The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WHEN the New Providence Softball Association kicks of its 2015 season on Friday, the Commando Security Truckers will be out to regain its supremacy in the men’s division.

Last year after the Truckers, who campaigned under the sponsorship of the Sting Truckers, made their return to the league after a brief hiatus, they won the divisional pennant only to get stopped in the best-of-seven championship final by the new champions Arnette’s Sporting Lounge Hitmen.

Now back under the sponsorship of Commando Security, who they campaigned with before they took a brief hiatus because of a dispute with the league, the Truckers are hoping to steamroll through what is expected to be a very competitive season wth all of the six teams in the men’s division pretty stacked. They will open the new season in the feature game 9pm Friday against the Ira Dez Hitmen.

“We are not as strong as I would like because we are losing our ace pitcher from last year, Thomas Davis, who we have to try to find somebody to take his place,” said Truckers’ manager Perry Seymour. “We have to find another pitcher of his calibre. I know we have picked up some younger fellows who wanted to play with us this year, but that is going to be our main priority, pitching.”

Despite losing Davis, Seymour said they are basically back with the same core of players and so they should still be a force to reckon with when all smoke clears.

“Like I told my guys at our last practice, although we didn’t win the championship last year, we’re still going to have teams coming to the park to beat the Truckers,” he said. “The teams are definitely getting stronger because of some of the switching around of players that has taken place over the offseason. We know the Hitmen and the BTC Elite Warriors have also gotten stronger.

“We also know that there is a new team coming in, sponsored by Rubis, which has a mixture of players from the teams already in the league, so it’s going to be an interesting year,” Seymour said.

Over the years, the Truckers, who evolved out of the defunct perennial kingpins Budweiser Eagles, have been a treat to teams in the league and Seymour said it’s their social interaction that has kept them grounded through all of their adversities.

“Even when softball is not going on, we are still together,” he said. “We’re more like a social club. We travel together and we do a lot of things together. Every time when it’s someone’s birthday, even if it’s not during the softball season, we would get together and hang out and chill. We try to help each other out even if they have some work to do around their yard or something like that.”

And after falling short of regaining the NPSA title, Seymour said their ultimate goal this year is to win, but if they don’t, they just want to represent the Truckers club to the best of their ability. And having won their last title under Commando Security, Seymour said it would be good if they can pull it off again. But he admitted that they will have to be ready for the competition because on any given night, anybody can win with the way the talent is spread around.

The Truckers and Hitmen are scheduled to play after the ladies’ opener at 7pm between last year’s runners-up Sigma Brackettes and the defending champions Sigma Wildcats and the official opening ceremony at 8:30pm.