It’s October and at this time of the year, softball comes alive, and fanatics turn their eyes towards the diamonds for the pre-season.
In Port Moresby Bisini Diamonds, the warm up matches for the men and women’s competition will have to wait at least for a week. This due to a new concept which is being introduced, known as the ‘Moneyball’ softball.
The Moneyball softball concept is framed into a two day tournament which will be played over the weekend, hosted by the Port Moresby Giants Club.
The Pom Giants Club is a team made up of elite players from Papua New Guinea who went down to Canberra, Australia, to take part in an organised Moneyball tournament.
“Basically we formed this team to identify talent and within the country, promoting them as well as exposing their talents overseas”.
“This style of softball has never been played here in PNG,” said President of Port Moresby Giants Club, Dick Bart Junior.
The rules of the game are similar to that of the traditional seven inning game; however, it comes with a twist. Every inning is played for a cash prize of K50, with teams free to quickly turnover play from batting to bowling to defend the innings in a much shorter, faster way, as well win every cash on offer.
“We’ve tailored the game to include money, so every inning will be played for money…So every inning won, is money banked under each club,” President Bart continued.
A total of K9, 100 is needed to run the weekend tournament, which individual families committed from their own pockets.
The Moneyball tournament coincides with a fundraising drive for the Pom Giants Club for its next trip to attend the games.
By Bradley Valenaki – EMTV Sports, Port Moresby
