Guardian Sports Editor
A 15-member team leaves the country today, looking to make history for The Bahamas.
The men’s national softball team will compete in the 8th Pan American Men’s Softball Championships, in Medellin, Colombia, next week where they hope to qualify for the International Softball Federation’s (ISF) Men’s World Championships, to be held March 1-10, 2013 in Auckland, New Zealand.
A top five finish would give The Bahamas one of the 16 qualifying spots for those softball world championships. The team is expected to be led by its pitching staff – veteran hurler Edney ‘The Heat’ Bethel, the young, talented Alcott Forbes, and also Fred Cornish and Thomas Davis.
Other members of the team are Angelo Dillet, Hosea Hilton, Sherman Ferguson, Martin Burrows Jr., Lamar Watkins, Greg Gardiner, Eric Johnson, Richard Bain, Jamal Johnson, Michael Sweeting and Addlai Finley. The Head Coach of the team is Godfrey ‘Gully’ Burnside, and he will be assisted by Martin ‘Pork’ Burrows and Perry Seymour.
Seymour said that even though it’s a young team, he’s confident that if they perform up to their ability, they will have a shot at qualifying for next year’s worlds.
“The team has been working out consistently, just trying to get to the point where they jell well together. That will be one of our major challenges, but I’m confident that they will do very well.
“It is pretty much a balanced team. It will be led by the pitchers but there are good hitters as well. The defence will be key. If we could get the pitching to be backed by good defence, we will be okay. I think everything will fall in place,” he added.
The Bahamas will play a number of double-headers on the week-long trip. They will get started with a double-header on Sunday against Dominica and Venezuela, starting at 2 p.m. local time in Medellin.
The following day, The Bahamas will play a double-header against Canada and Guatemala starting at nine in the morning. On September 18, they will play Mexico at 3 p.m., and on September 19, they will play a double-header against Ecuador and Puerto Rico starting at 1 p.m.
On September 20, The Bahamas will play host country Colombia at 7 p.m., and on September 21, they will play Argentina at 9 a.m.
“It is a fairly young team but we have to be confident,” said Bahamas Softball Federation (BSF) President Burkett Dorsett.
“About three quarters of the team are first-timers. Hopefully, the pitching will hold up for us. I think that we have to be able to score runs.
“We’re not that strong offensively when compared to years past, but there is some speed on the team. There is a good chance that they will be able to win quite a few games. It’s going to be kind of tough but we’re optimistic that they will do very well.”
The Chef de Mission of the team is Stephen ‘Garbo’ Coakley and he will be assisted by Arthur Johnson. ISF certified umpire Brent Spence will travel as the team’s umpire and Darrell Wright will be the team’s physiotherapist.