The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The Nassau Christian Academy Crusaders, sparked by a solo home run in a four-run seventh inning, held off the defending champions St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine for a 14-12 victory in a Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools’ marquee senior boys’ softball game yesterday.

Both teams came into the game tied at the top of the standings with the Charles W Saunders Cougars at 4-1 and it turned out to be a slug-fest as neither team wanted to leave St Augustine’s College with their second loss of the season.

“It feels good. It feels good, despite not being a championship game, which is what we are playing for, to get a championship this year,” said NCA coach Ainsworth Beckford. “This is the second hard game we played. We played our first hard game against Charles W Saunders and this was another hard one. But this game sets us up very good for the playoffs. I’m not really concerned about this game, despite the win. It puts us in a good position to be the pennant winners, but it’s the championship we want and we have to get to the playoffs first. But this is one hurdle that we have cleared so far.”

The Crusaders may have clinched the pennant with the victory, having handed the Cougars their only loss prior to yesterday. The Cougars, on the other hand, handed the Big Red Machine their first loss. Despite losing their second game, assistant coach Reggie Forbes said they will be okay.

“We started out pretty flat and we got too relaxed in our approach to this game,” Forbes said. “I think I can attribute that to being overconfident. But NCA has always been a very competitive team and we’ve always had well played games between us and so going into this game with equally tied records, I thought that would have given them the excitement to play. But it just didn’t happen.”

The Crusaders jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning and the Big Red Machine responded by getting on the scoreboard with one run in the bottom to trail 3-1.

From there, it was a see-saw battle until NCA finally put the game away in the seventh.

In the second inning, the Crusaders had a chance to do a lot more damage with the bases loaded. Dale Roye came up with a two-out double to plate Ramon Russell and Devaughn Brown, but Amard Pratt got tagged out at the plate. Deangelo Johnson then hit a fly ball that was bobbled as Roye came home to extend their lead to 6-1.

However, in the bottom of the frame, SAC responded as Kyle McKinney led off with a single, stole second and got to third on a wild pitch. Chartom Ferguson followed with a RBI single to knock in McKinney for a 6-2 deficit. Austin Knowles then doubled to send Ferguson to third, but they were left stranded as the next batter grounded out.

NCA got a lead off double from Curtis in the third, Russell singled to push him to third and on a wild pitch from SAC’s losing pitcher Travis Smith, Curtis scampered home for a 7-2 advantage as Russell advanced to third. On a bunt RBI single by Devaughn Brown, Russell came home for an 8-2 lead.

But just as they built their lead, they lost it as SAC added seven more runs to snatch a 9-8 lead. Kyle Murray came through with a two-run single to plate Alex Johnson and Dwayne Murray, who walked and singled. After Tarig Richards singled, Keenean Innis hit a two-run double to send both Murray and Russell home for a 8-6 deficit.

Austin Knowles then followed with a RBI double and Andreas Seymour had a two-run double to give SAC a 9-8 lead.

In the fourth, NCA regained the lead (10-9) on a RBI single by Curtis, who eventually came home on an error.

Again, SAC struck in the fifth, going up 12-10 as Austin Smith, Andreas Seymour and Dwayne Murray all had a run-producing single.

The game was really decided in the seventh when Curtis ripped a lead off solo homer on a shot over the head of SAC’s centre fielder to start the rally for a 12-11 deficit. Devante Deal then singled and scored on Ramon Russell’s RBI single to tie the score.  But after Amand Pratt got on base on a single, Dale Roye drilled a shot to right centre field that was also bobbled as Pratt and Russell scored to push their lead to 14-12.

Devon Curtis then forced the three batters he pitched to in the bottom of the seventh to fly out to end the game as the the Crusaders and their fans celebrated.