The second round of the Botswana Softball league began at the National Diamond grounds with stiff competition last weekend.
The teams are all fighting for a slice of the P120 000 pie, courtesy of Estate Constructions who are the official sponsors of the league.
The games began Saturday morning with a match between Paper Club and Bears.
Paper Club hammered Bears 16-0, to collect 3 points.
In the afternoon, Vikings thrashed Blue angels 23-3. Mr Pako Maforaga the, coach for Vikings, which dominated throughout the game, said they had a bad season last year during most of the first round of the league, hence they intend to come in full force.
“A number of our key players have returned and we have signed another pitcher. As one of the oldest clubs in the country, people expect a lot from us and we intend to deliver,” he said.
The game of the day that had softball lovers talking was between old rivals, the Lobatse-based BMC softball club and BDF IX. The game was very tight and tactically approached from the beginning, with each team counting and trying to capitalise on each other’s weakness and blunders. But it seemed the old rivals knew each other well as the match ended with a 2-2 tie, each team collecting a point home.
The star of the day was BMC’s pitcher, who is also the national team pitcher, Kagiso Mogale, who has just arrived from the world softball series held in Canada.
Kagiso showed no mercy to the BDF boys, as he pitched flashes of balls that were too fast for the army boys to hit.
The games continued on Sunday with BMC challenging Vikings dominance by walloping it 5-0. Mogale again proved himself unchallengeable, with Pako Mofarago commenting, “We have never faced such a fierce pitcher this year and I think that’s where they capitalized.”
The second game of the day was between BDF IX and Bears, with Bears continuing on its charity mission, as it donated 3 points to BDF IX, which hammered it 9-3.
Vikings then regained its confidence as it beat Dinare 13-7. The game started in Dinare’s favour as it sent fear into Vikings camp, which was still recovering from the trauma they suffered at the hands of BMC. But excitement kept Dinare from protecting its 6-0 lead as it jeopardized its chances and ended up losing control of the game.
Blue Angels and Paper Club summed the games for the day, with Blue Angels losing all three points to Paper Club.
Paper club won its second game of the weekend by beating Blue Angels 6-3.
However, the Blue Angels coach, Bobby Khupe, attributed his team’s poor performance to inadequate practice and other military duties his players have to perform.
“We just started practicing on Wednesday and most of our players have been away on military trips. But we had a good first round of the season and I think we will get there,” he said.
