Police IX ladies softball team successfully defended their League title on Sunday with a hard fought victory over Panthers.
It was a third successive league title win for the dominant Police IX ladies, who scored only three runs to claim the league bragging rights.
Police registered their first run on the third inning and completed their win on the sixth inning with a further two runs.
The win also ensured the Police IX ladies completed a double over Panthers, who they had beaten by 2 runs to nothing earlier in the morning en route to the finals.
“We are very delighted with our win today. Winning the league championship for three consecutive years is by no means an easy feat. You need to maintain a certain degree of form and discipline to achieve it,” Police IX ladies coach Tawina Phibion observed.
Having struggled for runs throughout the game, Phibion said it was only the teams’ mental strength and discipline that saw them through the game.
“It can be easier to crush when runs are hard to come by. However, we did not crush when we did not score,” he explained.
“Even when we continually failed to find spaces, we kept on hitting the ball and that is what is important. By keeping on hitting the ball, we eventually found spaces and got our runs,” concluded Tawina.
For Panthers, it was a difficult final, having had to play two games in the morning before facing off against Police IX in the finals.
Having lost to Police IX in the semi-finals, Panthers took on Vikings in a final berth playoff and only had a 45 minutes rest before facing Police IX in the finals. Panthers’ assistant coach says the unforgiving fixture took a lot from his charges.
“We played for a win today. However, we did not use all the chances that came our way during the game due to circumstances we found ourselves in,” Panthers assistant coach Tshepiso Mphapogang explained.
“One of the setbacks was the players’ fatigue. We came into the final just 45 minutes after our playoff game and as the game between us and Police progressed, some of the players were already complaining of fatigue,” he continued.
“Our offense play also did not play as we had expected and thus did very little to help us win the game. Wed did not play our game and therefore failed to stifle our opponents from playing freely,” said Mphapogang.
“However, all in all, it was a very good game of softball even though we did not win,” Mphapogang concluded.
