Sportsman’s Notebook SOFTBALL COMPETITIONS TO START TOMORROW

Press, Volume C, Issue 29643, 13 October 1961, Page 6

Sportsman’s Notebook SOFTBALL COMPETITIONS TO START TOMORROW

Tomorrow a .new season will open tor Canterbury sjllbehers, and an in.creating competition is promised. Lower grades are well Ailed and the tremendously enthuIsiastic school cnildren’s grade is scheduled to start on October 38. In the senior men'll competition, Richmond, with a ••new look” team, will be trying to retain th* title has held so handsomely for the last three yean With the pitching ot K, Smith and the catching of M. Nelepa the I team will present formidable ; combination, as its fie.lding is • impeccable and its batters i among the hardest hitters in I me province. Papanui, coached by M. 1 Bell, has for the last few ; years been building its | strength with aggressive jyjunger players, and after Hast seasons second placing i may have gained the experi- [ eace necessary to win the i Distiller’s Cup. The infield of Clarkson and Shaw as the i battery, Waine, Bell. Senior, I and the brilliant Chee at; i short-stop, will be formidable I indeed. Christchurch will field a much younger side than usual, with the veteran pitcher, R. Kinely. leading the side. Kalapoi will field a team that will again attack through its pitcher, T. Roberts. Defence seems a secondary consideration to this longhi.ling teem, which plays * lively game. Spreydon, which has lost some key players, is an unbalanced side, but if the lower grade players promoted to the senior ranks perform well, they should complement the excellent pitching of R. Lucas. United, which was last last year, has recruited the former Linwood pitcher, P. Ross, and this will improve the attack, as A. Davis was not able to pitch the full one and a half hours last season. With the pitching burden judiciously allocated, United has the youthful speed to win games. Canterbury’s star pitcher, A. Ballantyne, has signed up with Linwood, and will provide this team a great boost. With the South Island representatives. Bridgeman and Hopper, Linwood should provide tough competition. ♦ * ♦ Miss M. Copper A very popular Canterbury senior basketball player, Miss M. Copper, died at Guy’s Hospital. London, on September 30, the day after her twenty-ninth birthday. Miss Copper was a Kent county representative before coming to New Zealand. She played in every position for Digby's two years ago. She coeched the Digby’s senior team as well as selecting and coaching loweAgrade teams. When Canterbury changed to the international seven-a-side rule, Miss Copper gave the Canterbury association j much assistance in the i change from the nine-a-side I game. The first demonstration of the international game in Christchurch was i given by pupils of St. Marjgaret’s College, who had been ] coached under the new rules ; by Miss Copper, then a sports mistress at the college. ) Miss Copper returned to England for a holiday visit ; last year with Miss A.

Hughes, a former Canterbui ■ and New Zealand rep-’• san wtive »nd intended to return te Christchurch early atxt year Soccer Matches Two teams from the Nomads soccer club played drawn matches with West Coast representative sides at Greymouth last Saturday The Nomads first division team, without several leading players in D. Simmonds, D Stanley. F. McFarland. and I. MeCallum. drew 3-all with the West Coast representative*. The Nomads' goal* were scored by the promoted players. G. Weddell (2) and T. Smith The second team drew 3-all. Tennis Umpiring The Canterbury Lawn Tennis Association will this season require that all inlerclub matches at Wilding Park should be umpired this season. by member* of the i playing teams. This will app’F particularly to singles in the senior and senior reserve grade*, and to all matches in the lower grades * ♦ * Mccfarlane Cup Western’s win of the Macfarlane Cup in this year's soccer competitions was the club’s fourth since the eup was presented in 1954 tn mark the jubilee of the Canterbury Football Association The trophy goes to the local semi-finalists in the national Chatham Cup inter-club competition. Western previously won this cup in 1954 1955 and 1959. Other winners have been Technical in 1957 and 1960. Shamrock in 1956. and City in 1158. ♦ * * Surf Rescues With no rescues being made in the patrol area and no drownings on the beach, it would seem that the public was growing more waterwise and taking notice of beach reports, says the annual report of the Wsimairi Surf Life-saving Club. The beech was patrolled every week-end throughout the season by club members. At present the club is eagerly awaiting the arrival of a new fibre-glass canoe, the gift of one of its vice-presidents. Mr E. C. Gough. Mr Gough gave the elub its first eanoe. a canvas craft, which was used for 12 yesra but is now no longer fit for competitive service.