The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Seniot Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The Sigma Brackettes and Abaco Bulldogs are the ladies and men’s national champions respectively.

The Brackettes cooled off the red hot Portside Flyers from Grand Bahama to win the Bahamas Softball Federation’s 2013 ladies’ national championship crown.

Behind the six-hit, two strike-out performance from most valuable player Ernestine Stubbs, the Brackettes managed to hold off the Flyers 5-2 at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex Sunday night to complete the four-day tournament with a perfect 6-0 record, including two previous victories over their arch-rivals.

On Saturday night, the Brackettes blanked the Flyers 4-0 to secure their berth into the final. The Flyers had to go to the bronze medal game where they blasted the Sagoma Navigators from Andros 27-1 earlier on Sunday to book their ticket into the final.

The Brackettes also clipped the wings of the Flyers 4-0 in their initial meeting during the round robin on Friday.

While the Brackettes made sure the women’s title stayed in New Providence, the Arnette’s Sporting Lounge Hitmen blew their chance to make it a double whammy. In their bronze medal game on Sunday, the Hitmen fell victim to the Abaco Bulldogs 4-0 and had to settle for third place.

The Bulldogs, who avenged a 2-0 loss to the Hitmen in their opening game in the round robin, advanced to the final where they faced the Elnet Excel Eliminators from Grand Bahama. The Eliminators blanked the Hitmen 1-0 on Saturday night to earn the right to play in the final.

In the final, the Bulldogs came from behind to stun the Eliminators 5-3. Lyle Sawyer was the winning pitcher, striking out 11 and he also helped his own cause by going 1-4, driving in the tying run and scoring the go ahead run. Edney “The Heat” Bethel suffered the loss.

Brackettes 5, Flyers 2

Nobody got more than one hit, but Sigma took advantage of a couple of costly errors by Portside to clinch the championship title. They came up with one unearned run in the first, second and third before adding two more in the fourth to seal the win after the Flyers threatened by scoring one in the fourth and another in the sixth. However, they left runners stranded in all but the second inning.

Every time they came close to scoring again, it was either shortstop Zella Symonette or third sacker Shevette Taylor who came up with defensive stops as they connected to first sacker Krystal Delancey, who produced some nifty plays to give Stubbs all the help she needed.

“I think we did an excellent job tonight,” Delancey said. “We had a few errors, but we pushed through and we were determined to win this game tonight. We knew Grand Bahama was coming back with blood in their eyes, but we made some excellent plays and we got the job done.”

Nobody was more proud of the team’s performance than manager Mario Ford.

“We came back and proved to them that we can be champions in this league,” he said. “We will be around for a long time because we are building a team for the future.”

The Flyers may have exerted a little too much energy in the bronze medal game as they piled up on the runs on Andros. They seemed to have run out of gas as they couldn’t get around the pitching of Stubbs. Their defense didn’t back up their pitching as starter Latoya Martin only lasted to the second before she was relieved by Nerissa Lockhart. But that didn’t make a difference.

The Brackettes saw what happened to the Hitmen and they were determined not to let history repeat itself in their game.

Bulldogs 4, Hitmen 0

In the men’s bronze-medal game, Lyle Sawyer was on his game as he fired a five-hitter, striking out 12 as Abaco went on to stun New Providence.

Mark Douglas got on with a one-out fielder’s choice and eventually scored on an error for the winning run in the fifth. They came back in the sixth with three more runs. With one out, Grant Albury singled, Tyler Russell doubled and Fred Sturrup hit a two-run double and with two out, pinch hitter Hazel McDonald added a RBI single.

Arnette’s Sporting Lounge, whose third baseman Hosea Hilton went down with a dislocated knee, had an opportunity to score in the sixth when Keiron Munroe led off with a single and with one out, Sherman Ferguson doubled.

Manager Darren Stevens then made a key substitution, bringing in Everette Neely to pinch hit for Clement Neely. Everette Neely struck out and Jameko Sands popped to kill their chance.

“I thought fatigue started to settle in for Alcott down the stretch,” Stevens said. “We also had too many runners left stranded.”

In justifying why he made the critical change that made a big difference for his Hitmen, Stevens said Clement Neely injured his hand in the previous inning and he didn’t want to take any chancees, so he made the decision and he did what he felt was in the best interest for the team, even though it backfired and they missed a chance to play for the gold medal.

Sherman Ferguson finished with a 2-for-3 night, Keiron Munroe was 1-for-4.

Alcott Forbes went the distance on seven hits with as many strike outs for the loss.

Flyers 27, Navigators 1

Grand Bahama didn’t waste any chance to hit the ball as they took advantage of Andros to qualify for the gold-medal game.

Christine Hanna had a perfect 4-for-4 night with four RBI and three runs, Keisha Ferguson was 2-for-6 with a RBI and a run, Raquel Cooper was 3-for-6 with two RBI and three runs, Monique Cooper was 4-for-6 with three RBI and three runs and Alvourne Hall was also 4-for-6 with three RBI and two runs.

The Sagoma Navigators had to settle for the bronze after they only managed to score one run in the seventh when Dora Evans got on base on an error. Pinch runner Paula White then stole second, got to third on a passed ball and came home on Malco Evans’ RBI single.

Brackettes 4, Flyers 0

Latoya Bowleg and Krystal Delancey both went 1-for-1 with a run and Ruthann Simms was 1-for-2 with a RBI as Sigma got into the final in Saturday night’s playoff match-up. Ernestine Stubbs threw a three-hitter with a strike out for the win.

Keisha Ferguson, Rickesha Miller and Moniqiue Cooper were all 1-for-2 and Latoya Martin got the loss on a four hitter.

Eliminators 1, Hitmen 0

Lynden Richardson was 1-for-2 with a RBI and Edney ‘the Heat’ Bethel was stingy with two hits and six strike outs as Grand Bahama got into the final in their playoff game on Saturday night.

Alcott Forbes, back in the line-up after missing most of the round robin, got the loss on a one-hitter with four strike outs.

Sherman Ferguson and Hosea Hilton were both 1-for-2 in a losing effort.