The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

CW Saunders Cougars staked an early claim as contenders for the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools junior girls softball title with a dominant performance in their season debut.

Mia Turner hit three in the park home runs yesterday to lead the Cougars to a 24-10 win over the Comets at Queen’s College. Turner finished 4-4 on the day with eight RBI and four runs scored.

Cougars’ pitcher Megan Grant struck out four from the mound and at the plate she finished 4-4 with three RBI and five runs scored.

A strong offence was also highlighted by Shania Sturrup who went 3-4 with three RBI with three runs scored, Brechante Dean finished 3-4 with four RBI and three runs scored.

Bridgette Cumberbatch led the Comets offensively, 2-3 with four RBI, including a three run in the park home run. 

Sturrup and Ashiha Brown got the rally started with consecutive singles and Turner drove home the first run of the game.

The Comets would be plagued by ball control issues at the mound and behind the plate which allowed the Cougars base runners to take full advantage and score on errors and wild pitches.

By the end of the first inning, the Cougars built a 13-0 lead and the route was on.

The Comets will look to regain a spot in the win column when they travel to face St Anne’s on September 29.

The Cougars’ next matchup will be on October 6 when they host the St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine.

The BAISS softball season got underway Monday with 37 teams competing in four divisions. Senior boys and junior girls play Mondays and Wednesdays, while junior boys and senior girls take to the field on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Senior boys will field the most teams with 11 and will be the only division to play on Fridays. 

The junior boys will field nine teams, senior girls 10 and junior girls seven.

The numbers have decreased from the 42 teams that participated last season. The Queen’s College Comets (QC), Nassau Christian Academy Crusaders (NCA), St Andrew’s Hurricanes (SA), St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine (SAC), St Anne’s Blue Waves (SAS) and St John’s Giants (SJC) will be the only schools to field teams in all four divisions. The Aquinas College Aces (AQ) will field three teams while the Bahamas Academy Stars (BA) will only compete in the senior divisions.

The playoffs are scheduled to begin on November 4 and the championship series on November 10.

Last season, St Augustine’s College swept all four softball titles in November.

The junior boys became the first team to claim a title when they completed a two-game sweep of the St Andrew’s Hurricanes with a 9-3 win in game two.

The senior girls also claimed a two-game sweep when they closed out the series against the Hurricanes.

Both the junior girls and senior boys needed three games, but eventually joined their counterparts in the winners’ circle.

The junior girls took the opener over the Hurricanes, came up short in game two and sealed game three to reclaim the title they last won in 2011.

In the senior boys, SAC fell in the opening game to the CW Saunders Cougars, 7-5, but rebounded to take the next two games in the series and claimed the fourth title for the school.

THE SCHEDULE

• Thursday, September 25

Junior Boys

SAS at SJC

QC at KWA

AQ at CWS

Senior Girls

SJC at SAS

JPW at SAC

BA at NCA

QC at AQ