Pretty Guam Soft

Ball Winners Draw

The Crowds

Played on Konedobu Number Two Oval on the shore of Fair fax Harbour, the women’s soft ball always drew a strong crowd to watch some of the Islands’

prettiest girls spinning from base

to base.

American Samoa, Guam, P-NG and Nauru entered teams and standards improved as the matches progressed. The stocky, confident American Samoans started favourites and indeed they won their early matches well, whipping, in particular, the inexperienced and younger Nauruans.

The smaller and keen girls from Guam knuckled down and produced a batch of wins to put them ahead.

Their coach watched the other sides closely and the team exploited mis takes and mishits of their opposition.

But it was the lively Nauruans coming in second, with their three foot teddy bear mascot, who im proved overnight and quickly won everyone’s support as the underdog.

Second time around, they crushed the Samoans with Ellice Island pitcher, Matunga, outstanding. Mighty belts

to the outerfield produced “homers” and they beat the unlucky New Guineans also.

Plagued by loose fielding and easily ruffled, the New Guineans went down a lot; new to the game, they were overcome by more businesslike and experienced combinations.

The Guam girls were the more professional and the most consistent; the Nauruans evoked the thrills and spills and were the most improved and the quickest to learn, led by skipper Jenny Eoe. A French chal lenge in 71 would make softball a great Games series.

There were numbers of pretty girls at the Games and they weren't only in the softball competition. These pretty girls are from Guam; they used their long legs to good effect, speeding down the track to win a bronze medal in the 4 x 100 metres relay.