Latinos bring softball to TT

GREVIC ALVARADO

SOFTBALL, a recognised sport in the world that has a good number of players among the Latino community, is one of the positive things that has come to TT as a result of the economic crises in various countries in South America and the Caribbean.

Every Sunday, Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain welcomes entire families from Venezuela, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, who come together to share and entertain themselves through sport.

José Manzano, one of the promoters of this discipline in TT, recalled that softball arrived in TT at the end of the 90s. A group of Venezuelans trained for exercise.

At first, baseball was played, but because the ground is not perfect, they decided to go to softball. “Since 2010, more people began to approach, including Cubans and Dominicans,” said Manzano.

He said the first tournaments played were of only three teams (from Venezuela, Cuba and the Dominican Republic).

“Following the arrival of Venezuelans and Cubans to TT, we began to seek help from embassies and private companies, even ambassadors attended the games.”

However, this support stopped in recent years and they have no sponsors.

“The lack of support does not stop us, word has spread among Latinos and several teams joined. Today, we have eight participating teams and we play three championships a year,” he indicated.

All of the players buy their uniforms, balls and all the necessary equipment.

“It has been a boom, we Latinos like sports and softball is one of those that can be played in an amateur way, every Sunday, whole families attend to have fun and entertain themselves after a long week of work.”

Manzano said, on Sunday, the fifth men’s softball championship, called Christmas Cup 2019, began and will be held every Sunday, at Queen’s Park Savannah.

Caciques of Macuro, Amigos of Tucupita, Vinotinto of Arima, Pitbulls of San Fernando, Beast of San Fernando, Titanes, Cuba and Rebeldes of the Dominican Republic are the eight teams that give life to this tournament.

“Many people have approached with the interest of participating, in fact, there were not so many rules and now we are forced to make a good competition with regulations and little by little we are moving forward.”

This championship is expected to end on December 8. Three games are held every Sunday from 10 am. “There are several proposals to carry the games to other locations, the two San Fernando teams are planning this, but you have to have a good ground to play comfortably and we (are)working to get another stadium with the corresponding permits.

“Already contacts have been established again with embassies, there are people interested in collaborating. They see a healthy entertainment and a way of bringing people together,” he said. Today, Rebeldes of the Dominican Republic are expected to play Vinotinto of Arima. At the end of this match, Cuba and the Beast of San Fernando will face off and then the game between Pitbulls of San Fernando and Titanes will close the session.

THE GAME

Softball is a team sport in which a ball is hit with a bat, much like baseball, in general. A regular game consists of seven entries of three outs each. In each entry, one team bats and the other defends. When the three outs are done, it is appropriate to attack the team that previously defended.

The attacking team has to hit the ball and avoid being “out.” After hitting the ball, the batter must run through the bases (first, second, third and home). When a player manages to reach home it is considered score. The team that scores the most times between the seven episodes wins.