Springs Girls’ High School (SGHS) hosted their annual Softball Festival at the school on Saturday.
This annual event has been held at the school since 1999.
Sharon West, organiser of the event, says the festival is a highlight on the school’s softball calendar for players, parents and technical officials in Ekurhuleni.
“This festival kicks off the start of the Ekurhuleni Schools’ Softball league played in the third term with up to 30 schools competing at primary school level and 20 schools at secondary level,” she says.
Alberton High School, Benoni High School, Edenglen High School, Shangri-La Academy, Palmridge Secondary School and Maranatha Christian School players competed in the junior u-14 and u-15 and senior sections u-16 to open games.
West says Ekurhuleni Softball Union officiated at the festival and supplied qualified umpires and scorers.
The Benoni High School u-15 team was the winner of the round robin, followed by Shangri-La Academy in second place, SGHS u-15 in third place, SGHS u-14 team in fourth place and the u-15 Edenglen High School team in fifth place.
Danielle Papamanapoulos of the SGHS u-16 team, was awarded the bronze medal for the third best batter of the day
in the junior section.
The winners of the junior section received the Sharon West Floating Trophy.
Girls’ High short-stop player Khanyisile Nhlapo was voted the u-14 All Star player of the day, along with Jade Scheepers, the u-14 captain.
Seniors teams were divided into two pools, with the winners of each pool playing out against each other.
The winners of pools go through to the grand finale.
West says the losing team played out against the winner of the play-off between the second placed teams of each pool and the winning team then went through to the grand finale.
Benoni High School’s first team beat Maranatha Christian School 8-3 in the grand finale and received the E. Wesson Floating Trophy.
Palmridge Secondary School took third place, while the SGHS u-16 team were placed fourth.
Edenglen High School took fifth place, Alberton High School was placed sixth, Shangri-La Academy seventh and SGHS eight.
Softball is a game played by nine players on the field, consisting of a pitcher who ‘pitches’ the ball to the catcher.
First, second and third-base players are positioned in a square. The home plate, where the catcher and batter are positioned, completes the square.
They are supported by a short-stop player with three outfielders strategically positioned in the left outfield, centre outfield and right outfield of the square opposite the home plate.
The game consists of seven frames, with each team having a chance to field and bat in a frame.
A team changes from the fielding position to the batting team when the fielding team is able to get three batters out.
