The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

When the Bahamas Softball Federation hosts its Round Robin Championships at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex next weekend, they will not only be honouring all of its presidents and founders as a part of their 40th anniversary, but they will also induct almost 30 persons and two sponsors into their Hall of Fame.

While the action in the round robin, which has been dubbed the “40th Anniversary Presidents Cup” in honour of Michael Moss, Austin ‘King Snake’ Knowles, Churchill Tener Knowles, Neko Grant, Greg Christie, Romel ‘Fish’ Knowles and Burket Dorsett, is scheduled to get started 7pm Thursday, the official opening ceremonies and induction ceremony is set for the same time on Friday.

During the ceremony, the following persons and companies will be inducted into the Hall of Fame:

Kay Seilier, Rodney Gibson, Sue Roberts, Sherwin Smith, Cyril Smith, Anthony Weech, Marjorie Delaney, Arthur Johnson, Jeff Roberts, Rudy Gardiner, Eddie McSweeney, Spence Lynes, Joe Deal, Alphonso ‘Chicken’ Albury, Pat Maynard, Sherry Thompson (posthumously), Jay Rolle, Michael ‘Reds’ Major, Boomer George, Monica Woodside (posthumously), Frank Forbes, Brusell Bradshaw, George Ferguson, Ronald ‘Ding’ Woodside, Paul ‘Dingus’ Thompson (posthumously) and Clifford ‘Butch’ Scavalla.

The two sponsors to be honoured are Boomer’s Trucking and Sigma Management Limited.

Honouree Burket Dorsett, the current president of the BSF, said they have decided to adopt this year’s induction in the form of the International Softball Federation (ISF) where they look at players, coaches, managers, officials and sponsors.

But while the BSF’s inductions are held every two years, Dorsett said their list will cover a four-year span since they haven’t held an induction since 2008.

“All of the inductees are not from the fast-pitch league,” Dorsett said. “We are just doing it as a part of our 40th anniversary and so we have included fast-pitch, slow-pitch and oldtimers. It’s a mixture of administrators, umpires, a scorer, sponsors and people going for meritorious services.

“The list has been submitted by the various associations and we in the BSF just went through it and came out with the final selection. Normally an induction won’t be no more than about 10 persons, but we’re doing this for a longer period, so we are including a few more persons than normal.”

As for the competition that will feature six men and six women teams from the federation’s affiliated associations, Dorsett said they are anticipating a keenly contested tournament with two new champions being crowned after both the defending women’s champions Proper Care Pool Lady Sharks from New Providence and the defending men’s champions US Gold Panthers from Grand Bahama were dethroned.

Islands participating on the men’s side are Abaco, Andros, Exuma, Grand Bahama, Spanish Wells (Eleuthera) and New Providence. The women’s teams participating are Abaco, Andros, Inagua, Grand Bahama, Spanish Wells (Eleuthera) and New Providence.

“From what I’ve seen and heard, the competition in the men’s division should come from New Providence and Abaco. It doesn’t appear that Grand Bahama is as strong as the US Gold Panthers were last year, but you can never count them out,” Dorsett said. “So we should have a very exciting competition in that division.

“As for the ladies’ division, we expect that New Providence will once again be competitive. We know that Grand Bahama has always been a force to reckon with and so we anticipate that they will once again provide the challenge, along with Andros and Abaco.”

Each team will play six games in the round robin and the top four teams will advance to the playoffs.

A technical meeting is set for 2pm Thursday for all coaches and managers.

The bronze medal and championship games are all scheduled to be contested on Sunday, November 4.