| Sports |
Eagles pounce to eliminate Gazelle
By EKONIA PENI
BROWN Eagles have landed themselves a grand final date with PNG
Power for the 2006-07 flag in Port Moresby men’s softball.
This follows the demolition of Gazelle to the tune of 16-4 in
yesterday’s preliminary final.
Gazelle started off well in the first inning when they scored
through Demas Totil Jr. courtesy of a safe hit by David Mickey.
However, Eagle’s reply was overwhelming when the top batting order
of Siani Turlom, George Pukur and Damin Wartovo who have loaded
bases, were scored by a powerful home run hit over midfield by
Paul Tabete for Eagles to lead 4-1.
Gazelle’s determined batting at the top of the second inning saw
them reply with three runs through Colin Mangot, Totil Jr. and
Daniel Kinakava to equalise 4-all going into the third inning.
In the third inning Mickey, Peniel Eliab and Mangot were forced
back to the dugout by the exceptional pitching from Derek Torang.
At the bottom of the same inning Tabete and David Maira scored for
Eagles to lead 6-4.
Sensing that the match could slip away from them, Gazelle injected
veteran Patrick Pilak to pitch at the bottom of the fourth inning
replacing Nelson Kiap.
Eagles paid dearly for the gamble when Eagles took advantage of
the change and scored six runs through Torang, Turlom, Pukur,
Wartovo, Consie Lumaris and a home run hit by David Maira.
Following the six runs, Gazelle recalled Kiap to pitch in the same
inning with the aim of resurrecting the match in their favour.
However, the change did not work as Eagles batting momentum saw
them merry-go-round with the bat and scored another four runs
through Pedro Kinavai, Torang, Siani and Pukur.
With Eagles leading 16-4, the onus was now on Gazelle at the top
of the fifth inning to score three or more runs to force tha match
into the sixth inning.
What stood in their way was Torang’s combination with catcher
George Pukur which took effective control of the next three
batters.
Gazelle’s first batter Pius Martin was struck out, Gabriel Pamel
Jr. hit a fly-ball to left outfield that was caught by Pakar
Turagil and David Mickey hit another fly-ball to right outfield
where John Patrick took an easy catch for three down.
Plate umpire Andrew Moe applied the mercy rule to call off the
match when Gazelle were unable to score.
In the B grade preliminary final, SPIA Manolos eliminated Brown
Eagles 4-0 while Manolos advanced into the grand final of the
division against Gazelle.
The grand final will be played on Saturday, April 14, after the
national softball championships in Kavieng. The deferral of the
grand final is due to the hectic commitments of the umpires who
will have to umpire the women’s matches on Saturday, and then fly
out of Port Moresby to Kavieng on Sunday to prepare for the
national championships during the Easter weekend.
 
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