(click banner for original news story)
Teams arrive in town for regional tourney
By KELSIE JOHNSON ~ NG Sports Reporter ~ kelsie@nasguard.com:
The Eastern Caribbean Association Softball Tournament (ECAST) will be the first international test of the year for The Bahamas’ men’s and women’s national softball teams.
The friendly tournament, which is sanctioned by the International Softball Federation (ISF), will put Team Bahamas up against Jamaica, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands and Bermuda. The Bahamas Softball Federation (BSF) is hosting the tournament, which got underway yesterday at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex. Up until press time, Jamaica was the only team that did not arrive in town as yet, according to BSF President Burkette Dorsette. The Jamaicans are expected to arrive in the capital today.
Dorsette said: “Even though we do not know the caliber of play from the teams coming in, we anticipate a good tournament. We haven’t seen Jamaica play in years so we definitely don’t know what to expect from them. Jamaica, they’ve been out of the international loop for some time now. I know Turks and Caicos, they’ve been traveling to and from Grand Bahama for competition over the last couple of years, so we kind of know how they play. The other teams we’ve seen them before and know that the competition is going to be keen.”
More than 16 games will be played between now and Sunday. The men will play five games in a round-robin format, and the women will play in a triple round-robin. The ECAST is being used by the BSF as a measuring stick for both teams, especially since this is the first time the national team members will be playing together for the year. Both teams were revamped by the BSF and now both teams have a mixture of young and veteran players.
Dorsette revealed that next year will be a busy one for both teams so the BSF is hoping to get the squads in the mindframe of playing at a high level, as quickly as possible.
“We need our players to get in the frame of mind to play softball against other countries,” Dorsette explained. “We can’t just be here sitting down working out and playing against ourselves. We have to invite teams and play against other teams so we can improve. Next year is a busy year for softball. Colombia just came forth in the last four or five weeks, while we were are at the congress… They confirmed the participation for some 18 or 19 countries for the tournament, which is a qualifier for the Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC). There are quite a bit of tournaments next year. Some of these tournaments are friendships and some are qualifiers. We are taking a look at some of them, wanting to improve our play.”
When the ECAST concludes on Sunday, the BSF will have less than three days to prepare for the BSF National Round-Robin Tournament, slated for November 5-8. Teams are expected in from New Providence, Grand Bahama, Eleuthera, Andros, Abaco, Long Island, Exuma and Bimini. Play will be held at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex.