FOLLOWING the successful launching of the Guyana Baseball League (GBL) early last month, the executives of the body yesterday launched their inaugural Softball Home Run Derby dubbed ‘Swinging for the Stars’, in which over G$5M in cash prizes will be up for grabs.
The tournament which gets under way on Saturday, September 29 caters for persons in six different categories, beginning with Under-7 and ending at the Open stage, for both male and female players, who will seek to earn lucrative prizes .
According to the Marketing Officer of the GBL Don Singh, the Derby is being held at the GBL’s ball park, located at Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara, with the aim of introducing the game to Guyana through a fun and action-filled format that is easy to play and understand.
“We want to get you to come in and hit, so we decided to use a friendly introduction called the Home Run Derby, where we will be using basically the softball for the various age categories that will be battling for cash prizes.”
In outlining the respective prizes for the winners, Don Singh said there will be no differentiation between male and female with the GBL, which means both category winners, will walk away with an equal amount of money as their rewards.
Furthermore, there will be no second-, third- or fourth-placed prizes being awarded, as the GBL seeks to reward the top place finisher (both male and female) in all the categories. The GBL’s Marketing Officer stated that no other sport on local soil, apart from boxing, offers such lucrative individual prizes.
“Yes we have heard about tournaments being sponsored to the tune of millions of dollars, but they are all team events, where the winning team divides the prize among its members, while in this case, the winning competitor in each category pockets his/her winnings individually.”
President of the GBL, Robin Singh, told his audience which included president of the Guyana Olympic Association K. Juman-Yassin and Parliamentary Representative for the Area James Bond, the GBL is looking at long-term development.
“We know the sport of baseball is fresh in the minds of Guyanese, so we are looking at developmental stages in the game, wherein at the end of the day, Guyana can have a semi-professional or even professional player competing on the world stage.”
The GBL head said that they sought and got specifications towards the construction of a beach volleyball court from the Guyana Volleyball Federation (GVF), upon completion of which the GVF expressed its gratitude and has commenced planning a tournament.
The GBL head added, “The goal of the derby is to provide opportunity for all to put a bat in hand and have a swing at winning a hefty prize purse and beautiful trophy. The GBL wants to create a lifelong memory and hopes that one day these kids will fall in love with the great game of baseball.  I strongly believe in grassroots baseball and the necessity of baseball.”
Both Juman-Yassin and Bond applauded the Singh brothers for the initiative taken to introduce and develop the sport of baseball in Guyana, with the GOA head adding that the sport was once played at the level of the Pan American Games and will soon be re-introduced there as well.
“You are starting at an advantage to some other associations, seeing that you have your own facility, which in fact is a multi-purpose one that you have extended an invitation to other associations to use from time to time.  I commend you and wish you well in the future,” added Juman-Yassin.
Bond viewed the GBL as a springboard for rural and inner city youths, while he publicly exhibited his beliefs that sport and education should go hand in hand and called on the Guyanese population to cash in on the ability to learn the basics of baseball, through the GBL.

Rules for the upcoming competition are as follows:
Competition will be in 12 divisions of age and gender – Divisions U-7, U-10, U-13, U-16, U-18 and Open. Male and Female
Entrants are placed into groups of ten persons. Entry fee of $1 000 Open Divisions
Entry Fee of 500 for age/gender/ Divisions.
A contestant may enter multiple divisions, but can only win prize money in one division.
Proof of Date of Birth for all age divisions must be presented before prize money is collected.
A Division Registration closes on reaching its limit.
Entries are limited to ensure the competition runs on schedule.
Under-7 Division batters will hit off a Tee.
A Pitching Machine will pitch the softball to the batter.
Batters will compete in groups of ten. Each batter will have 8 swings. Batters receive one practice swing and 8 competition swings. Since a pitching machine is used, every pitch should be the same. However, there are times that a pitch is either too high or too low and this is determined by the UMPIRE. If this happens, the batter receives another pitch. Batters have to swing at every pitch.
A home run will have to cross the white line in the air located in the outfield. The top player of each group of ten will advance to the following rounds. Ties will lead to a sudden death round. Each batter will receive 4 swings.
Bats and balls will be provided, but players may use their own bats at the approval of the judges.
Each division will have a designated Home Run Boundary. The Tournament Director may Increase/Decrease the boundary in the event of deadlocks. The top male and female will win their divisions.
The GBL tournament director is the final arbiter of all rule interpretations; disagreement is cause for elimination from the event.
The cash prizes are as follows: Under-7 $100 000, Under-10 $150 000, Under-13 $200 000, Under-16 $250 000, Under-18 $300 000 and Open Category $1.5M, with both the male and female winners of each category pocketing the aforementioned prizes.
Registration can be done at Electronic City, Sheriff Street, The Trophy Stall in Bourda Market and The City Mall, or in bulk via the GBL website www.baseballguyana.com and at the GBL Ballpark in Turkeyen.