The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Baseball Association secretary general Theodore ‘Teddy’ Sweeting said the G-Ball National Baseball Championships was termed a success over the weekend.

The BBA hosted the four-day event with games for the younger age groups played at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex and the older groups in the new Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium.

The event came to a close on Sunday with the crowning of three champions from Freedom Farm, two from the Junior Baseball League of Nassau and the other from the Grand Bahama Baseball League.

“This year’s nationals had everything involved in it.

“It had excitement, challenges with the weather with our fields and some keenly contested games,” Sweeting said.

Despite the fact that they had some challenges getting one or two of the four fields at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex in playable conditions after the rain subsided, Sweeting said they managed to get all of the games completed in time for the teams, who had to travel on Sunday.

“We want to commend all of our partners who came on board and assisted us in making all of our obligations.

“And I want to thank Clarence McKenzie and Shane Albury, who served as the tournament directors, and they made sure that everything came off.”

With the 16-and-under and 20-and-under divisions playing in the new stadium, Sweeting said it was a joy to watch as many of the players got their first taste of the artificial turf and they did a tremendous job as they participated.

“IT was also good to see how the players were able to interact with each other with their peers, so it was a very successful nationals for us. We had about 32 teams competing in six different age brackets. That’s the most teams we’ve had in the nationals for quite some time.”

Sweetiing said the BBA, headed by Sam Rodgers, will now sit down and critique the entire episodes and try to work out how best they can move forward in taking the nationals to a high standard for both the players and the spectators to enjoy in the future.

“We met our goals. I think that was the most exciting thing for us,” he pointed out. “So we look forward to preparing for a lot of things to come this year and the next nationals when we go back to Grand Bahama.”

Grand Bahama, according to Sweeting is now the home of the nationals nd they only decided to stage this year’s event here, because of the completion of the new stadium.

It was the second straight year that the tournament was back in New Providence after being hosted here last year, coming out of the Covid-29 pandemic.

But Sweeting said the executive board have already agreed that they will continue to host the nationals in Grand Bahama where the Grand Bahama baseball community has received them with open arms.

“We want to move it around and give the two maj0or islands the benefit of hosting the nationals,” Sweeting said. “Ther logistics in Grand Bahama are so easy for us when we host it there and so we just want to share the wealth over there.”

While they prepare for the nationals next year, Sweeting revealed that the BBA has partnered with Perfect Game and they will be coming to the Bahamas to host an event here this year.

Additionally, the BBA is preparing for the hosting of the 18-and-under Youth Caribbean Baseball Cup in December and the senior men’s national team will travel to Puerto Rico to compete in the Caribbean Baseball Cup that was staged at the new stadium in December.

“We just got some exciting news from our governing body as we move forward going into 2024, there is an opportunity for the country to host the COCABA Pan American Games qualifier.

“There’s a lot of excitement as the doors start to swing open at the new stadium,” Sweeting stated. “There’s a lot 5hat we discussed with the college coaches who were here for our nationals.

“We will be looking at setting up a college summer baseball program, similar to what they do in the United States where the players, once they have finished their college season, look for programs that will help them to improve their game.”

Over the next year or two, Sweeting said they are now in consultation with the college coaches to get the program up in running in the Bahamas as they utilize what many consider to be one of the finer baseball facilities in the area.

“We want to continue to grow this game,” Sweeting said. “This is an exciting time for baseball and so we want everybody to stay tuned and come out and support the events as they unfold.”

He noted that while only half of the players who play the sport globally get to make it to the show or Major LEague Baseball. For those that don’t, Sweeting said they want to provide an avenue where they can continue to hone their game,

“The most important thing for our young men is to get that college experience and eventually earn their degree,” he said. “Then if they decide to go professional, to God be the glory.

“But we have to stress to the parents of these kids that while it’s good to go pro, they can be released if they don’t make the cut and so if they get an education to fall on, they can better strive in life.”

Not taking anything about going pro because a lot of guys get drafted or sign pro contracts, but when they are released, Sweeting stressed that they need to have something to fall back on and that is why getting an education is so important for these players and their future.

Sweeting congratulated all of the winners of the nationals. He noted that it was one of the most competitive with some level of parity with the various organizations winning the titles.

Freedom Farm captured the 8-and-under and the 10-and-under. Grand Bahamas won the 12-and-under, the JBLN took the 14-and-under, while Freedom Farm emerged as the 16-and-under champions and JBLN added the 20-and-under crown to their ledger.