Kenya’s women’s softball team lost all their preliminary matches at the 2016 WBSC XV women’s World Softball Championships but a donation from New Zealand made a big difference for the team.
New Zealand’s ‘White Sox’ donated boots to all Kenyan players on Day Two (July 16) after they saw the girls struggle while playing with sneakers in the ongoing games in Surrey, British-Columbia in Canada. Kenya’s tournament opener against New Zealand was marked by unnecessary falling of players in the field due to poor grip of their shoes.
The girls lost 28-0 to New Zealand. This was also the case when Kenya faced European champions, Italy succumbing to a 15-0 loss.
“The girls were falling all over the place. They could not get a grip of the ball because they put on the right shoes but for the wrong assignment,” narrated Francis Karugu, the team manager. After receiving the boots from their opponents, Kenya recorded their first ever three runs on the international arena, losing 10-3 to Peru.