The Johnson’s Lady Truckers continued their push to secure the league’s pennant in the women’s division of the New Providence Softball Association (NPSA) as they made quick work of the Black Scorpions over the weekend on Banker’s Field at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex.

The Lady Truckers knocked off the Scorpions 12-2 and now move into a tie for first place in the division with the Sunshine Auto Wildcats with about two more weeks left in the season. Shaquel Smith led the way for the Lady Truckers with three runs scored, while Latoya Bowleg and Shevette Taylor chipped in with two runs each. Teresa Kennedy and Princess Mullings scored the two runs for the Scorpions who remain winless, falling to

0-17 on the season.

Lady Truckers’ manager Mario Ford said that although his team came into Saturday’s contest with a superior record, he liked the way they locked in and handled business, not allowing any room for an upset.

“In this league, you can’t come out here and take any team for granted. On any given night, any team can come out and get a win,” he said. “Being tied for first place now, we want to go into the next two games with the same momentum that we had in the previous two games. We played them just like we play any other team, and I’m glad that we were able to come out with the win.”

With the playoffs right around the corner, Ford said that the intensity among his players has increased tremendously and that consistency will be their greatest focus going forward.

“We’re starting to hit the ball and the defense is starting to come around. We know that the pitchers can do the job on the mound now. It’s just up to the team to play behind them and give them the support that they need,” said Ford. “Right now we’re in position to win the pennant, so we want to win these final two games so that we can play the fourth place team, but if we finish second, we will take on whoever comes. For now, it’s all about these next two games. Tuesday’s game will be a good one because they already beat us twice and we only beat them once, so we have to come out here and play hard and do the things that we need to do in order to secure the win.”

The Lady Truckers will take on the Bommer G. Operators in the second game on Tuesday night. The Lady Stingers will square off against the Black Scorpions in the opener. Action is set to kick off at 7 p.m. on the Bankers Field.

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