03/03/2021 1 Minute Read

Africa: Nigeria's national baseball, softball championships set to return

“We are happy to have the competition back, which is one of our major developmental programmes for young players to grow and advance in the sport," said Robert Onwukwe, Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Baseball Softball Association.

The Nigeria Baseball and Softball Association has set the dates for their 2021 U-12 and U-15 National Women’s Softball Championships. The events will be hosted from 20-25 April in Badagry, Lagos.

“The forthcoming competition is an annual event, but the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the association from holding the competition in 2020,” Robert Onwukwe, Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Baseball Softball Association (NBSA) told Vanguard Nigeria.

“We are happy to have the competition back, which is one of our major developmental programmes for young players to grow and advance in the sport.”

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Last year, this event was played in Ibadan with 11 participating teams from different parts of the country. The event was sponsored by the U.S. Consulate General in Lagos. Henrica Dirks, a coach from Netherlands, spent 10 days in Hoffa, Ibadan, together with pitchers Bo and Kim Horsten. They led a softball camp for girls in the school communities of Akure, Ibadan, Ilorin, Lagos, while also donating some equipment.

The national governing body plans to host three other tournaments in 2021: the U-18 National Baseball and Softball Championships, scheduled for the last week of May at the newly renovated Adewole Baseball Park, Ilorin, Kwara State;

The U-12 and U-15 national baseball tournament will take place in Port Harcourt city in October 2021; while the Baseball5 National Championship is planed for August in Lagos, the country’s largest city.

This past December, William Boyd was elected NBSA President for the cycle.