History was made today as South Africa won the first-ever Africa Baseball 5 African Championships in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
After toping the pool stages South Africa went into the final day with the knowledge that a win was vital to secure a place in the inaugural WBSC Baseball5 World Cup scheduled to take place in Mexico later this year.
The fourth and final day’s first semi-final match saw Kenya with a 2-0 win over Uganda, followed by the 2-1 win for South Africa over Tunisia. With moments in the match where it looked like Tunisia had the match in the bag South Africa showed remarkable spirit and determination to bounce back for the win and their place in the final against Kenya.
The final match saw South Africa beating Kenya 2-0 thereby securing the title of the first-ever Baseball5 Africa Championships.
With Baseball fans from South Africa and around the world watching the matches live via YouTube the day saw much global attention for South Africa and Baseball5 including various messages of support from the World Baseball and Softball Confederation via social media. In South Africa, there was no shortage of support messages for the team and wide sharing of the news by the minute as the team shared their results to fans and friends back home via WhatsApp including South African Baseball President Marc Moreau who went on to say, ” I’m exceptionally proud of the team and congratulate them on their performance as we made South Africa proud.”
There is no doubt that this victory for South Africa will see a tremendous boost for the Baseball5 format in South Africa. The format which requires no equipment and only a flat surface provides an ideal opportunity for baseball clubs to offer an additional format to their membership and thereby the perfect stepping stone to mainstream baseball.
Coaches: Americo Juma, Hayley Scott: Team: Mariska Barnard, Juanay Kleynhans, Liandri van Rooyen, Itumeleng Moreroa, Aiden Bartes, Sylvester Maredi, Darian Pretorius, Louis Albertyn
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