The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The defending ladies’ champions Sigma Brackettes blew a 12-3 lead, but managed to hold on for a slim 13-12 win against the pesky Black Scorpions as the New Providence Softball Association kicked off its best-of-five playoffs in the Banker’s Field at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex last night.

In the match-up between the second and third place finishers in the regular season, the Brackettes worked out of a jam by stopping the Black Scorpions on a series of scoring attempts in the top of the seventh that ended with shortstop Michelle Thompson being lifted off the field after she apparently injured her left knee.

Scorpions’ coach Foster Dorsett said it was disappointing to go down the way they did. “We had our chances to win the game,” he said. “We just didn’t capitalise when we should have. But at least we know that we could hit Ernestine (Stubbs). So in game two, we hope that we can come out with a little more intensity and get the job done.”

Stubbs, the mainstay for the Brackettes, did what she had to do and that was to pitch the ball and allowed her defence to take care of business.

In the final inning as the Scorpions made their last pitch to at least tie or win the game, Stubbs gave up a lead off double to Antonia Simmons and then Thompson was hit by a pitch.

Nadia Thompson followed with a fly out to left field and on her attempt to advance to third, Simmons was picked off by Latonia Bowleg on the throw to Amarige Taylor for the second out.

Latheria Brown followed with a single to left and on a pitch to Marvel Miller, Thompson headed for third, but she was picked off by catcher Ruthann Simms on the throw to Amarige Taylor to third.

That resulted in the final out of the game, but it proved costly for the Scorpions as Thompson suffered the injury and after getting attended to by members of both teams, she had to be lifted off the field in agony.

“We hope that she will be ready to go for game two,” said coach Foster Dorsett. “We don’t know how serious it is, but we hope that she will be okay.”

While there was some concern for Thompson for the Scorpions, the Brackettes are probably still trying to figure out what went wrong.

They took a 4-2 lead at the end of the first inning, scoring four unearned runs. Then they extended it to 7-2 with three more unearned runs in the second. By the end of the third, they had built a 12-3 lead, thanks to a big two-run single from Jaqvonia Ferguson and a run-producing triple from Zella Symonette as they batted around the clock.

The Scorpions returned the favour as they produced four runs on as many hits in the fourth to trim the deficit to 14-7. As they batted around the clock, Shavonne Dames led the rally with a RBI single and Marvel Miller helped her own cause with a two-run single.

They got an unearned run in the fifth to avoid getting stopped via the 10 or seven run rule after the Brackettes were only able to respond with a run in the bottom of the frame as Maria Pelacanos came in briefly for Miller to stop Sigma’s bid to score as the Scorpions turned the only double play of the game.

Then in the bottom of the sixth, the Scorpions made the score a lot closer when they put up four more runs on the scoreboard in the sixth, the highlight coming on a two-run triple from Crystal Taylor.

However Miller, nursing her right pitching arm, came back in and was able to shut down the Brackettes from scoring in the bottom as they left two runners in scoring position at third and second.

But with a big chance to at least tie or go away on the scoreboard, the Scorpions ran themselves right out of the game with even more damage as Thompson closed out the game with the injury.

The Scorpions are hoping that she will be back in the line-up with a week off to recuperate as they won’t play again until Thursday.

The men’s feature game was to be played between the third place BTC Elite Warriors and the second place defending champions Arnette’s Sporting Lounge Hitmen. However, no score was available up to press time last night. They will play game two on Tuesday.

On Saturday, the other half of the playoff picture will be played between the fourth place College of the Bahamas Lady Caribs and the pennant winning Sigma Wildcats in the ladies’ opener. That will be followed by the men’s feature contest between the fourth place Chances Mighty Mitts and the pennant winning Sting Truckers.