Nationals attract 27 baseball, softball teams

Nationals attract 27 baseball, softball teams

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Twenty-seven teams from 14 provinces will take part in the
National Baseball & Softball Championship beginning here on
Sunday, the organizing committee said.

The week-long event will crown champions in men's baseball,
men's softball and women's softball. In addition, Perbasasi, the
country's baseball and softball managing body, hopes to use the
championship to discover players for national teams.

"We hope the teams in the field will yield players good enough
for the national team," Harry Trisnadi, Perbasasi's official in
charge of development affairs, said on Tuesday.

Papua, which is participating only in the softball events, was
the first contingent to arrive for the event. Also taking part
only in the two softball events are North Sumatra, West Nusa
Tenggara, South Sulawesi, West Kalimantan and East Kalimantan.

South Sumatra, West Java, East Java and Jakarta will compete
in all three competitions. Lampung, Central Java and Banten will
send baseball teams along with either a men's or women's softball
teams, while Yogyakarta will feature only in the baseball
competition.

Suryo Adi Prasetyo, a Perbasasi official, said eight provinces
had decided to skip the tournament due to financial constraints.
Among the absentees is Central Kalimantan, which won the 2002
junior baseball event.

The teams will be divided into two pools. The top two baseball
teams in each pool will qualify for the semifinals, where teams
from different pools will play each other for a place in the
final.

The softball competition will adopt a page system, in which
there will be a playoff to decide the grand final entrants.

Harry said the tournament should help Indonesia in the next
Asian competition.

"We will have to prepare immediately after the tournament for
the Asian softball championship in Manila in May," he said.

"We also will be trying to keep our baseball team in the Asian
first division when we take part in the competition in Sapporo,
Japan, in October," he said.