2015 Softball Cricket season opens this Sunday

The 2015 softball cricket season will get going this weekend with the SVG Police Co-operative Credit Union Clinchers tournament at the Richland Park Oval.{{more}}

The tournament, which is into its fourth year, is expected to be contested by 20 teams — three more than last year’s tally.

Organizers say there will be an increase in the prize monies for teams this year, in addition to a cash prize for the Player of the Week.

The opening will see a ball-o-rama from 10 a.m. among the registered teams, with the winners taking on the Police team in an exhibition match, just prior to the opening ceremony.

The opening ceremony will comprise a parade of the competing teams; addresses by representatives of the sponsors, organizers and the Ministry of Sports, according to officials.

Teams failing to march past will have to pay a fine of EC$50.

Among the improvements which the 2015 tournament will see is the construction of a scoreboard, through the assistance of the sponsors at the southern end of the Oval and the restoration of the washroom facilities.

The opening ceremony is slated for 2:30 p.m.

In looking back at the 2014 tournament and ahead, president of the Clinchers Sports Club Pearlina Thomas said that it could be easily deemed a success, as was the case with the previous two years.

Thomas said that the success of the tournament could be attributed to the level of discipline shown by players and the working together of all the entities concerned. She said that the standard of play was also up to another level with many of the teams now close to each other and this was clear with Dr Thomas Injectors making it into the final of the tournament.

The president, however, feels that there was a still somewhat of a gap between the top four or five teams and the rest of the pack.

CGM Gallagher Novice emerged as the 2014 champions with comfortable 80 runs victory over Dr Thomas Injectors in the final on May 25.

The 2015 tournament is being played against the backdrop of the impending formalization of the National Softball Association and Thomas, who is the secretary of the Interim Committee that is currently laying the groundwork for its realization, thinks that the association will have a positive impact on local softball cricket.

“One of the things is that there is going to be more organized tournaments and there would be a body in place to settle or deal with problems such as disagreements between different leagues,” she explained.

The Interim Committee, under the chairmanship of lawyer Israel Bruce, is seeking to have the association become an official entity by April of this year. (RT)