By LUTHER SCAT LAMANG
THE Nason Paulias Cup softball tournament held in Rabaul last weekend has been hailed a success.
The Dec 28-Jan 1 tournament was to honour of the late Nason Paulias, the then provincial secretary who was instrumental in promoting softball in East New Britain in the early 1970s.
A total of 18 teams – both men and women – took part.
In the men’s divisional grand final match, the Nomads from the Matupit area of Rabaul proved too strong for their fierce rivals Ra’secrets forcing them to settle for the runner-up trophy with a 6-5 scoreline.
The game was too tight for either team to place a score on the board in the first and the second innings.
But then the Nomads fired home scoring four points in the third inning with a home-run hit from batter Morris Buckland.
The Ra’secrets also attempted to put scores in the same inning but fell two points short despite their captain Felix Tubavai taking a leading role.
The fourth and the fifth innings were such a struggle for the two rivals with no scores but only a single score to the Ra’secrets in the fourth as PNG softball team representative Livi Tevite put on his fielding tactics to stop them from scoring more.
The Nomads again ran home with two more points in the sixth inning but did not attempt a score in the seventh.
Ra’secrets attempted to score a point in the sixth and seventh innings but were one point short after Nomads pitcher Junior Romulus and catcher John Tovia restricted them to scoreless innings to win by a run.
In the women’s grand final, Burma Tigers of Burma defeated Twin Ashes of Rabaul 12-6 to claim the winning trophy and the prize money of K1,000.
The runner-ups in each division settled for the runner-up trophies and K500 each.
Trophies were also presented to the top in-fielder, top out-fielder, top pitcher, top batter and the best and fairest in each division.
The cup was the first of its kind to be staged and the organisers of the tournament Rigo Paivu and Raymond Paulias said that the future of the game was bright and that there was a possibility of the game being staged every year.