Panthers and Dinare men win as softball league resumes

Panthers’ men softball team beat UB Giants 8 ÔÇô 5 as the BoFiNet Softball league second round resumed on Saturday. In a thrilling encounter played at the UB Diamond, a home run apiece by Disang Selemogwe and Tiro Mazulungwa were enough to set Panthers on the path to victory. Batting first, Panthers started the game on a brighter note as they registered three points, thanks to Selemogwe’s timely home run. With base runners Tiro and Tshepiso Mphapogang already occupying the first and second base, Selemogwe, who was fourth on the batting lineup, hit his ball way over the field to ensure his team registered three consecutive runs to start play. Panthers however could not press forward their advantage with the follow up batters failing to add more runs. The failure provided a platform for UB Giants to respond and the team did not do bad, scoring two runs courtesy of Mothusi Gabogaisanye and Gabriel Kebiditswe. The runs ensured the two teams were separated by just a single run at the end of the first innings, setting the game finely poised to thrill. In their second innings, Panthers could only muster a single run, thanks to Mphapogang. UB Giants however failed to capitalize on this and failed to score a run. Giants were then duly punished for failing to seize the chance as Panthers registered four runs in the third innings. With all the three bases filled, Mazulungwa hit a home run to ensure his team opened a sizeable gap and literally win the game with two more innings yet to play. Not to be outdone, UB Giants, in their response, scored two runs through Kelebogile Mabua and Oarabile Mokgethi to cut the deficit into half. This was however as good as it got for UB Giants as they failed to take advantage of the bridged gap to fight for the game. Despite Panthers failing to add any more runs in the fourth and fifth innings, the runs they had scored in the first three worked out well for them as they held on to win the game 8 ÔÇô 5 as UB Giants failed to respond accordingly. Giants could only muster a single run, which came courtesy of Gabogaisanye in the fifth and final innings, thus easily handing the win to Panthers. In a game played earlier on the day, Dinare men did not have to sweat for victory as they easily beat Gideon Warriors 9 ÔÇô 2 to win what was the opening game of the BoFiNet softball league second round fixtures. After both teams had failed to register a run in the first innings, things changed in the second as Dinare took control of the proceedings. With Warriors, who were playing at the top of the innings scoring only a single run through Jacob Phale in the second innings, Dinare responded swiftly, scoring four runs to get an early advantage. Given a chance to cut the deficit, Warriors failed dismally to register a run in both their third and fourth innings. Dinare on the other hand managed to score two runs in the third innings, and a further three in the fourth innings to take their run tally to nine. Despite being given a chance to salvage the game, Warriors could only manage a single run in the fifth innings and the Umpire called the game to save Warriors more embarrassment.