Softball Handicaps Unrealistic

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32219, 11 February 1970, Page 14

Softball Handicaps Unrealistic

Results indicated that the handicaps allotted to the B section teams were too heavy when the first round of the senior men’s softball handicap championship was completed under floodlights at English Park last evening.

Apart from Deep Freeze, the only teams to record wins in the round were Western Suburbs, Services and the Papanui Aces, all formerly B section teams. Services appeared to be the only team which warrants a large handicap, for Kaiapoi, Western Suburbs and the Aces lost many of their earlier fixtures by close margins. Western Suburbs 11, Papanui Facing a handicap deficit of seven runs once it allowed Western Suburbs to score its first run, Papanui A had little chance of overtaking its improved opponent. Because of its mediocre form in the pre-Christ-mas championship, Western Suburbs had a handicap of eight runs, its opponent start* ing with one. Papanui’s only real cnance of winning the game was to hold Western Suburbs scoreless each innings while building a good lead itself. This it almost succeeded in doing when it did not allow Western Suburbs to score until the top of the sixth innings, while gaining .single runs in the fourth and fifth innings itself.

In the fourth innings, 3. Chee scored on a sacrifice by the New Zealand trialist. D. J. Patterson. L Clarkson got the first of his two runs in the fifth when he scored on a hit by the New Zealand representative. C. 1. Chee, after a walk. Papanui A made a bad tactical error in the sixth innings resulting in two Western Suburbs' runs being scored. M P. McOscar, fresh from his two-hlt triumph for the New Zealand Colts against Arizona on Saturday, was pitch-hit and managed to steal second-base. With J. A. Ballintyne. the next batter up after K. Bingley, the team’s coach and Canterbury selector. Bingley should have been walked. However, M. A. Reid, the Papanui A pitcher, made the opposite decision and Bingley promptly hit a homerun over right-field and on to the cycling track, scoring McOscar in the process. J. Shaw got Western Suburbs third run in its final innings after a safe hit, while L. Clarkson, after a hit. and C. I. Chee, scored for Papanui A in the seventh, Chee after a hit by D. Phillips, who was tagged trying to stretch it to three bases. The games best batters were B. Waine and L. Clarkson tor Papanui A, and J. Shaw for Western Suburbs, each getting two safe hits. Reid, who will probably be the starting pitcher when Canterbury meets Arizona next Saturday, took 10 strikeouts and gave up four

hits, but he pitch-hit two batters. Ballantyne struck out three Papanui A batters, walked one and gave up eight hits.

Deep Freeze 14, Richmond 7 Richmond, the top club team before Christmas, gave its opponent a five-run handicap advantage, but never looked like making up the deficit as the Deep Freeze batters hit the pitching of K. Smith aided by numerous fielding errors. Deep Freeze had scored eight runs by the end of the fourth innings, as against Richmond’s one. B. Mansfield, with three hits and R. Hicko and D. Krauss, with two each. were the best of the Deep Freeze batters. It was not until the fifth and sixth innings, when the Deep Freeze veteran pitcher, J. Dunn, tired, giving up several walks. that Richmond began to threaten by gaining another six runs. The former Canterbury representative utility player, R. McKenzie, was the best Richmond batter, gaining two safe hits. Handicap championship table after one round (handicaps in

parenthesis): — W RF RA Pts Services <101 1 23 20 2 W. Suburbs (8> 11 5 Deep Freeze (5) 1 14 7 2 Papanui Aces (/) 8 Papanui A < 1) 0 5 11 0 Richmond <0» 0 14 United (4) 0 7 8 0 Kaiapoi (8) __ 0 20 23 0