The New Providence Softball Association (NPSA) women's championship will go to a fifth and decisive game. The Johnson's Lady Truckers made sure of that on Saturday night, as they exploded for 10 runs early, and then held off a frantic rally by the Lady Stingers to pull even in the best-of-five championship series at two games apiece. They prevailed, 14-11.
Game five is set for Monday night at 7:30 p.m. at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex, and the winner will go on to represent New Providence in the Bahamas Softball Federation's (BSF) National Round-Robin Championships next weekend.
The Lady Truckers exploded for 10 runs in the first three innings to take a 10-0 lead into the bottom of the third inning, and then held on as the Lady Stingers pulled with two runs late. Mechelle Moss came on in relief of Lady Truckers' starter Valencia Gibson in the bottom of the third inning, and despite yielding three runs in each of the third, fifth and sixth innings, she stepped it up when her team needed her the most to secure the victory. In game three on Thursday, she blew a 8-2 lead in the top of the seventh inning, and the Lady Stingers won that game, 12-8. After the Lady Truckers scored twice in the top of the seventh to give them a 14-10 lead on Saturday, relief pitcher Moss gave up just one run in the bottom half of that inning. She struck out Lady Swingers' clean-up hitter Melissa Hall to end the game.
"I knew that my team had my back no matter what," said Moss, just 15-years-old. "I struggled the last time out, but my team stuck behind me and I came back for them tonight. I was relaxed out there, and that was the key. I think that once we come out focused and just do what we normally do, we'll be fine. When we're on our game, they can't beat us, so we just have to come out and play our game. We're just having fun out here, and we're coming out Monday to do the same thing."
Moss helped her own cause at the plate, finishing 4-for-5 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Clean-up batter Shevette Taylor was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored, and Krystal Delancey was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Taylor is confident in their ability to take game five and book their ticket for the BSF round-robin nationals.
"Well our backs were against the wall, so we had to come out and pull this one off," said Taylor. "It's down to a one-game championship now, and we feel confident in out ability to pull it off. My team needed me tonight, and I had to come through for them. I think we have to come out on Monday and set the tone of the game early. Once we could do that, get an early lead, we should be able to hold them off and win the championship."
Taylor powered an RBI triple in the top of the seventh, and then came home on a throwing error to pad the Lady Truckers' lead to four runs, 14-10, in the top of the seventh inning. The Lady Swingers could manage just one run in the bottom half of that inning.
"We gave up 10 easy runs early in the game, and anytime you get down like that, it's going to be difficult to come back," said Lady Swingers' Coach Perry Seymour. "The girls came back with some offense, but then we gave up their last four runs on mistakes. We have to cut down on the mistakes. Once we could play mistake-free softball, I feel confident in our ability to pull it off on Monday. Unfortunately, we didn't do that tonight. It's do or die for both teams on Monday, so hopefully we could put it away."
The Lady Swingers were led offensively by Vonetta Nairn. She finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Lead-off batter Nadia Thompson was 2-for-5 and scored two runs, and losing pitcher Thela Johnson finished with a hit in three at-bats with a run scored and an RBI. Valencia Gibson picked up the win for the Lady Truckers.
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