Brothers register win in Pom men’s softball

AFTER their 8-1 win yesterday against Dolphins, United Brothers  are one  game away from claiming the minor premiership in the Port Moresby men’s A grade softball competition.
It all started in the top of the first inning with good batting from their players.
The batting order with Xavier Knox and Jollam Jerry were on the bases when skipper Dick Bart Jr brought them home.
Bart played a good captain’s role game to get the scorebook rolling when he hit a three-base to bring opening batters Knox and Jerry home for the first two points of the afternoon.
Bart remained on third base while Glen Niggins hit a good ball to outfield to advance to first base before Adrian Chan slammed a homer to bring Dick and Niggins home to extend the lead 5-0. 
When it was Goodwill Baia’s turn to bat, he advanced to second base before Tony Daple executed a line drive to bring him home to extend the lead 6-0 The next two batters in Kauma Vailala and Nelson Kiap were out.
Brothers had the chance of extending the lead with a full base from Daple, Knox and Jollam on respective bases but were left stranded when Dick Bart was tagged out.
Dolphins only score was through Ricky Mesak when skipper Sam Sana hit a three-base hit to outfield to advance Mesak from second base to secure a point to trail 6-1.
In the top of the second inning, when Glen Niggin’s turn to bat, he secured the first base before Adrian Chan hit the ball to outfield to advance him from first base to third base.
Goodwill Baia made a sacrifice hit to bring him home while he was caught out to bring the score to 7-1.
Dolphins did not score any runs in the second, third and the fourth innings while Brothers’ Baia got his second run for the afternoon from Chan’s good connection to the outfield to increase the lead 8-1 in the middle of the fifth inning.
In the other matches, the game between Mantarays and Defence were called off on mercy rule as Mantarays were racing away 15-4 at the bottom of the second inning.
Competition leaders, PNG Power, suffered their second successive loss by going down to Kopex 2-1.
Bears kept their finals hope alive by beating low flying Brown Eagles 5-1 and Gazelle ended Samurai final dream run with 6-3 victory.
The points ladder after yesterday’s match is: PNG Power 27, Brothers 26, Gazelle 25, Mantarays 21, Bears 15, Dolphins 14, Samurai 14, Brown Eagles 11, Kopex 10, Defence seven.