Moresby men crowned as PNG softball champ
By THADDEUS TIRIMAN
THE National Gaming Control Board National Softball Championship came to a close yesterday with the Digicel Port Moresby Reds defeating Kavieng 10-1 to become the men’s national softball champions in a surprise grand final showdown at a packed Bisini softball grounds.
It was surprising because Kavieng beat all odds to make it to the grand final.
Officiating at the grand final was Australia Softball Federation chief umpire Andrew Rindfliesh and his son Scott adding the icing on the cake on what was already a successful national event.
The win puts Port Moresby in the winning circles again after their last title in 2002 when they defeated the then hosts Lae 4-3.
Led by former international pitcher Anslem Bunbun, Kavieng became the highlight of the championships when they surprised everyone to book a grand final berth with the Port Moresby team after shaking off Lae Reds 7-6 earlier in the day.
With the game locked at 1-1 after the third inning Port Moresby’s Paul Bogan broke the deadlock, coming home after a sacrificial hit by Paul Tabete to the left outfield and a spate of fielding errors and mix-ups by the Kavieng fielders.
All hell broke loose for the Kavieng side in the fifth inning as they surprised themselves with their inability to contain the batting combination of Dimic Wosely, Isikel Tovia Jr, David Upaupa, Bogan and Paul Tabete coming home to take the score to a runaway 7-1 lead.
Kavieng still had a lot of batting to do in the sixth and the seventh innings but efforts by Ian Sammy, Herman Dick and Bunbun went begging as they couldn’t be brought home by their batters courtesy the devastating pitching of young Daniel Tovia.
Port Moresby added three more runs in the sixth innings through Totil, David Maira and Daniel Tovia to diminish any hopes of a comeback by Kavieng with the scoreline 10-1.
Port Moresby Softball Association secretary Ekonia Peni was pleased with the win and commented that it had been a long time since they won a title and this year was a sweet win for them.
The biggest upset of the weekend was the Lae Gold team who didn’t make it to the finals after they were eliminated in the pool matches. They have been grand finalists since 2002 and this year they couldn’t maintain that record.
Premiers Madang didn’t play to expectation as they showed poor form from the very start of the competition but were compensated for with their women’s team entering the grand final.
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