Although the Connaught Rangers will start as firm favourites to win the Gozo Cup having won three out of the four tournament games they played, both the other two participating teams have enough talent on their team to win the playoff and go on to win the Final.

Everything is set for Game Day 4 of the Gozo Cup Softball Tournament. Monday, July 21 will be the final day of the three week long tournament. At the Sannat Ground starting at 5:30pm there will be the playoff where the Leinster Royals will host the 31st Athletics. The winner will face the Connaught Rangers who have already made it to the Gozo Cup Final.

Although the Connaught Rangers will start as firm favourites to win the Gozo Cup having won three out of the four tournament games they played, both the other two participating teams have enough talent on their team to win the playoff and go on to win the Final.

With Malcolm Refalo at 3rd base, Rebecca Grech at pitcher’s position and Ian Refalo at 1st base, Steve Ellis and the Connaught Rangers can match any of the other two teams. Similarly, the Leinster Royals coached by Loreto Scicluna, have Kurt Fenech at 3rd base, Brandon Grech at pitcher’s position, and Denise Xuereb at 1st base. The 31st Athletics under the guidance of Joseph Scicluna have Angelo Muscat at 3rd base, Estelle Scicluna at pitcher’s position and Gianella Mallia at 1st base. During the preliminary group stage of the tournament these nine players have been the top performers for their respective teams.

From the results of the six group games played it is evident that there is very little separating these three teams. There were two walk-off wins, a tie, and a come from behind win in the final inning of a game. It will be down to the performance of the key players on each of these teams. Those who will be in form on Monday, might manage to carry their team to victory and become the first winners of the Gozo Cup.

Although, in such competitions there can only be one winner, we can say with much confidence that in this first edition of the Gozo Cup there will not be any losers. All 31 players that participated along with their respective coaches had a great time. What’s even more important is that there was a noticeable improvement in most of the players that participated. This means that the ultimate objectives of organising this tournament have been achieved.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate everyone involved and wish the best of luck to all the players and their respective coaches for the final day.