The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine are poised to contend for a fourth Bahamas Association of  Independent Secondary Schools junior girls’ softball title.

At the halfway mark in their regular season, SAC moved to 3-0 with a 13-1 win on the road over the Queen’s College Comets yesterday.

Big Red Machine pitcher Shawnte Curtis dominated at the mound with five strikeouts. Her team opened the visiting half of the first inning with eight runs scored by seven players in the lineup.

Curtis scored two runs in the inning and three runs for the game..

Shortstop Shakena Sweeting scored three runs and blasted a two-run in the park home-run in the fourth inning to put the game out of reach.

Big Red Machine manager Vernice Russell said the team once again came out and performed as expected.

“We had a game plan we executed,” she said. “Shawnte was on point with her pitching and the girls were ready to backup on the field as well even though they didn’t get much field work in. The key to our success has been our batting. The girls went out there they were hitting and they ran the bases very well.”

Curtis struck out two of the final three batters she faced to end the contest in the fourth. “Thus far we have played well and we will get better and better. We have a lot of the newcomers, they are getting more comfortable with the game and more comfortable  so I can see our team getting continuing to improve,” Russell said.

“They have been gelling well because the more seasoned players have assisted with the newcomers helping with the basic skills so it has made my job easier with the senior players being so helpful.

The Big Red Machine have amassed an incredible +80 run differential in the three games thus far. They opened the season with a 28-0 win over the St Anne’s Blue Waves followed by a 40-0 win over the St John’s Giants.

Led by Russell, the Big Red Machine junior girls won three consecutive junior girls titles from 2009-11, before they relinquished the title in 2012.

They regained that championship last season with a 2-1 win in the three game series over the St Andrew’s Hurricanes.

“I’m not sure what the other teams look like and how they’re doing to this point but I always say to the girls instead of focusing on whose going to be a bigger challenge, or who won’t be a challenge, just be ready for everyone. Regardless of who we are playing, come out and execute well we will come out victorious. But we don’t set our sights on who will be our biggest contenders,” she said. “We are SAC and we know what we need to do.”

THE SCHEDULE

Thursday, October 2

Senior Girls

JPW at SJC

KWA at NCA

AQ at BA

SA at QC

SAC at SAS

 Junior Boys

NCA at KWA

QC at SA

SAS at SAC