The New Providence Softball Association (NPSA) fastpitch league playoffs was set to be completed from last week but inclement weather pushed it back to Tuesday when it finally played out. The remainder of the semifinals resulted in the men’s defending champions C&S Hitmen and the women’s RAB Operators sweeping their way into the NPSA Championships.
The Hitmen had no more mercy on the Chances Mighty Mitts as they easily shut out them out, 17-0. The Operators won 15-9 over the University of The Bahamas (UB) Mingoes. Both series were best-of-three.
The teams in the championships are now known in both divisions with number one seeded Hitmen taking on the second-seeded Cyber Tech Blue Marlins in the men’s division. The ladies championship will feature the defending ladies champions and the number one seeded Sunshine Auto Wildcats battling the second-seeded Operators.
The Wildcats and the Blue Marlins were waiting from Saturday, September 25 for their opponents and should be well-rested. As a matter of fact, all four teams will be well-rested as the first game of the championships get underway on Thursday, October 13. The championships will be in a best-of-five format.
On Tuesday night, in the featured game, Hitmen veteran pitcher Edney ‘The Heat’ Bethel put on a clinic in the shutout victory for his team. He pitched a no-hitter in the four-inning contest, facing 13 batters and recording 12 strikeouts. The one batter who got on base earned a walk, stopping the perfect game for Bethel. At the plate, Bethel went 1-for-2 with a run batted in (RBI). He scored twice.
The Hitmen let it be known that they came out to end the game early, scoring six runs in the top of the first inning. They came back in the top of the second and doubled the lead to 12-0. Two more runs in the third inning and three more runs in the fourth proved to be enough for the mercy rule to be invoked.
The Hitmen and the Blue Marlins met three times in the regular season with the Hitmen winning the series 2-1. The Blue Marlins won the first matchup, 14-0. The Hitmen bounced back with 8-0 and 4-3 wins in the next two games.
Four Operators batters got multiple hits. Michelle Thompson, Jeanette Hilton, Keesha Johnson and Vanessa Sawyer each had two hits in the win for them.
The first two innings belong to the Operators as they opened the game with a four-run first inning and a two-run second inning to go up 6-0. The Mingoes got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third inning, but the Operators led 6-2 at the end of that inning.
After not scoring in the third and fourth innings, the Operators went on to score five runs in the top of the fifth to open an 11-3 gap. The Mingoes scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to bring the game to 11-6 in favor of the Operators.
Unlike the men’s division, the game needed the full seven innings as the Mingoes tried to make the score respectful. The game went into the bottom of the seventh inning 15-9 in favor of the Operators. Unfortunately for the Mingoes, the tail end of their batting lineup was up and they came up empty.
The Mingoes were led by Adonya Rolle who went 3-for-4 at the plate with a RBI.
The Operators and the Wildcats met three times in the regular season, with the Wildcats winning that series 2-1. The Wildcats won the first two games, 10-3 and 17-9. The Operators won the final game, 8-7.