A Look Back At This Weekend in Sports
Goodnight and welcome to another edition of Sports Monday, I am Paul Lopez. “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a determination”. That’s a quote from Usain Bolt. And, over the last decade, winning an Interoffice Softball Championship seemed impossible for the MOE Chiefs. That was until Friday night when the Chiefs defeated the H.R.C.U. Eagles inside the Rogers Stadium.
Softball fans showed out in numbers on Friday night under the moon lit skies inside the Rogers Stadium for two win or go home games. The first matchup of the night was for the Inter-office Championship between MOE Chiefs and the HRCU Eagles. It was a best of three series and MOE Chiefs were up by one win going into Friday night. MOE Chiefs are up by one point going into the bottom of the second inning. Number fourteen, Christopher Peyrefitte is pitching for the Eagles.
With two strikes and three balls pitched, Chief’s Shakira Jones hits a ground ball between first and second base, second base fumbles and Jones runs safely to first base. Ball pitched to Jermaine Crawford and that’s a strike. Jones takes the opportunity to steal to second base. Jones is now on third base. Michelle Novelo is up to bat for the Chiefs. She makes a beautiful hit into left field that sends Jones home for another run. Mushea McDonald has made it to third base. Earl Noralez is up to bat. That one goes deep into the right field, sending McDonald home. Number four Elvis Franklin up to bat. He connects and sends the ball into the left field bringing in yet another runner. The Chiefs are now up six to two runs at the bottom of the second.
Eagles are up to bat. That ball is sent sailing, but the center fielder makes light work of the effort. One, two, three and the Eagles were back out fielding, adding zero runs to the score board, much to the delight of veteran coach Leslie Rogers. The Eagles are playing for one more out with Giovannie Lucas on third base. The catcher loses sight of the ball and Lucas makes good of the opportunity for another run. At the top of the fourth inning, Eagles have a runner on third base. The short stop goes for the out at first base, sacrificing the run. That’s another run on the scoreboard for the Eagles.
Bottom of the fourth, Chief’s Mushea McDonald send the ball over the fence for his team’s third homerun of the match. In the fifth inning, the score is three runs to eight, in favor of the Chiefs. Eagle’s Christopher Peyrefitte on third base. Keesha Taylor hits the ball in the left field, sending Peyrefitte home in this do or die inning. At the bottom of the fifth, Chief’s Earl Noralez makes contact with the ball. It’s going, going, and that one is gone! That would seal the deal for the Chief’s first ever Inter-office Championship after a decade of competing.
Lorene Solis
Lorene Solis, Coach, MOE Chiefs
“It means quite a lot because MOE has been in this league since its inception in the early 2000’s and we have come second about five or six times and we have never won it, and actually this is the first time I am not on the team as a player but as a coach.”
Leslie Roger
Leslie Roger, Coach, MOE Chiefs
“The most important thing I tell them, the last game we played this team won us. Each time we score an amount of run this team come and score on we. We could relax so we had to keep the pressure on.”
We will quickly take you through game two of the night, game three of the Co-Ed Championship Finals between Teichroeb and Sons and the Old Timers. With a runner on second base, Teichroeb’s Bryan Grant connects bat to ball and sends it sailing across the fence for the first home run of the match. Marconi Leal is up to bat. A beautiful ground hit by Leal through first and second base. That play gives him two bases. His teammate then follows with a hit into the field that sends him to third base. Bruce Hyton hits, he is stopped at first base, but Leal makes it home for a third point
Jerome Carr with the ground ball to the left field that sends Joseph home for a third point. The Old Timers would score zero runs at the bottom of the first. At the bottom of the third inning, Old Timers are down eight runs to two. This is a critical inning and they must make some points. Number nine, Sasha Brown sends the ball into the left field, sending George Perteau home for a third run. Number thirteen, Chris Hower connects and sends a rocket into the left field that evades the fielder’s best effort. Brown makes it home safely for a fourth run.
One out with runners on third and second base, Sherlene Humphrey hits the ball into center field and it is easily caught. But, Hower makes it home for a fifth run for the Old Timers. Here is the inning that would seal the game for Teichbroeb and Sons. Bases are loaded. Ashley Lucas hits the ball on the ground. It makes it into the left field. Rene Flowers up to bat. He connects with the first pitch. That one is going, going and its gone folks. A massive home run that secures an additional three runs for Teichroeb and Sons. They would finish the match with fifteen runs over Old Timer’s seven runs.
Rene Flowers
Rene Flowers, Captain, Teichroeb and Sons
“When it comes to home run and thing once I start off the hitting my team will help me and I believe tonight we have to thank God first and thank our sponsor Mr. Peter Teichbroeb and Elizabeth Salinas. Without them we wouldn’t have a time. Tonight we showed them who the better team was coming into playoffs.”
Tyra Moriera
Tyra Moriera, Head Coach, Teichroeb and Sons
“It is everything mien. I think we couldn’t sleep. We had some players come very nervous. But it was all or nothing and we made that very clear from the start of our game and to take home the trophy and that is exactly what we did, come up on top and we wah enjoy this victory yah mien.”
And from Softball we move to some basketball action from the fifth week of the William Dawson Sprite- Digi Youth Basketball Tournament 2023. Here is game three of the thirteen games played on Saturday inside the Lopez Mateos Park in Belize City. Protel BPO went up against Freetown Hitters. The starting whistle is blown and Protel takes control. Arzu with the put back for the first basket of the match. Cruz for Protel is open on the three point line. He fires and banks that one. On the other end, Freetown’s Shawn Pascasio powers in and he is fouled. He would go to the line to make one of two free throws.
In the second quarter, a beautiful alley oop here for Protel BPO. The ball didn’t go in, but they were able to draw the foul and go to the line. On the other end, a beautiful three-point shot by Lopez for Freetown Hitters. At the end of the first half, Protel was up seventeen to eight points. In the third quarter, Freetown pushes the ball down the court, gets into the paint and makes the easy basket. Here number three for Protel’s number three tries to get away with a double dribble but the refs are quick to pick up on that one. In the fourth quarter, Cruz wide open yet again at the three point line and he makes them pay for it. Lopez responds on the other end with a three-pointer. Here is Lopez again forcing the turnover, dribbling around two players and taking it to the rim and drawing the foul. That game ended thirty-four to thirty-one baskets in favor of Protel BPO, a very close match.
Let’s talk a little bit now about what’s happening in the National Elite Basketball League. Two huge games were played this weekend. Benny’s Belize Hurricanes took on the Dangriga Dream Ballers inside the Belize Civic Center for game one of their series. The Hurricanes are up one win after Friday night. The San Pedro Tiger Sharks took on the Orange Walk Running Rebels in San Pedro in a do or die game for Sugar City. The Tiger Sharks dominated on their home court, sending the OW Rebels to Cancun on a fishing trip. The Hurricanes head to Dangriga this weekend for game two.
Well folks, that is all we have for you in tonight’s coverage of Sports Monday. Until next time, see you.
