The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Manager Godfrey ‘Gully’ Burnside will be carrying a men’s national team – featuring more first time players – to Medellin, Colombia, but one that he is confident can qualify for the Pan American Championships in 2014 and even the World Championships in New Zealand in 2013.

“We’re all set to travel. We travel on Thursday afternoon,” Burnside said. “We’re all set to go.”

Burnside, who will have Martin ‘Pork’ Burrows and Perry Seymour as his coaches, said they spent a great deal of time meshing the younger players with the more seasoned players and he’s pleased with the chemistry that they were able to develop over the last few months.

“We should definitely make the Pan Am qualifier, but we are going to try even harder to try and qualify for the World Championships,” he said.

The team, which will travel with Steeven ‘Garbo’ Coakley as the chef de mission and Brian ‘Ninja’ Neely as the trainer, will have to finish in the top eight in order to qualify for the Pan Am Championships. However, the task will be a little more difficult for the World Championships in that they have to finish in the top five in order to advance.

The team travelling will comprise of the following players:

Pitchers - Adney “The Heat” Bethel (Eleuthera), Alcott Forbes, Thomas Davis (Long Island) and Fred ‘the Skipper’ Cornish (Long Island).

Catchers - Angelo Dillett, Garfield Bethel and Jamal ‘Sarge’ Johnson.

Infielders - Marvin ‘Tougie’ Wood, Greg Gardiner, Hosea Hilton, Wayne ‘Eric’ Johnson and Michael Sweeting (Grand Bahama).

Outfielders - Sherman Ferguson, Lamar Watkins, Martin Burrows Jr, Richard Bain and Addie Finley.

The team, according to Burnside, is totally different from the last one to represent the Bahamas two years ago in Colombia.

“We’re still strong with pitching with Adney and Alcott, two of the best in the country at this time,” Burnside noted. “We look good defensively. I think we’re not as strong as we should in power, but we have speed and if we can execute like we ought too, we will do very well.

“We have some new guys for the first time like Thomas Davis, Eric Johnson, Lamar Watkins, Angelo Dillet, Michael Sweeting, Addie Finley and Garfield Bethel all going for the first time. It’s my task to keep them focused and understand and appreciate the level of competition that they are being a part of at this stage in their softball careers.”

The team will have a final meeting 6pm today in the Banker’s Field at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex before they depart on Thursday.

As they prepare to travel, Marvin Wood, one of the veteran members of the team, say they are definitely confident that they can qualify for the Pan Am Games, but the real challenge for them is to qualify for the World Championships.

“I feel confident that we can qualify for the Pan Am Games, but it will be a push for the World Championships because we have a lot of first time or rookies on the team,” Wood said. “It’s the first time that many of them will be playing against this type of competition.

“But I expect for us to qualify for the Pan Am Games and hopefully we can sneak in there and qualify for the World Championships. It ain’t going to be easy.”

The key to the team’s success, according to Wood, will be communication.

“It will have to come from the top, starting with the manager and coaches and then the veteran ball players,” he said. “We have to make the younger guys feel comfortable and at ease, knowing that this is just another game. Once they play like they did at home and we will be okay.”

Wood said players like himself, Adney Bethel, Jamal Johnson and Greg Gardiner, who have played at this level before, will have to help pull the younger players along.

The Bahamas will be playing against teams from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Cuba, Aruba, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, US Virgin Islands, Honduras, Panama, Belize, El Salvador and Nicaragua.