Softball

According to mentor Paul Pasen, they formed the club to give an opportunity to young family members to grow in the sport.

The Islands Salvage and Towage Manolos Softball Club is one of the top Lae teams that, according to the Softball Federation president, has over 5 national championships titles under their belt.

Just like other sporting clubs, Manolos experienced financial difficulties whilst trying to secure a men’s and women’s team for the Port Moresby championships. 

“We struggled because of financial crisis as you know, throughout the nation,” Pasen said.

These events provide an avenue for outstanding players to be selected for national duties.

The PNG Softball Federation President, Ralph Tarasomo, said this year’s club championships will see strong teams go head-to-head during the long weekend in Port Moresby.

Tarasomo is confident a strong world series men’s team will be selected to take part in the 2019 world series to be played in the Czech Republic.

“And we’ve got a national women’s team to be selected to attend the State championships in Brisbane,” he stated.

The Port Moresby Women’s Softball Association says 32 teams have been pooled into 4 pools.

The 7 weekends of corporate softball is expected to start on June 9^th, with three extra weekends to be dedicated to playoffs and finals.

Training grounds at the softball precinct at Boroko have not yet been confirmed due to ground maintenance, hence the association has gone ahead and confirmed a training spot at the Sir Guise Stadium right in front of the Indoor Complex.

In the women’s grand final, Port Moresby Gold defended their title beating Kokopo 11-8 in a close encounter in front of a packed crowd at Kalabond Oval.

Port Moresby Kakanas then topped it off with an 8-4 win over Rabaul (2) in the men’s grand final.

In other softball news, Madang has been confirmed as the venue for the softball club championships later in September, while Lae will play host to the U-23 men’s and women’s championships later this year.

Both competitions were scheduled to start last weekend but were cancelled after gates to the Bisini Grounds were locked by the venue managers.

Port Moresby Men's Softball Association President, Tony Daple said the meeting with the PNG Sports Foundation this morning had brought good news with them giving the green light for the two competitions to resume.

“We have received good news and games will go ahead this weekend.

“The draws will stay the same from last weekend,” said Daple.

It was a scoreless first two innings with both sides unable to convert their chances to score into points.

Gazelle hit the lead at the top of third when former Eagles pitcher, Clement Okole snuck home to make it 1-0.

Gazelle added three more runs in the next inning from passed balls which saw Okole, David Mickey and Harry Matthew scored.

The boys from Matupit gave Gazelle a scare at their last turn of bat when an overthrow to first base allowed Daniel Pennie and Consie Lumaris to sprint home.

It was a powerful display of batting firepower from the Yokomo men that won them back to back club titles in front a crowd of over 500 at Rebiamul Oval.

It started at the top of the second inning when a safe hit from Mark Tomangana allowed Paul Bogan home to score the first run.

Taki Zale and David Upaupa then got themselves safely on base and were brought home by the next batter in young Dane Chan who powered the ball past first base to score Zale and Upaupa and eventually come home himself in the same play.

The original prize money for the championships was K22, 000 given by major sponsor, PNG Power.

But this increased by another K10, 000 thanks to the support from State Enterprises Minister and Member for Hagen Open, William Duma.

President of the PNG Softball Federation, Ralph Tarasomo this morning explained the break up of the prize money.

First place: K7,000, Second place: K5,000, Third place: K2, 500 and Fourth place: K1, 500.

He said the break up amount for the different placings is the same for both the men's and women's.

It was a scoreless first three innings. Pitchers from both teams, Quandalyne Vinim (Bears) and Tenisha Kuveu (Rovers) were in top form backed up by tight infields determined not to let any runs through.

Rovers broke the deadlock at the bottom of the fourth inning after an overthrow to first base allowed Alice Bossie to run home from third base to score. The Bears hit back in the sixth inning scoring all their five runs through Francine Malum, Nadia Bais, Lisa Polum, Francisca Kinit and Delin Bais.

The Madang girls were up by five points after their first turn at bat, thanks to some power batting from Eunice Fong and Angelica Takaili.

This forced the Pirates coach to make a change bringing on Vince Tirupia to take over the pitching duties from Lina William.

 Pirates hit back in the same inning with William making up in a big way hitting the first home run for the team, bringing the score to 5-1 after the completion of the first inning.