Softball TWO RICHMOND TEAMS IN KNOCK-OUT FINAL

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29153, 14 March 1960, Page 6

Softball TWO RICHMOND TEAMS IN KNOCK-OUT FINAL

The final of the Canterbury Softball Association's knock-out championship next Saturday will be an alf Richmond club affair. The two teams won their semifinals on Saturday. The young White Sox team scored a good 4-0 shutout win over Linwood. Varying its batting from line drives and strong hitting to surprise well-controlled bunting, White Sox had the Linwood fielders many times caught off balance and out of position. K. Smith, the White Sox pitcher, was not as accurate as usual, and Linwood hit him frequently, but the White Sox fielders were on their toes throughout. With fast fielding and accurate pegging, they pinned runners on first base and threatened double play halted further progress. Papanui scored a good win over Spreydon in another knockout game. With 10 of the 14 innings played, there was no score. L. Clarkson, pitching for Papanui, scored six strikeouts but yielded six walks in the process. Luckily for Papanui, these walks did not affect the trend of the game as the Spreydon pitcher, G. Calder, in gaining five strikeouts, also gave walks. Some of these helped Papanui to score four runs in its first innings. The main feature of the day’s play was supplied by the Richmond team, which scored two shutout wins, 8-0 against Papanui, and 4-0 against Christchurch. Led by superb pitching by A. Ballantyne and backed by fielding of the highest quality, the team which last week won the Canterbury senior men’s championships, played softball of a very high standard, possibly the best of a season noted for high-class softball. Fine Pitching In the Christchurch game, Ballantyne pitched the perfect game —2l players up and 21 down, none reaching first base. In doing so he scored eight strikeouts, a remarkable performance. But this feat would not have been possible without the superb fielding. Both infield and outfield took anything that came their way, either catches or hits. The first baseman did not need to shift from his position at any time, receiving the ball to his glove each time for the succession of outs.

Christchurch fought hard all the way and although it did not get runs it fielded well enough to hold Richmond to four runs. Richmond used tactical bunting to keep the fielders off balance and bring about the surprise play. In its second game of the day,

Richmond conceded Papanui five runs as a handicap and for the first two innings it looked as if this handicap would enable Papanui to win, as Richmond failed to score.

Richmond began its winning runs in its third innings and from this stage it scored steadily in spite of change of pitchers. L. Clarkson replaced M. Bell. Richmond blasted the ball through the field almost at will with both B. Bridgeman and A. Ballantyne scoring three > base hits that closely approached home runs. The tighter the Papanui fielding became, the more hits Richmond seemed to produce. This game was a replica of Richmond’s first game, with Ballantyne scoring many strikeouts and superb fielding shutting off any threatened runs. Next Saturday’s final between White Sox and Richmond should prove the best game not only of the season but for many seasons.