SA baseball champs to be held in Bay

Baseball fans are set for a treat when the South African Baseball Championships head to Nelson Mandela Bay later in March.

More than 1,200 players and management are scheduled to be part of the event across both junior and senior divisions at the Londt Park sports complex.

About 100 players are set to represent the Nelson Mandela Bay Baseball Association and the tournament will see some of the country’s best baseball playing provinces do battle for the crown.

The senior tournament will be held between March 22 and 26 and the junior one from March 27 to 30.

Nelson Mandela Bay Baseball Association chair Mervin Johnson said the tournament was much bigger than the Masters Championships which were held in the Bay in 2018.

“Baseball was a popular sport about 15 to 20 years ago, but then it died out because no one catered for youth development or schools in the region at the time,” he said.

“So about 10 years ago we started building up the sport again.

“Just a couple of guys who are still passionate and have a love for the game decided to revive it, and we have now managed to put together a formal league with six clubs, with each having a first and second team, as well as junior teams.

“We are also looking to take it into school level in a bid to get more children interested in the game and continue to develop the sport.”

Johnson said it was fairly difficult to attract more juniors to take up the sport due to schools focusing more on mainstream sports like cricket, hockey, rugby, soccer and the like.

Asked about the chances of the NMB teams in the competition, Johnson said: “We always back our teams, and our guys have put in a lot of hard work in terms of being a lot more competitive.

“I believe that our seniors have an excellent chance of doing well and possibly going to the quarter- or semifinal stage, and our U18 team are also pretty good and will be competitive.

“Additionally, some of our U15, U12 and U10 teams are fairly new players and still developing, so it will be a huge learning curve for them,” Johnson said.

He urged the public to come out and support the players, with the event taking place over the school holidays.

“This is the elite of the elite in terms of national baseball heroes, some of who have competed at an international level.

“Baseball is a fast, fun sport for all to enjoy, and I encourage the public to come out and support our local teams.”

On conclusion of the tournament, national teams would be chosen from this set to represent the country at the Africa Games later this year, Johnson said.