The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Softball Federation and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology’s National High School Softball Championships ended with the Queen’s College Comets senior girls and boys taking the titles.

And while they played for the first time, the Charles W Saunders Cougars carted off the junior girls’ and boys’ crowns at the end of the three-day tournament held at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex that was collaborated for the first time by the BSF and the Ministry.

Senior girls’ champions Queen’s College’s first sacker Angel Skippings completed the first two outs, catching a pop-up and tagging a runner trying to score, while pitcher Tyler Miller got the final batter to hit a line drive back to her to stop the Samuel Guy Pinder Bulldogs from scoring in the bottom of the fifth.

The Comets, making a return to the tournament after a year’s absence, picked up where they left off as they repeated as champions.

“It feels great to win the championship,” said Sandre Hobbs, the head coach for the Comets. “It helps our girls develop our confidence because next week we are going right into the BAISS playoffs. So to know that we can come out here and win the title is a great feeling.”

Brigette Cumberbatch had a perfect 3-for-3 night with three runs scored, Miller helped her own cause going 3-for-3 as well with three RBI and two runs scored, Skippings was 2-for-3 with two RBI and three runs scored and Tyra McKenzie was 1-for-2 with two RBI and two runs scored.

In a losing effort, Alexa Pinder went 2-for-3 with a RBI and run scored, Vadlia Pierre-Louis was 1-for-2 with a RBI and two runs scored, Allie Pinder scored a run with a RBI and Jara Russell scored twice with a RBI.

Senior Girls’ Bronze Medal

St John’s College Giants wasted no time in scoring all of their runs in the bottom of the first inning as they went on to stop the NGM Major High out of Long Island 12-1 to pick up the senior girls’ bronze medal.

The winning pitcher was L. Rolle and Annalessa McHardy got tagged with the loss.

Senior Boys’ Championship

Comets polished off the Knights 14-8. Nathaniel Zervos went 2-for-4 with a RBI and two runs scored and Ajen Hart was 1-for-2 with two RBI and four runs scored to pace Queen’s College to victory late Saturday night.

Stefano McKenzie was 1-for-3 with a run scored and Tarik Fowler was 1-for-3 with a RBI and a run scored.

Sean Rolle was the winning pitcher and Rashawn Wallace was tagged with the loss.

Senior Boys’ Bronze Medal

After falling short in the other divisions, NGM Major made sure they carried some hardware home as their senior boys clinched the bronze medal with an 8-1 decision over Spanish Wells. Isaacs Fox was the winning pitcher and Toby Pinder got tagged with the loss.

Junior Boys’ Championship

Preston Cartwright came through for the Cougars with a grand slam in-the-park home run for a walk-off-the-field 11-1 abbreviated victory over the LW Young Golden Eagles for the junior boys’ crown.

Cartwright finished with a 2-for-3 night. Nathan Saunders was the winning pitcher and Oben Delestine suffered the loss.

“We had some hiccups along the way, but my boys are seasoned. They are young but they are hungry and they just want everything out of their youth right now,” said Cougars’ head coach Brad Wood Jr. “So whenever we can squeeze a tournament in for them, whether it’s in school, or off the island in tournaments, these guys are just hungry.”

Wood Jr said the Cougars are hoping that the win will inspire them even more when they return to play in the BAISS where they are 5-2 on the season.

Junior Boys’ Bronze Medal

The SC McPherson Sharks devoured NGM 8-1 for the junior boys’ bronze medal. Lavardo Deleveaux was the winning pitcher and D Knowles suffered the loss.

Junior Girls’ Championship

With only two teams entered, CW Saunders made sure they were the cream of the crop as they pounded LW Young 12-2 to take the junior girls’ title, thanks to the efforts of twin sisters Dorinda and Brianna Knowles. Dorinda went 1-for-2 with three RBI and a run scored and Brianna was also 1-for-2 with two RBI and two runs scored. Shantell Griffin helped out with a hit, a RBI and a run scored. Selena Brown, the winning pitcher, went 1-for-2 with a run scored. Nabria Hamilton was tagged with the loss.

Nationals Successful

“It was a very good tournament,” said Ted Miller, president of the BSF. “We had about 30 teams registered, but we ended up with about 20 and for the first time we did the junior schools so that brought some more excitement.

“We had some very good competition, especially in the senior boys. We just hope that we can build on this and continue to improve the tournament moving forward.”