By reader Matthew Lau
Pitcher Jeron Tan of Montfort gave up just one walk and yielded no hits or runs to his Raffles opponents. (Photo 1 courtesy of Matthew Lau)
AR-JAS Sports Centre, West Coast Road, Thursday, August 22, 2013 – Montfort Secondary dominated defending champions and favourites Raffles Institution 6–0 to clinch the school’s first ever National C Division Softball Championship title.
This is the second time Montfort have faced Raffles in a C Division final. In the 2012 C Division final, Raffles had defeated Montfort 10–0.
Montfort breezed through the first round, placing first, and advanced to the second round where they met Raffles and lost 3–2. Montfort then came back to beat the other teams in their group to advance to the final.
The first three innings saw no runs being scored as both teams were evenly matched.
The game changed in the fourth inning. With the inning starting with the top of the line up, Jeremy Tan (#8) started the chain of hits which would see Montfort scoring a total of four runs in that inning.
Jeremy first hit a single to center field, then Aaron Salim (#6) was walked to give Montfort runners on first and second base. Jeron Tan (#1) then stepped up to hit another single for Jeremy to score the first run of the game. Jeron subsequently got called out after making a mistake.
Iman (#2) then hit another single to allow Aaron to come home for the second run. Leow Feng Ying (#7) then hit a triple to left field to bring Iman home.
Jester Seah (#4) followed that up with a double to left field to bring Feng Ying home for a 4–0 Montfort lead.
Raffles brought in a new pitcher who managed to break the Montfort momentum by striking out two players, leaving Jester stranded on second base.
Montfort went on to hold Raffles in the bottom half of the inning, where three Raffles batters went up and were all out.
The last inning saw Aaron Salim hit a double to put himself in scoring position. Raffles then made an error on Jeron Tan’s hit and that allowed both Aaron and Jeron to cross home plate for a 6–0 lead.
Raffles had one last chance to come back but three straight outs saw Montfort crowned as champions.
Montfort pitcher Jeron Tan (#1) had a no-hitter, yielding just one walk and allowing Raffles no hits and no runs.
“This journey started way back in April and it’s been a challenging road,” said Wong Teck Piaw, the Montfort teacher-in-charge. “The Montfort C boys never gave up even though at times the journey was tough. Everything happens for a reason, that was for all the pieces to fall into place on the very last but most important day of the competition.
“Certain players who were mysteriously going through dry spells in batting sprang alive and came through for us with key and big hits in the final. Jeron was all hyped up as well and pitched almost a perfect game, and had to settle for a no-hitter with one walk issued.
“Having said that, there are still areas we can vastly improve upon, but we’ll let the boys have their day in the sun because they’ve really earned it!”
Leave A Comment