Softball FIFTH-ROUND MATCHES

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29367, 21 November 1960, Page 23

Softball FIFTH-ROUND MATCHES

Richmond Still Unbeaten

With its defeat of the lowplaced Kaiapoi side, Richmond retained its lead in the fifth round of games in the Canterbury Softball Association’s competition for senior men, played on Saturday. Papanui, which was | first equal with Richmond last week, found a lively Spreydon jside too good for it. i White Sox, with Kelly Smith 1 in fine pitching form, overwhelmed United with sound batIting and fielding. Christchurch, hitting more consistently, beat Linwood in a first-class contest. Results were:— Richmond 6, Kaiapoi 0. Spreydon 4, Papanui 3. Christchurch 8, Linwood 4. White Sox 17, United 4. Team positions after five rounds are:— / W. L. F. F. Pts. Richmond .. 5 - 54 12 5 Papanui ..4 1 40 26 4 Christchurch .. 3 2 38 32 3 White Sox ~ 3 2 43 31 3 Linwood .. 2 3 46 36 2 Spreydon .. 2 3 24 38 2 Kaiapoi .. 1 4 23 40 1 United .. - 4 21 73 - CHRISTCHURCH V. LINWOOD Able to make full use of its batting list, Christchurch burst into life in the middle of the game to beat Linwood, 8-4. Linwood batters were not given a chance to exploit their talent. Trueman opened the batting in Linwood’s first innings and drew a walk. A fielders’ choice play by Hooper enabled him to score, and then, taking advantage of Beswick’s erratic pitching, Hooper and Bridgeman also scored to give Linwood a flying start with a three-run innings. The Christchurch captain, Mansfield, managed to get a clean hit away that netted him three bases. The next bktter, Scherp, scored, and before Linwood could terminate the innings, errors had allowed Scherp to slide in for another run. In Linwood’s second innings, Segars hit on. The following batter, Bach, grounded the ball to Quested on first base. Quested stepped a first for the out, whirled around and threw Segars out at second to wreck the Linwood innings completely. Two weak hits saw Christchurch with two out and the frame was all but over when Segars made the mistake of pitching to Fry down the middle. Fry sent the ball to the fence for a home run. This set Christchurch right on its mettle, and with some impressive pitching by Beswick it hustled Linwood out in short order. In its fourth innings, Christchurch hammered the ball all round the park. The Linwood coach, Frank Rochford, . came out and spelled Segars from the pitching mound. The new pitcher. Bayford, wasted little time, forcing Scherp to fly out and Lanini to hit to the first baseman. However, Christchurch had driven in five runs to take an 8-4 lead. Linwood sent the Canterbury captain, Hooper, to the plate and he forced the short-stop to fumble a sharp drive. Prendergast advanced him with a leager drive to the outfield but Bridgeman was struck out by Beswick and again Linwood was

left with runaen on the Immb. . Christchurch found Bayf oid in fine form in the fifth innings He struck out two and held the side scoreless with fine controlled pitching. Linwood’s bottom batters were inadequate, and the sixth ended three-up, three-down. The Christchurch batter, R. Marshall, substituting for Mansfield, slammed a terrific drive, but Hooper just managed to snatch it out of the air. Scherp • hit a clean flat drive into the outfield to make second base. He was forced to stay there, as the remaining batsmen went straight out in succession. Facing Beswick for its last ihnings, Linwood lost Bayford to a catch by Marshall at third base. Hooper, cutting the ball for a gap in the right Arid, saw Quested leap in the air and cut „ off what was sure to be a home run for the second out. With his pitching, Beswick gave Bridgeman no chance. The first two balls were over for strikes. The next levelled Bridgeman in the dust of the batters* box. and the last strike was tight on Bridgeman's fists. He gave a lazy grounder to Quested on first for the final out of the game. Christchurch did not have to bat its last innings, winning the match 8-4. SPREYDON ▼. PAPANUI A major upset was caused by the Spreydon side when it narrowly defeated the favoured Papanui team, 4-3. Spreydon’s fine win could be attributed mainly to its excellent fielding. Hardly an error was made all day. Spreydon batted first after losing the toss. The lead-off batter, D. McGregor, raced to first on a trickling ground ball. Seaward bunted on safely, but Bruce McGregor hit hard to the short-stop, Clarkson, who held the match for the first out of the game. With two on bases, Lewis hit a tremendous home run to bring Spreydon’s. tally to three runs. A strike out and a ground ball ended a satisfactory innings. George Senior began the game for Papanui with a smash through the infield. Clarkson advanced him on an outfield hit, but was caught. Waine hit on to first and then advanced to second while Senior scored on a wild pitch. Shaw left the in-fielders standing with a flashing drive, and Waine was across the plate to score Papanui’s second run. Bell flew up to the second batsman and Lewis pitched Mcßratney out to end the innings. Spreydon’s batters were tailenders and went out three in a row.

Papanui was out to three catches to finish the second frame.

Maurice Bell was pitching well for Papanui and struck out Seaward and Lewis. Bruce McGregor drew a base on balls after failing to succumb to the wily Bell. Running with rare intelligence he stole second and third. An attempted force-out throw saw him nip across the plate for a well-merited impudent, run. Papanui ended the innings by relaying D. McGregor out on first. Clarkson gave Papanui fresh hope with a two-base hit. Waine advanced him home with a short tactical hit, but succeeding batters failed. Diggs hit on for the start of Spreydon’t fourth innings, but when the next batsman hit a grounded, fast fielding turned the hit intd a’ brilliant double play, and the attack faltered. Franklin proved the third victim. Lewis made short work of Papanui’s fourth innings, striking two batters out and forcing Hunt to the short-stop. Avis raced to first to beat the throw after a fumble, and with the assistance of some bad fielding by Papanui. stood poised on third base. Trying to hit him home, the Spreydon batters hit high and hard, but were caught. Overhitting Lewis, Papanui could not even get a runner on first base, and was soon out on miss-hit balls. Playing very confidently at this stage, Spreydon set out to knock Bell out of the pitchers’ box. In the sixth innings it loaded the bases with hart hitting, and only desperate defensive fielding by Papanui allowed it to get the third out without any runs crossing the plate. Disregarding the warning of previous innings. Papanui tried to win the game by home runs. The result

was a succession of mis-hits that the Spreydon fielders quickly turned into outs. In its last innings, Spreydon tried hard to widen the margin. D. McGregor managed a three-base hit, but the fielding was adequate, and following batters were thrown out. Caught with the tail of its batting list, Paoanui tried to get a hit or two that would have brought up its top men. but Lewis, who pitched very consistently throughout, put on the pressure. Durnby, Bisman and Hunt meekly grounded out to Spreydon a well-deserved win.

Lower Grade Results

Senior Reserve. —Papanui 7, Richmond 0; Templeton 7, Linwood 0; Sockburn 29. Christchurch 0.

Junior.—Papanui 29. Sockbum 21 Teachers’ College 24, United 10.