Clash hard on softball reps

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32462, 24 November 1970, Page 26

Clash hard on softball reps

Because a decision of the Canterbury Softball Association’s management committee is being disregarded the performance of its representative teams against Hutt Valley this Saturday may be affected.

The Canterbury men and women representatives will be expected to play in interclub championship matches at the Papanui Domain immediately before their games against Hutt Valley. The association’s executive committee recently passed a resolution that some interdub games would be played on Sundays this season. The Auckland, Hutt Valley and Wellington associations already play regular Sunday matches.

Apparently under the misapprehension that they would be required to play regular Sunday games, several clubs said they disapproved of the scheme and only the representative games against Nelson and Marlborough have

been played—most successfully, too—on a Sunday. KEY MATCH One of the key games of the championship, between Richmond and United, is set to be played at noon giving a lapse of less than two hours until the Canterbury-Hutt Valley match. Several representative players will be affected, including two of the three pitchers. The pitcher, D. Bradbury, Roberts and M. Mountford, will want United to uphold its unbeaten record but at the same time will wish to save their energy for the representative game. Richmond’s pitcher, K. Smith, and N. Mattison and D. Chee will be similarly affected. OTHERS, TOO

Each of the representative players will be in a similar position, although possibly not facing such hard games. Papanui A, with five players in the Canterbury team, can expect an easier game

against the club’s second senior team, Papanui Aces. Hutt Valley has been New Zealand’s top or secondranked team for almost a de cade and its skilful players are all too rarely seen ir Christchurch.

I The association might have been wiser to have arranged r a “double-header” of games ■ against Canterbury (which - Hutt Valley is unlikely to ) have opposed) and to have i spread the inter-club games over Saturday and Sunday.