Masters Classic aims to bring new life to Cape Town baseball and softball

As long as masters of the game are still around and still have love for the sport, baseball and softball still have a chance to become sports of choice for many.

Anton Smith, treasurer of the host club Goodwood Badgers, sees it that way as he and other masters of the game tirelessly work to make the two sporting codes fashionable again. They want more youngsters introduced to the games, but they do not simply want to make the call from the sidelines. Instead, they want to lead from the front.

The Baseball and Softball Masters Classic took to the field at the weekend at the home of Goodwood Badgers in Goodwood.

The inaugural pre-season tournament aims to become an annual event. The idea is for the veterans of the game to come together, share their expertise, and find ways of growing the two codes.

They start by playing the game themselves, as they believe that to introduce young players to the sport, they must first show them the game in action.

“There’s no youngsters coming into the sport, so we are trying to build on that going forward. We will try to make this an annual event and try to get schools involved so we can have more youngsters involved in the sport. That is our aim. This is the first year of running this tournament.

“The aim is to get all the old faces together and revive the relationships that were there when we were playing,” said Smith.

Pre-season classic targets next generation

Most sports are a young person’s game, and keeping the school system involved seems to be one of the ways to keep the sport alive. Cape Town baseball has had several youngsters in the junior ranks making the South African squad that will travel to the World Cup this year.

This is something Smith and his fellow masters want to build on. Baseball players have no intention of leaving softball behind; the two are sister sports that share the common goal of keeping both codes thriving.

Baseball and softball masters unite

“The ladies’ softball and the men’s baseball, so with these games we try to get together with all the administrators and forge better relationships because both sports have dwindling numbers.

“Turfhall used to be full with all the softball played there, so our aim is to get families back to softball and baseball and grow the sport to what it is in other countries where it’s quite a big sport.

“It’s gonna take us a long time to get there, but slow and easy does it,” said Smith.

Goodwood Badgers, Maitland Giants, Silvertree and Michigan Mets were the baseball sides that took part in the Masters Classic, while the softball section saw Falcons, Kenfac Phillies, Battswood and Westridge Yankees in action.

Michigan Mets were the weekend victors in the baseball after beating Maitland Giants 10-9 in the final. Westridge Yankees beat Falcons 11-3 to win the softball final.