The form of Pattaya’s Thai Tigers softball team has fallen off kilter after the Tigers endured their second losing weekend in a row on January 23.
It looked like all déjà vu from the previous week as the management struggled to get 11 starters together for the game and after just 3 innings of lackluster play the Tigers were already 8-0 down against their opponents, the experienced TILAC team.
Things got worse for the Pattaya outfit as 2 injuries meant that the team’s General Manager was called upon to fill in as a substitute player for the second week running. A succession of misfields and dropped catches only added to the Tigers’ woes. Even from the offensive side it looked like nothing worked and after just 6 innings the game ended with a mercy rule 14-1 defeat.
The second game didn’t look like it was going to bring any change to the Tigers’ fortunes and after three innings they were again looking at a 6-0 deficit on the scoreboard. At the top of the fourth there was a brief spark of resistance however as Tigers’ leftfielder Pipo Engchuen connected with 2-run HR to reduce their opponents’ advantage to four.
TILAC were not to be denied however and the Bangkok team put on 4 more runs at the bottom of the same inning. Despite further resistance from the Tigers the result was once more a foregone conclusion with TILAC running out 10-5 winners.
Pipo Engchuen.
The Tigers know they have to break this losing habit soon if they are to avoid falling down to the wrong end of the table. The players will have a chance to redeem themselves this coming weekend when they take on last year’s champions the Thai Sharks.
If you would like to get involved in some fun baseball or softball in Pattaya, contact the Thai Tigers player/head coach Dirk at [email protected] or you can drop by at the team’s sponsor Fraser’s Sports Bar and Restaurant and ask Stewart on how to find us. The bar can be found on Thappraya Road in Jomtien.
