Last weekend the Pattaya based Thai Tigers softball team had the daunting task of facing the defending champion Sharks and also trying to get over their two previous consecutive losses in the league. For the first time in this New Year the Tigers had a full A-Team available and were ready for the big match in the Bangkok International League.
Going into the match the Tigers knew that the task would be tough as the Sharks have one of the strongest teams in this league. The first game started well for the Pattaya team with an inside the park home run by leadoff hitter Top, followed shortly by another run to make the score 2-0 to the Tigers.
The Thai Tigers and the Sharks pose for a group photo prior to the softball contest last weekend.
Both teams looked defensively perfect which kept the score the same going into the 3rd inning. Then the Tigers’ pitcher started struggling and walked several batters in a row, enabling the Sharks to post their first run of the game with bases still loaded. A routine fly out suddenly changed into a mental error resulting in a wild throw home on a faked tag play and saw the Sharks take the lead in the game. The defending champs then put up another run in the same inning resulting in a 4-2 lead.
With both teams digging themselves into their defensive positions only 1 more run was scored (by the Sharks) through the next 4 innings of that game, setting a final score of 5-2 and another tough loss for the Thai Tigers.
To continue it went even better as no runs were scored for even another 7 innings. Yes, the entire second game saw a full time score of 0-0 after 7 innings, so extra innings had to be played to determine a winner in this sublime defensive game with some excellent outfield plays all around.
In the first extra innings the Sharks put the pressure on with 2 runs scored and the Thai Tigers could not reply, so the second game saw an even tougher loss than previous game as the level of play of the Tigers was sure up there with the best the Sharks could offer and a split would most likely have been a fairer result.
If you would like to get involved in some fun baseball or softball in Pattaya, contact the Tigers player/head coach Dirk at [email protected]. Alternatively you can drop by at the team’s sponsor, Fraser’s Sports Bar and Restaurant on Thappraya Road and ask the owner Stewart on how to find us.
