Gauteng take home junior title

Gauteng Province Baseball Federation’s under 18 A side ended their tournament in style as they claimed the Section A title at the National Baseball Championships which concluded at Londt Park Sports Grounds on Saturday.

The Gauteng side, taking on Western Cape Baseball Federation, took the match 3-2 in the 10th inning to claim their first title in five years in the age group, head coach Richard Greenslade said earlier on Monday morning.

In a game which ended two all at the end of the ninth inning, the Gauteng side took the lead at the top of the 10th inning, before holding strong in the bottom to prevent the Western Cape side from claiming 2019 championship spoils.

“It was quite a sad victory in a sense, as we had lost a teammate only two weeks prior to the start of the championships, lots of tears were shed, so it was a very emotional win for us,” Greenslade told The Herald.

“We were four-nil down to the Cape Town Baseball Federation in the semi final and came back to win that game to secure our spot in the final against WP, whom we had lost to earlier in the tournament, that was definitely our toughest match in the competition,” he added.

Going into the final, Greenslade said the team had made it through the round robin matches, having lost just one of the five games they played.

He said it was ultimately teamwork which helped his side secure the win, with his side working well together to close out the match.

“We were fortunate enough to win the semifinal, which allowed us to send out our best two pitchers for the final, they went out there and took care of business, restricting WC to a handful of hits, and ably backed up by the defensive parts of our team, in the end it was absolute teamwork which allowed us to score that one run and later defend it,” he added.

In the u18 B section, The Nelson Mandela Bay claimed the win on home soil, as they overcame Cape Winelands side by 12-6.

About the team’s performances, team manager Noel Quantoi said his side had performed admirably, despite an early shake-up as they drew their opening round-robin game against the same side.

“Overall I think we did quite well in the tournament, having drawn the first game, we managed to go through the competition without losing a match,

“I think our toughest game for us came in the opening match, there was a slight bit of nerves from our side, the boys might have come in thinking it would be an easy game, we also used our less experienced pitchers, who gave away a few too many walks, which ultimately resulted in giving away runs, but we managed to pull it together towards in the back end of the competition,” Quantoi said.

Asked about having the championships taking place in the Bay, Quantoi said it was great in that it gave younger Bay players the chance to go up against the best junior players the country has.

“It’s a good eye opener for the region, with our baseball not being as big as it is in the Western Cape and Gauteng, these kinds of tournaments informs people about the sport, but more so, helps to build a bigger interest in the sport, especially from smaller regions like ours,” Quantoi added.

In other results, the u15 title was won by the WCBF, as they beat the CTBF 21-0. The u12 division title was claimed by WCBF, beating GPBF  6-5