Moletlane Texas Softball Club
The bragging rights at Moletlane Texas are justifiable and could be heard reverberating all over the South African softball landscape.
The team’s recent triumph at the South African Softball Masters Tournament confirmed that this club is a team of the decade.
And within the corridors of power of the maroon and white brigade, they are doing some chest-beating, declaring themselves as the “team for the future”.
This is because Texas is the only team in South Africa that had three players who represented the country at the 2023World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U/23 World Cup that took place in Parana, Argentina from April 15 to 23.
The three musketeers were ace pitcher Kagiso “Seun”Aphane, catcher Ronaldo “Ma-Ducks” Kekana and utility in Lucas Ledwaba.
The trio has been vital cogs around which the Texas machine rotates, providing the catalyst for comprehensive match-winning exploits.
Aphane and Kekana’s pitcher-catcher combination in the team’s campaign in the Limpopo Softball Association (LSA) Super League has been applauded as the stuff of sporting brilliance.
Thanks to comprehensive teamwork with Aphane leading from the mound, Kekana calling in the catcher’s box and Ledwaba marshalling the troops, the Zebediela train steamrolled its way, winning the LSA league and the Top-8 Tournament with clinical efficiency
The precautious youngsters from the citrus hub send out such a positive message about the future of both provincial and national ballgame.
Aphane, Kekana and Ledwaba are the embodiment of a phenomenon that, from a national perspective, the World Cup so exciting.
The impression they made in the provincial league and recent Softball South African’s National Provincial Championships in Durban is the stuff of softball fairytale.
Youthful confidence and ebullience have always being a common denominator in the Texas playing philosophy and are now the standard bearers of a young brigade who changed the playing methodology in Limpopo.
They are led by visionaries who understand the dynamics of the game whose mandate is to build the greatest ever legacy of a community softball club.
Texas’ success story could be the envy of a Hollywood scriptwriter who could pen an exciting sporting story featuring some of the best actors.
In their midst, there is LSA chairwoman, Mokgadi Moswatsi who was the team manager of the SA senior women’s team that flew to Valencia, Spain where they participated in the 2023 WBSC Women’s World Cup.
Texas’ success story can be attributed to the international experience of the international playing and coaching experience of veterans, Mpho Maja, Mamphiri Sethosa, Nakedi Mohlake and Thapelo Seshoka.
Sethosa has attributes the club’s success to consistency in development structures.
“At Texas we believe in youth development and we’ve being doing this for many years. Fortunately, some of us have graduated to become provincial and national coaches. This has helped the club a great deal in creating formidable squads for generations after generations. This will ensure that the legacy of our team is sustained” explained Sethosa.
It seems players will come and leave, teams will be established and fade away but Texas is here to stay.
Suffice to say that Texas is not just a village team but a softball academy, an institution of higher ballgame learning and a hatchery of international talent.