Kenya to face Uganda in softball friendlies

Alpherio Moris from Tanzania (front-left) chats with Owora Deusdedit of Uganda (right), Kenyans Solomon Gacece (back-left) and Dedan Kariuki after the official launch of East Africa Baseball/Softball Federation on July 9, 2016 at St Andrews Church, Nairobi. PHOTO | FILE |

What you need to know:

  • Saturday's clash will be the third encounter between Kenya and Uganda, and the hosts will be looking for its first win since 2016 when the two teams first met

  • The backbone of the current team is comprised of four experienced players like Sarah Makau, Susan Mwangi, Margaret Irungu and Hellen Okong’o who played for Kenya at the World Championship in Canada

  • The Softball national team is under the tutelage of Lewis Pekei, who was among 36 coaches who were trained by the World Baseball Softball Confederation in December last year

The women’s national softball team will Saturday face Uganda at the African Nazarene University in one of three scheduled international friendly matches this weekend.

The friendlies, which is recognized by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), will be used to help the federation select the final squad that will represent Kenya in the Africa Olympic pre-qualifiers that are scheduled for May this year in Pretoria, South Africa.

The two other encounters between the two sides will be held on Sunday at the same venue.

Saturday's clash will be the third encounter between Kenya and Uganda, and the hosts will be looking for its first win since 2016 when the two teams first met.

Speaking to Nation Sport on Friday, Softball Federation of Kenya president Francis Karugu said: “The last two times we lost to Uganda but this time round we shall beat them thoroughly. We had problems with our outfield players as well as the pitchers, but we have rectified that and we have some very good pitchers at the moment. I am confident of a win,” he said.

Kenya first met Uganda at the 2016 Softball World Championship where they were the only African representatives and were pooled in the same Group 4, and later in the 2017 East Africa Women’s Softball Championship in Mwanza. Kenya lost in both instances.

The backbone of the current team is comprised of four experienced players like Sarah Makau, Susan Mwangi, Margaret Irungu and Hellen Okong’o who played for Kenya at the World Championship in Canada.

“The main aim of the friendly is not just to win. We want to expose the players to international matches so that they are well prepared for the pre-qualifiers. The other goal is to see the quality of players that we have, identify our collective weakness and then put together the final squad for the Olympics,” Karugu said.

The Softball national team is under the tutelage of Lewis Pekei, who was among 36 coaches who were trained by the World Baseball Softball Confederation in December last year. Pekei works with a team of four other qualified coaches.

Softball, which was re-admitted to the Olympics and will feature in Tokyo 2020, is a variant of baseball played with a larger ball (11 to 12 inches in circumference), and on a smaller field. It was invented in 1887 in the United States as an indoor game. The game is played at a faster pace than traditional baseball.