BY JULIET EKWENUGO
De Wills Baseball Club of Bayelsa State have emerged champions of the 2026 Super Five Baseball Championship after defeating defending champions Delta State in the final held at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.
The championship was the climax of the national league season, which featured about 17 clubs competing in a series of competitions in Kwara, Rivers and other centres before the top five teams were invited to Abuja to compete for the national title.
President of the Nigeria Baseball and Softball Federation (NBSF) and President of the World Baseball and Softball Confederation (WBSC) Africa, Uche Odozor, said the Super Five Championship brings together the best teams from the national league.
“This is a Super Five Baseball Championship where the top five teams qualifies after the year’s league, where you had about 17 teams competing, so the top five are invited to compete for the top honours here at the Moshood Abiola Baseball Park, Abuja,” Odozor said.
Odozor recalled that baseball was introduced to Nigeria in 1960 during the Peace Corps era, around the same period it was introduced in Japan, but said the promoters left the country during the Nigerian Civil War in 1967.
He said the sport was later reintroduced in the 1990s by former players, adding that the federation was working with the National Sports Commission to expand baseball to different parts of the country.
According to him, Nigeria’s large youth population provides an opportunity for the development of baseball, while the federation had brought analysts from Japan to assess home-grown talents during the championship.
“We also have some analysts from Japan who are here to assess the players based on their skills and some of these players will be taken to Japan in November for further intensive training, preparatory to those that will make the national team that will fight to qualify Nigeria for the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028,” he said.
Odozor also described baseball as an economically rewarding sport linked to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), saying the Baseballership programme was being introduced while baseball had become a medal sport in Nigerian universities.
He said the federation’s vision was to take baseball back to military barracks and schools to develop young talents who could eventually play in major leagues.
The Nigeria national baseball team head coach, Shinya Tomonari, said his mission was to make Nigeria “the strongest and the most respected baseball team in Africa.”
Tomonari, who is from Japan, said he was appointed on June 8 after the NBSF president visited Japan, adding that he had spent about 30 years working in African baseball.
He said he had previously managed teams in Ghana, Tanzania and South Sudan and was now implementing Baseballership Education, a human development programme through baseball, in 13 African countries.
As part of his first assignment, Tomonari said he evaluated players during the Super Five Championship alongside Japan’s leading analyst, Daisuke Hoshikawa, and assistant analyst, Takumu Yamada, using the Trackman System to measure their abilities.
“Based on these data, we will select 23 national team candidates and create individualized development plans. With a coaching staff of 10, we will build a strong follow-up system and prepare for the Africa Championship scheduled for next July,” he said.
He added that several Nigerian players would be invited to Japan in November for training with professional baseball teams and top university programmes.
Captain of Team Delta, Suleman Abdulrahman Bala, said the competition was fair but alleged that the format had been changed from a league in which the winner would be determined by accumulated points to championship games.
“So it was supposed to be a league with the winner determined by points accumulated but instead, all of a sudden, they changed it to championship games for reasons we don’t know,” Bala said.
He called for more sponsors and the involvement of more states in baseball, saying the organisation of the competition was too complex for one individual to handle.
Reacting to the defeat, Bala said the result did not mean Delta had dropped in standard, noting that other teams were also improving.
Captain of De Wills Baseball Club, Adebisi David, expressed satisfaction with the victory, saying the championship was stressful after days of competition.
“I feel so good because the selections for the national team to play through the qualifiers for Olympics 2028 which will be held in LA, United States is on, so, I feel good to be the champions of this league,” David said.
He credited his teammates, coach and management for the success, adding that improved organisation of baseball competitions would help more Nigerian players develop and make it to Major League Baseball.
The Secretary-General of the federation, Robert Anthony, said Nigeria still had hurdles to cross in its bid to qualify for the 2028 Olympic Games.
Anthony said the qualification process would involve the African qualifier and a playoff in Oceania, adding that the federation was also working to reduce the cost of equipment.
He disclosed that baseball gloves were now being produced in Nigeria, saying the initiative would help reduce costs and also make it possible to supply other African countries.
Executive Director of Arnold Sports International Foundation, Adeyinka Adewusi, said the second phase of the Honor International Baseball Elite started in Abuja on September 20 after the first phase in Ilorin.
Adewusi said the teams played a single round-robin competition before the semi-finals, adding that Kwara State defeated Niger State to finish third.
He said the foundation was taking baseball to schools and engaging the National Sports Commission for support to further develop the sport in Nigeria.
