The Makassar Softball Championships recently staged in Indonesia has again set the benchmark for softball in Papua New Guinea.
The Port Moresby Softball Men’s team making their first appearance at such international tournament were up against some of the tough opponents from within the region including Australia, New Zealand, Japan and host Indonesia, only to fall short of making the finals.
However, the Moresby boys did not die wondering and were competitive throughout making their opponents work extra hard to score runs. Even displayed tight fielding to restrict runners.
Despite not making the finals, they had some outstanding performers in the pitcher-back catcher combination of Danny Tovia and Tony Williams. In the batting department, young Elthony Daple was on fire with the bat, backed up by Demas Tovia and Eddie Chan.
Out of the (4) round robin matches, Moresby won their first game 4-0 but lost to Indonesia Pirates 2-1, Baladewa 9-1 and Malaysia 6-4.
As predicted by Coach Tony Daple before their departure, the team did not know what to expect but from the experience, they now know where they stand with a lot of work yet to be done to reach the next level.
Tournament organizers they were impressed with the attitude of the PNG boys especially their batting power and tight fielding, adding they’ll learn from this and come back stronger in 2024.
