and we hope that you’ll come out and see the best that softball has to offer this weekend.”
“I hope that there is no controversy, I hope that we play smooth, I hope that we show our best, I hope that we show a lot of good sportsmanship between teams and also especially for the fans, I’d like to ask them to be mannerly, take care of what they say. A lot of times we hear stuff in the stands that are really not representative of softball. So I’d like to say, come out enjoy the game, enjoy the sport, but at the same time be on your best behaviour.”
We certainly take this opportunity to wish the softball community maximum success come the national tournament.
On the football scene, the Belize Premier Football League convenes a general assembly tomorrow, Tuesday night, at their corporate office here in Belize City to observe the Tuesday deadline for participation in this year’s semi-pro football teams.
Some eight teams are expected to perform in the usual all day opening marathon package set for the weekend of September third and fourth at Orange Walk.
In volleyball news, we remind you of the female beach volleyball session at Dolphin Park here in Belize City, which takes centre stage this Sunday, August twenty-eighth.
And of course the Sunday also brings up the Kevin’s Barber Shop non-elite cycling race from Belize City to Hattieville and back. Our boy Stephen is not expected to be among the bidders this time.
Also coming up this weekend is the B.D.F. marathon set for this Saturday featuring four categories of participation. First you have the B.D.F. full marathon, which covers twenty-six miles and begins at five a.m. The Henry Usher half marathon of thirteen miles gets off at five-thirty a.m. The JMA 10k kicks off at six a.m., and at the Karen Fitness 5k is slated to begin at six-thirty a.m. We understand that there are some very interesting competitors in the Karen Fitness 5k.
Hey folks, that’s it for now though. We invite you back same time, same place, next week. Jah over all, I’m James Adderley.
