Softball Auckland Beats Waikato, 4-3, In Beatty Cup Final

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28784, 3 January 1959, Page 7

Softball Auckland Beats Waikato, 4-3, In Beatty Cup Final

(New Zealana Press Association)

WELLINGTON, Auckland won the Beatty Cup, the symbol of provincial softball supremacy, by beating Waikato, 4-3, in the final of the national tournament at the Hutt recreation ground today. Hutt Valley, winners last year, was eliminated in the semi-finals.

A crowd of about 1500 watched the final, which was played In near gale-force winds.

Auckland last won the Beatty Cup in 1953, having held it at that stage from 1948. Since then, Wellington and Hutt Valley have been the main contenders. This was Waikato’s first final.

In a curtain-raiser to the final, Canterbury beat Rotorua, 24-5. In the Auckland-Waikato game, up to the sixth innings, it was anybody’s game. Several times the Wellington umpire on the home plate, J. Allen, was hotly heckled by the crowd for his calling. Both pitchers excelled in their pitching and if one overshadowed the other, then it was hardly noticeable. The Aucklander, N. Perry, who has returned good pitching averages for all his games, took seven of the Waikato men for strike-outs, gave no walks, and had three safe hits scored from his pitches. The opposition pitcher, T. Whitehead, who has also shown his paces on the mound, took one strike-out, allowed one walk, and gave six safe hits. Th* top of the seventh and last Inninas saw Waikato in the lead, 3-2. However, the Auckland batter had a safe hit and that drew the score, 3-3.

Excitement ran extremely high at that stage as Auckland tried its best to get another man home, but they were unsuccessful. The game was then extended for a further innings. Auckland getting the winning run. The best Waikato batters of the day were T. Chestnut, T. Wallbank, J. T. Porteous, and J. Mathews Auckland batters to shine included the short stop. R. Cockrane. the centre field, K. Horan, and Verrail and Sorenson. Waikato suffered a set-back during the game when W. Shirley caught a ball and hurt his hand. He was unable to field with it. and was replaced by a reserve third baseman, J. Hately. The innings scores were:— Auckland: 0, 0. 1, 1. 0, 0. T. I—4. Waikato: 0, 1. 0, 0. 0,2, 0. o—3. the curtain-raiser, CanterbujQf

won by the wide margin of 24 runs to 5’ f wlr l U l ** Waa *«ured for Canterbury from the second innings. In that innings, Canterbury hit eight runs, and in the final two innings hit up 14 runs,' a feat that Rotorua could not equal. Rotorua’s five runs were scored in the second and third innings. Th* best hitters for Canterbury were the pitcher, A. Ballantine, the catcher, M. Nalepa, and the raptoto and third baseman, B. McGregor, who all hit a home run each. Rotorua had no defence at all, and In spite of its determined attempts at trying to keep the opposition runs to a minimum, they were unsuccessful. The innings scores were:—

Canterbury: 2,8, 0,0, 6. 0, 8—24 Rotorua: 0,3, 2,0, 0, 0 0 5.

INTER-ISLAND GAME Teams For Match Today (New Zealana Press Association/ WELLINGTON. January 2. Teams to contest the inter-island softball match at Hutt recreation ground tomorrow afternoon are:— North Island.— Pitchers. W. Massey (Hutt Valley), N. Perry catchers. u Nation (Hutt Valley). J. Shanks (Auckland); first base, K. Gerrie (Wellington) capse£<Jn2 base, G Verrail (Auckland); third base, B. Hood (Wellington); short stop. R. Cochrane (Auckland): left field. B. Walsh (Wellington), vice-captain; centre field, B. Bridgeman (Hutt Valley); right field, J. Porteous (Waikato). South Island—Pitcher. A. Ballentine (Canterbury). captain: catcher, M. Nalepa (Canterbury’); first base. J. Bayford (Canterbury); second base, A. Scherp (Otago): third base, B. McGregor (Canterbury); short stop, E. Kerr (Canterbury); left field, L. Clyma (Otago); centre field, B. Mansfield (Canterbury); right flaH W. Lang (Southland): utilities, A. Bell (Southland), vice captain; G. Harraway (Southland); W. Parsta < Otago).