Brunei B's tourney hurt by injuries

INJURIES to key players ruined Brunei B's hopes of victory at yesterday's Brunei Amateur Softball and Baseball Association (BASBA) Silver Jubilee Tournament.

Now out of the tournament as the only team without a win to their name, injuries to four players during yesterday's action relegated the side to defeats in both of their games at the Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien (SOAS) field in the capital.

Their first was a 13-7 defeat to their A counterparts at 10.30am and their second was a 9-0 loss to tournament favourites the Philippines at 1pm.

So while Brunei A made it to the next round of the competition held in conjunction with the 10th Asean Softball Championship after notching up two must-win games yesterday their only ones of the competition Brunei B were left thinking about what could have been.

Their catcher Mohd Idris AR Mohd was involved in a collision with Brunei A's Pg Mohd Musa Pg Mohd Jaafar in the second inning of their match, and he was sidelined with a swollen cheek.

Saiful Adli Yaakub and centre-fielder Ashraf Ahmad also picked up injuries in the match against Brunei A, with the latter suffering a hamstring injury.

Left-fielder Rudynoreano Hj Awg Naweh was injured after the team's 8-5 loss to Indonesia on Friday which went into extra innings. The scores at the end of the seventh inning was 5-5.

"I just had to ask Rudy to play today (Saturday) because we could not do without him," said Brunei B's coach Abdul Kani Sapian yesterday.

"Four of our players were injured so that hurt our chances.

"I think the game against Indonesia was the team's best match, but Rudy got injured," added the coach.

"Overall, they (Brunei B) have less experience (than Brunei A) and are quite new.

"There were some outstanding performances though, and we managed to show that against Indonesia and Singapore," he added.

Their first loss was a 9-2 result against Malaysia in the tournament opener on Thursday morning but their second and third games on Friday were close matches which came down to the final innings.

Before the match against Indonesia at 5pm on Friday, Brunei B lost 8-6 to Singapore.

The deciding moment came when third baseman Afiq Hj Yusof came up to bat in the seventh inning with runners on two bases and the team down 7-6.

Hitting the ball to right field, the Singaporeans caught the ball and prevented the Bruneians from notching their first win.The Brunei Times