The Tribune

AFTER hanging up her cleats and putting away her glove, Rozina Taylor decided to concentrate on giving back to the sport of softball, serving as a scorer and statistician.

Her playing career that started in 1973 when the New Providence Softball Association played at the Southern Recreation Grounds, but once she was introduced to scoring and compiling statistics under the late Boldrage Ellis, Burkett Dorsett and Robert' Bob' Sumner, Taylor knew that it wasn't going to be long before she retired.

She walked off the field in 1991 as one of the prime outfielders that every played the game and into the scorer's booth a year later in the Bahamas Government Departmental Softball Association, the Masters Softball League, the Bankers League, the NPSA and the BSF and has been a permanent fixture ever since.

This weekend, the Bahamas Softball Federation will honor her for her longevity as the chief statistician. The 2017 Rozina Taylor National Championships will be held from Friday to Sunday at the Banker's Field at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex.

"I am humbled by it and grateful for the recognition," said Taylor, who decided to learn to score because of a shortage of scorers at the time. "It also shows that hard work pays off.

"I've always been consistent in my commitment to the league, always worked to the best of my ability with integrity. I never took sides. I was always neutral, as you need to be in that position."

She remembered taking over in 1983 after the death of Ellis under the presidency of Dorsett in the BGDSA up until 2010. When the NPSA moved from the John F Kennedy Drive Park to the National Stadium at the Queen Elizabeth Sports Center, Taylor was asked to become the scorer, taking over from the late Jeff Roberts.

Over the years, Taylor has developed a core of scorers that she's been working with during the NPSA and BSF games, including Marge Delaney, Lorraine Fowler-Woodside, Loretta Maycock and now her daughter, Desiree Coakley, who has given up playing to assist her mother.

Taylor admitted that while the singular honor is on her, she's appreciative of the supporting cast that she's been able to associate with.

She also expressed her gratitude to Ellis and Sumner, who both played a pivotal role in getting her starter and Dorsett, who opened the door to give her the first opportunity to serve in the BGDSA as a scorer.

Fowler-Woodside said she's been pleased to have had the pleasure of working along with Taylor, whom she regarded as a woman of integrity.

"I was always impressed with her because in all the years that I worked with her, I've never seen her show any impartiality to any teams, even when her daughter was playing," Fowler-Woodside said.

"We have worked well together here in the scorer's booth. She has passed on her knowledge as a scorer and statistician to us and that has made us better scorers."

On behalf of the rest of the scorers in the booth, Fowler-Woodside said they join the BSF in saluting Taylor for her honor.

"It's long overdue," she summed up. "She really deserves it."