The Tribune

IF you enjoyed the competitive Austin Knowles National High School Softball Tournament at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex over the weekend, Bahamas Softball Federation president Burkett Dorsett says you won’t want to miss the National Round Robin Softball Championship Tournament which starts tonight.

Similar to the Austin Knowles tourney, which featured high school boys and girls teams from around the country, the federation is gearing up to host the nationals for its affiliated men and women teams from Thursday to Sunday.

The tournament is being held in honour of Alphonso ‘Chicken’ Albury, Nell Russell from Grand Bahama and Reggie ‘the Juicer’ Knowles from Eleuthera.

“Things are starting to shape up. The staff at the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture are doing the final preparations to the facilities, all of the islands are booked and ready to travel and we are just waiting for the start of the competition,” said Dorsett, who is back home after attending the International Softball Federation’s 26th Congress in Cartegena, Colombia, last week.

Dorsett noted that the highlight on opening day should be in the men’s feature contest at 10pm between New Providence and Abaco. Although they are represented by different teams, Dorsett said the match-up will be a rematch of last year’s final where New Providence’s Truckers clinched the title over Abaco.

Then on Friday, Dorsett said they are looking at a key showdown in both the women’s and men’s divisions between the teams from Grand Bahama and New Providence. The ladies are slated to play their encounter at 8pm following the opening ceremonies and the men are set to play in the feature contest at 10pm.

“These two islands have had a big rivalry for years,” Dorsett said. “We anticipate that it will continue because everyone wants to win.”

However, with six teams entered in the men’s division and five in the ladies’ division, Dorsett said they can’t count out any of the other islands because they will all be coming to town to try and upstage New Providence and Grand Bahama.

On the men’s side, the other islands are Abaco, Andros, Spanish Wells and Exuma. On the ladies’ side, they are Abaco, Andros and Spanish Wells.

Dorsett said once the tournament is completed on Sunday, the federation will be meeting with the executives in Eleuthera, Long Island and even Bimini with the view of getting them to compete next year, which should increase their team participation to about 10.

Each team in this year’s tournament will play in the round robin where the top four teams will advance to the plyoffs to determine the final two in the championship games.

The tournament will be officially opened 7pm Friday when the BSF will honour the members of both the men’s and women’s national teams that finished third at the ISF Men’s World Championships in Tacoma, Washington, in 1980 and the ISF World Games in Santa Clara, California, a year later.

The ladies’ team was managed by Bobby “Baylor” Fernander and coached by Godfrey “Gully” Pinder, Alfred “Ali” Culmer and the late Charlie Mortimer. The players were Daisy Walker, Linda Ford, Naomi Ellis, Debbie Forbes, Candace Degregory, Denise Reckley, Oria’Big O’ Wood-Knowles, Cyprianna NcKinney, Cynthia “Mother Pratt” Moxey, Audrey Sears, Kay Moxey, Jan Poitier, Nancy Russell, Sherlyn Bain, Ernestine Butler-Stubbs, Cheryl Turnquest, Carolyn Ferguson, Alice ‘Snowball’ Wells, Sandra Wells, Ann Wildgoose and the late Cyprianna McKinney.

The men’s team was managed by the late Leon “Apache” Knowles and coached by Bobby “Baylor” Fernander and Godfrey “Gully” Pinder. The players were Max Sweeting, Sonny ‘Jiggy’ Haven, Douglas ‘Douggie’ Smith, the late Jimmy ‘the Magician’ Lee, Colin ‘Josey Wales’ Russell, Richard ‘the Lion-Heart’ Johnson, Anthony ‘Poker’ Huyler, Roy Rodgers, Adlia ’Mossah’ Moss, Keith Butler, Fred ‘Papa’ Smith, the late Roosevelt ‘Dog’ Turner, John Rolle, Jason ‘Pegs’ Moxey, Dencil Clarke, Panzy ’Cat’ Johnson, Eddie McSweeney and Reggie ‘the Juicer’ Knowles.

“As we celebrate our 40th year of Independence, we want to take this time out to say thank you to the men and women who helped to get us on the map in softball,” Dorsett said. “We are inviting all of the players and their family and friends to come out and help them celebrate this festive occasion.”

Dorsett noted that the federation, represented by himself, first vice president Ted Adderley and secretary general Daphne McKinney, were pleased to have received the news that former president Romell ’Fish’ Knowles and Oria Wood-Knowles will be the two latest Bahamians to be inducted into the ISF’s Hall of Fame.

While no date has been set as yet, Dorsett said they are expecting to invite the president of the ISF to come and perform the induction of Knowles and Wood-Knowles, who join a list of 14 other Bahamians inducted since the biannual enshrinement began in 1981.

Dorsett noted that also during the congress, Canada has agreed to assist the English-speaking countries in providing equipment and hosting coaches clinics, starting next year. He noted that the Bahamas will be one of the venues as there will be several to ensure that as many countries get the opportunity to benefit from the gesture.

He also noted that the ISF is looking at expanding by hosting an under-29 tournament for boys and girls and there will be at least three opportunities for the Bahamas men’s national team to compete in tournaments next year as they work towards participation in the World Championships in three years.

A total of 64 countries attended the congress, which officially welcomed Haiti into the fold.