The Lady Stingers scored 10 times in the top of the seventh inning, and Marvin "Tougie" Wood belted a grand slam home-run in the top of the sixth, to lead their respective teams to 2-1 leads in their New Providence Softball Association (NPSA) best-of-five championship series on Thursday night. The Lady Stingers pulled off a remarkable 12-8 victory over the Johnson's Lady Truckers, and the Commando Security Truckers polished off the pennant-winning BTC Elite Warriors, 9-1.
The Lady Stingers and Truckers are both, now just one win away from winning the NPSA titles and representing New Providence in the Bahamas Softball Federation's (BSF) National Round-Robin Tournament, which will get underway next weekend on the Banker's Field of the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex.
Game four in both series are set for tonight on the Banker's Field. The ladies will play at 7:30 p.m. and the men will play immediately afterwards.
For the Truckers, they will be looking to reclaim the NPSA men's title they last held in 2013. Given the dominant pitching performance from Long Islander Thomas Davis in game three, Wood's grand slam home-run turned out to be all the offense the Truckers needed on Thursday. Batting third in the order, the veteran third baseman finished with his grand slam in three at-bats, and scored twice. Garfield Bethel had a perfect 3-for-3 night for the Truckers, with a run batted in (RBI) and a run scored.
Eugene Bain had the only hit for the BTC Elite Warriors, and Richard Bain scored their only run. Bain got on base on an error, and scored via a pass ball.
Davis picked up the win for the Truckers, and Avery Rolle suffered the loss.
The Lady Truckers had a horrendous seventh inning on Thursday night, and therefore blew game three of that series. Their starting pitcher, 16-year-old Valencia Gibson, was in control of the strike zone all night, but suffered an untimely injury. As a result, Lady Truckers' manager Mario Ford pulled her after six innings, and went with Mechelle Moss to hopefully close the door for them.
The Lady Truckers were ahead 8-2 at that point, and seemingly in control of the game. Then, it all went downhill for them. The Lady Truckers committed a couple errors, Moss struggled, and the Lady Stingers took advantage. Their bats eventually came alive, and they erupted for 10 huge runs to take a four-run lead into the bottom of the seventh inning.
Keisha Pratt, who had a huge bases-clearing double in the top of the seventh, finished 2-for-5 with a run scored and three RBIs for the Swingers. Winning pitcher Thela Johnson was 2-for-4 and scored twice, and Raquel Cooper finished 2-for-5 with two runs scored. Theota Ferguson finished 3-for-4 with a run scored for the Lady Truckers, and Rebecca Moss was 2-for-4 with three runs scored. Mechelle Moss suffered the loss for the Lady Truckers.
The Lady Stingers and the Truckers can finish off the NPSA Championships with wins tonight. If necessary, game five in both series will be played on Monday.
The Lady Stingers pulled off the upset of the postseason thus far, turning back the pennant-winning defending champions Sunshine Auto Lady Wildcats in their semi-final playoff series. The youthful Lady Truckers defeated the Bommer G. Operators in the other playoff series. In the men's division, the pennant-winning Elite Warriors took care of the Chances Mighty Mitts and the Truckers eliminated the two-time defending NPSA Champions Ira Dez Hitmen. The championships are named in honor of former athlete and coach Colin "Troppy" Knowles who passed away earlier this year.
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