End of year review: Baseball and Softball

This year's baseball and Softball have been characterized by various achievements and there is little doubt this is their best year thus far.

Looking back at what the Softball and Baseball fraternity has achieved throughout the season, it is fair to say the two disciplines are close to "take off stage"

Uganda's softball players competed for the first time in the Women's World Softball Championships hosted by Canada in July despite finishing a distant 24 out of the 30 teams.

It was a big achievement for a young softball playing nation facing some of the sport's heavy weights where USA beat Japan 7-3 in the final.

The presence of the Pearls in Canada opened more future opportunities for the country.

Uganda was invited to participate in the Junior World Championships due next year in the United States.

The Pearls remain the team to beat in East Africa having proved stronger than Kenya when they beat them at the World Championships.

Uganda and Kenya were the only African countries that participated at the championships.

The participants at the event returned as certified umpires following training under the Coaching Association of Canada.

Still in the confines of international outings, Uganda will send a team to the World Softball Men Championships in White horse-Canada next year.

Locally as one of the new developments, Uganda Baseball and Softball Association (UBASA) started a Women's Softball League aimed at tapping and developing raw talent from across Uganda.

"We are looking at setting up new structures and developing the sport in communities, this way we shall create a stable progress" UBASA publicist George Mukhobe said.

The association is furthermore looking at starting a project where universities can also participate in the disciplines.

In a bid to firmly establish the sport, two officials from the World Baseball and Softball Confederation (WBSC), Fabio Betto and Andrea D'auria visited the country for a week long training camp where local coaches were trained and certified by the world body.

In another development, the MLB scouting bureau selected a total of 17 local players for the MLB African Elite camp in South Africa.