20 Oct 2024

Panthers Softball Club started their 2024/2025 league campaign on a high note with an impressive 9-1 victory over UB Giants at the National Diamond Circuit on Saturday.

Following years of idle as the league was halted owing to unavailability of sponsorship and other administrative issues, the Botswana Softball Association (BSA) league returned to action this past weekend and Panthers was on song proving their mettle throughout the entire game scoring runs in every inning.

The Gaborone-based Panthers were not only a marvel to watch with the bat but also complemented their bating skills with some infield heroics as they denied the youthful UB Giants any free base or home run hit.

 Speaking during the post-match interview, Panthers captain and caretaker coach, Tshepiso Mphapogang expressed delight over the win attributing it to the hard work and resilience his team demonstrated throughout the game.

“We came to play basic soft ball and it is impressive that our tactics of the day paid off despite the rustiness since we have played as a team in very long time,” he said.

In his game analysis, Mphapogang commended the players for executing the game plan as per instructions adding that his team was quick to read the weakness of their opponent pitcher who was off target and more closer to the bat throughout the innings.

He said victory was obviously a good start to the season and remained hopeful to build on that as the season continued.

Mphapogang nonetheless cautioned his team of being over confident since this was just the beginning of a very lengthy season.

He said now that the league had resumed, it was welcomed development that would contribute towards the growth of softball in the country.

UB Giants head coach Kelebogile Mabua said though not pleased with the results, he was nonetheless happy with the overall team performance following a lengthy dry spell of active softball.

“We cannot read much into today’s results because it has been difficult to assemble a team due to the lengthy league stoppage and I am hopeful that the boys will jell with time,” he said.

 Mabua said the game was lost in the first innings since they did not execute the pitching role to perfection which granted their opponents easy runs.

 He said all was not lost as the team would go back to the drawing boards in an effort to find a winning formula as the league progressed.

 It is, however, worth noting that the last BSA league action was in 2019/20 but it was cut short by the pandemic.

The BSA league had resumed without a sponsor following the elapse of the BoFiNet P4.5 million sponsorship in 2015.

BSA is currently dependent on the Botswana National Sports Commission cash injection of P937 000 grant geared towards administration. ENDS