Cap tip, Blair Setford

Softball coaches decry poor competition
MOSAH MOKGANEDI
CORRESPONDENT

After returning from the Zone VI championships held in Lesotho, the coaches of the victorious softball teams have decried the poor competition at the annual tournament. The event attracted only four countries, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and South Africa.

Namibia failed to field a team in the women’s competition. Botswana has dominated the tournament over the years, but coaches believe the players are not benefiting from the competition. Coach of the men team, Bobby Khupe said they are concerned about the low number of countries that participate in the competition.

The men’s team finished top after winning all its six games while their female counterparts were victorious in all their four assignments.
Khupe said that besides South Africa, they are not learning anything new from other countries.

Only Botswana, Lesotho and South Africa and a few countries have consistently participated in the competition. Some countries have failed to send teams citing financial constraints.

Khupe said poor competition at the Zone VI Championships has seen the Botswana teams faring badly in international tournaments.
He said winning the Zone VI competitions makes Botswana teams complacent. He said they plan to invite teams from outside Africa for friendly games. Khupe attributed their good run at the Zone VI to solid defence and good batting. He said their concentration has improved over the years.

The women team’s coach, Titeo Mangope concurs that competing in the Zone VI competitions is no longer beneficial. He said the tournament has been stagnant for sometime and Botswana needs to compete in challenging events.

“This time, we took a team of young players but we still beat our competitors who brought experienced players. This means the competition is stagnant,” Mangope said. He said countries like Zimbabwe, which have shown promise in the past, failed to send a team.

One positive that he draws from the competition is that his side was able to beat South Africa, a side which is better resourced.

From our friend in Argentina, Martin Jorge:

Rough Google Translation:

Argentina Men’s National Team staff will be starting later this month to Australia to play two important tournaments in the country. First, Argentina played on Australia’s Skins Tournament, 3 to 5 December, and then contest the Men’s Fastpitch Softball International Test Series, from 8 to 10 December. Our coach will play a minimum of 13 games in Australian lands, and both tournaments will be played at the Hawker International Softball Centre in Canberra.

The first commitment of our selected will be Australia’s Skins Tournament, one of the most important club tournament in Australia and the world. A total of 10 teams will contest the tournament, divided into two zones of 5 teams each. The teams participating along with Argentina are:

South Side Mariners (Western Australia – WA)
Monarchs (WA)
Raptors (New South Wales – NSW Under 19 State Team)
Comets (Victoria – VIC)
Mounties (NSW)
Northern Stars (NSW)
Victoria Point Sharks (Queensland – QLD)
Storm (Australia Capital Territory – ACT)
StrikeZone (ACT)

The fixture of the first phase of the tournament is as follows:

Friday December 3

9:00 a.m.
1 Selected Argentino V Storm
2 Southside Mariners V Northern Stars

10:50 a.m.
1 Selected Argentino V Southside Mariners
V Mounties Monarchs 2

24:40
1 Victoria Point Sharks V Mounties
2 Monarchs V Raptors

2.30pm
Northern Storm V 1 Stars
2 Victoria Point Sharks V Raptors

4.20pm
1 V Melbourne Northern Stars
2 Southside Mariners V Storm

6.10pm
Raptors V 1 TSAR
Melbourne V 2 Selected Argentino

8.00pm
1 TSAR V Mounties
2 Monarchs V Victoria Point Sharks

Saturday, December 4

9:00 a.m.
1 Melbourne V Southside Mariners
2 Raptors V Mounties

10:50 a.m.
1 V Melbourne Storm
2 Victoria Point Sharks V TSAR

24:40
1 Stars V Selected Northern Argentine
TSAR V Monarchs 2

For his part, from December 8 will play Argentina Men’s Fastpitch Softball International Test Series with Australia Green, Australia Gold and New Zealand. Note that in this competition Argentina will face World Champion (Australia, this time divided into two teams) and the runner of the World (New Zealand), which marks the level of demand that will be the challenge for our team. The fixture of the tournament is as follows:

Wednesday, December 8

Australia 1 Australia Gold vs Green
2 Argentina vs New Zealand
Green vs Argentina 3 Australia
4 New Zealand vs Australia Gold

Thursday, December 9

5 New Zealand vs Australia Green
6 Australia vs Argentina Gold
7 Australia Australia Green vs Gold
8 Argentina vs New Zealand

Friday, December 10

9 Australia vs New Zealand Green
Gold vs Argentina 10 Australia
11 Argentina vs Australia Green
12 New Zealand vs Australia Gold
March 13 vs 4 º º
January 14 º vs 2 º

It is recalled that the Head Coach of Argentina Eduardo Sabaté Selection announced last month the 19 players who made this tour:

1-Bittor, Nicholas Paraná
2-Bolzán, Kevin Paraná
3-Brandauer, Juan Bahia Blanca
4-Cáceres, Mauricio Bahia Blanca
5-Ferrara, Lautaro Paraná
6-Godoy, Gustavo Paraná
7-Godoy, Manuel Paraná
8-Guerrinieri, Gustavo Paraná
9 – Jiménez, Nicolás Bahía Blanca
10-Malatesta, Marcelo Paraná
11-Montero, Mariano Paraná
12-Montero, Maximiliano Paraná
13-Montero, Pablo Paraná
14-Motroni, Bruno Paraná
15-Petric, Fernando Paraná
16-Potolicchio, Juan Paraná
17-Rúa, Fernando Buenos Aires
18-Sabaté, Paraná Francisco
19-Sacks, Paraná Germain

The campus held a rally on the weekend of 27 and 28 November in the city of Paraná, land before leaving for Australia. Along with the merger, on November 27 will be a press conference to present this tour.

Martin Jorge
Head of Media and Communication
Softball Confederation Argentina

Editor’s note: Do you think Parana is the fastpitch capital of Argentina? (Host for the 2012 ISF Jr. Worlds)