STCJ Warriors Cricket Champions Cup for Girls & Women

March is a month dedicated to woman and the STCJ Sports Committee along with the help of the STCJ Women Cell decided to organize an Underarm Turf Cricket Tournament for only girls and women - the first of its kind. Never was such a tournament organized before and despite early difficulties, we found 8 different parishes to participate and compete in this tournament. Participating teams included STCJ Warriors, Airoli (A) SJC Thunder Strikers, Belapur (A) Sacred Heart Church, Vashi (A) Johannine Juggernauts, Thane (A) Our Lady of Forsaken Church, Ghansoli (B) St. Francis Xavier Church, Panvel (B) Divya Kripa Church, Kharghar (B) Rosarian Royals, Dockyard (B) The tournament was held at Mauli Turf, Sector 8 Airoli between 530pm to 1030pm on March 30th. Fr. George Raj from Our Lady of Forsaken Church, Ghansoli inaugrated the tournament after saying a prayer to give us the best start to the event. The teams were split in 2 groups with 4 teams each and every team got a chance to play 2 matches with the top 2 from each group qualifying for the semi finals. Group A gave us some incredible and unbelievable moments all throughout, it also had a lot of thrill and excitement & lived up to the hype of being the strongest group on paper. STCJ Warriors Airoli (4) and Johannine Juggernauts Thane (2) qualified from the group with SJC Thunder Strikers (2) missing out due to a lower net run rate. Group B on the other hand was dominated by 2 teams who won both their matches convincingly with a tremendous display on the field. Rosarian Royals Dockyard (4) and Divya Kripa Church Kharghar (4) qualified to the semi finals with their amazing performances. Semi Final 1 saw STCJ Warriors Airoli (Group A Winners) go head to head with Divya Kripa Church Kharghar (Group B Runners up) and it turned out to be a one sided semi final with the Airoli girls winning the match with over 10 balls left to spare. Semi Final 2 saw Rosarian Royals (Group B Winners) in action against Johannine Juggernauts (Group A Runners up) and it was another one sided semi final with the Juggernauts coming out on top to set up a rematch with STCJ Warriors Airoli in the finals. The finals was one for the ages and it went down till the very last ball. It had a bit of everything - from heroic moments to unforgettable blunders, from high quality cricket to the most basic errors. Both teams gave their heart and soul on the field, however, sports can be very cruel with only 1 team winning and for this tournament, it was the Johannine Juggernauts who won on the last ball. Dr. Maureen Lobo - the Navi Mumbai Deanery Women Cell Coordinator and Mrs. Bernadine Fernandes - the Executive Secretary to the Archdiocesan Women's Commission were present at the event and it was our pleasure to invite them to be a part of the Prize Distribution Ceremony. Sapna Dsouza from Johannine Juggernauts was the top run scorer with 110 runs and with the highest score of 49* and Leeann Dcunha from STCJ Warriors Airoli was the highest wicket taker with the best performance 1 over, 1 maiden, 0 runs and 3 wickets. Both of them received individual trophies for their outstanding individual performance and both teams received their respective trophies and medals at the end from the hands of Dr. Maureen Lobo and Mrs. Bernadine Fernandes. All these girls and women helped everyone break the bias that girls can play cricket & also they inspired many little girls to play sports and to keep doing what they love without worrying about the opinion of others. Overall a great day for STCJ Airoli once again as we have now added another trophy to our cabinet with a hope of winning more in the near future and in the long run.