Kaiapoi Causes Upset In Senior Softball

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31275, 23 January 1967, Page 8

Kaiapoi Causes Upset In Senior Softball

Kaiapoi caused a major upset in the Canterbury senior men’s softball competition on Saturday when it lead the depleted but still formidable Avon team by one run.

With both Richmond and Papanui away at the John Lennon Inter-club zone play-offs, only two senior men’s games were played. In the other match Western Suburbs easily accounted for an error prone United in five innings, with a 10-run margin. Results: Kaiapoi 5, Avon 4. Western Suburbs 14, United 4.

First Win The hero of the Kaiapoi-Avon game, and undoubted architect of Kaiapod’s victory was the New Zealand Army pitcher, R. Bennet. His medium paced in. swingers and floaters were a major factor in Kaiapoi’s first win of the season. Bennet recorded seven strikeouts giving up only six hits and one walk. He also batted well, hitting a vital home run in the fourth innings. Avon, without the services of

its star pitcher, A. Ballantyne and the Canterbury outfielder, D. Birdling, could not produce the form, which, until Saturday had given it six straight victories. M. Busch recorded three strike-outs and allowed six hits and one walk. Avon started the scoring with a tremendous home run by S. Whittington. The score remained at 1-0 to Avon until Kaiapoi equalised in the fourth innings with the Bennet home run.

Championship points, with both Richmond and Papanui each having played one game less, are:—

With the game tied up at one all in the sixth innings, Kaiapoi’s up to now steady fielding lapsed, conceding Whittington third base. It was Kaiapoi’s turn to apply the pressure and with strong batting by M. Dom and D. Hammond scored two runs, to make the score at the end of the sixth innings 3-1 to Kaiapoi. In an exciting last innings Kaiapoi again made errors allowing Busch, B. Mansfield and Hooper on bases. A hard drive

by B. McGregor brought in two runs to give Avon at this stage a one-run lead. Kaiapoi, in a fighting last Innings effort, scored two runs off tenacious batting by Johnson, his second hit of the game, and a long two-base drive by G. Costello to secure a wellearned victory. Scorers for Avon were Hooper, Whittington, Busch and MacGregor, and for Kaiapoi Johnson. Dom, Hammond, Bennet, and V. Wilson. .. Peterson Excels In the game Western Suburbs v. United, J. Peterson provided the only bright spots with a fine exhibition of batting and intelligent base running. The game was marred by errors and lack-lustre play on the part of United. Suburbs, with a combination of solid batting and United's errors, demoralised United to win the game in five innings, having the necessary lO.run lead. Scorers for United were Peterson 2, Reid and Noble, and for Suburbs L. Hasket 3, R. Mullaly, M. Monteith, R. Scott, and O. Stuart 2 each, and N. Hobson, E. Hobson and K. Smith.

Richmond Pl. W L F A Pts 11 9 2 95 17 9 Avon 12 8 4 101 32 8 Papanui .... 11 7 4 93 29 7 W. Sub. „.. 12 7 5 83 72 7 United 12 3 9 31 124 3 Kaiapoi 12 1 11 23 142 1