Softball Second Round Of Gintests Completed

Press, Volume C, Issue 29657, 30 October 1961, Page 10

Softball Second Round Of Gintests Completed

The second round of the men’s senior softball competitions was completed on Saturday with interesting games played on hard grounds at Hagley Park. The games were keenly contested, with Spreydon surprising by soundly beating Kaiapoi, 19-5. The Spreydon batters held the game in a strong grip to score as they pleased.

Papanui caught Christchurch, which was playing its first competition game this week after drawing the bye in the first round, with an outfield that with one exception was unable to field, let alone catch some of the line drives by Papanui batters.

Christchurch showed some good infield in®, with F. McCormick playing well at short-stop, but Papanui dictated the terms of the game and won easing up in the final innings, 13-3. Linwood, after its narrow defeat by Richmond last week, was drawn against United and the small gallery that watched this game saw some first-class softball with United defending stubbornly and skilfully.

United lost the toes and batted. Hurrell hit on and scored a lone run on a dean hit from the pitcher, Davis. Ross flew up to the short-stop, Hooper, to close out the innings. Davis issued walks to the first two Linwood batten. Trueman and Bailantyne, and they crossed the home plate to score after good work by successive batBoth teams then settled down to play some fielding softball. There was no change in the score for four innings. Linwood always looked like scoring a run with its powerful batters on deck constantly, but United cut off fast liners on the way to the outfield and turned the hits into dismissals. Davis, the pitcher for United, was competent. He used a late swinging Inside pitch which had Linwood batters hitting up on the handle.

Bailantyne. pitching for Linwood for the first time this season, started to mix his faster pitches with, a well-controlled slower ball that proved most effective. In one burst Ballantyne struck out the last United batter of toe second innings, all three batters in the third innings, and the first two batters In the fourth. The third man gave an easy catch which Bailantyne collected on the way off the field to end United chances In its fourth frame.

Linwood, without the services of B. Bridgeman who was injured, had outfield trouble, but luckily scrambled the ball back to the bases In time to stop United from scoring. B. Johnson, with ttvo hit out of three times at bat tn the game, hit on in the sixth Innings and made second on a steal. This Kid' work was nullified When vis stood and watched Bailantyne place three strikes on Linwood, with defeat looming throughout the game, made no serious effort to hit the ball with any purpose and left it until the last innings to add to the score. Whittington, the Linwood captain, hit through the pltcher'n box to run to third on the relay from the outfield. Loose, the next batter, after a catch and a strike-out In the pervious innings, hit the ball cleanly to score Whittington. Welles was out on a foul catch. Green dropped a catch into the hands of third baseman, Grimes, who, reacting quickly,

threw the ball over to first to allow the first baseman, Saville, to catch Loose well off his base. Saville hit Loose hard with the ball to tag him out and claim a double play. Linwood won. 3-1, with the pitching of Bailantyne the deciding factor, and United lost the game but gained respect of all In the senior competition with fine fielding. Lower-grade Results Senior Reserve Men.—Papanui 23, Spreydon 1; Teachers’ College 39, Christchurch IX Junior Men.—Richmond 28, Papanui IX