Fancied teams win softball

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32543, 1 March 1971, Page 16

Fancied teams win softball

Tho first round of tho nowly Instituted "champion of champions" men's senior softball sorlos ran true to form. The 1971 champion. United, won well If not comfortably against Suburbs, S-0. Richmond hid a walkover against Kalapol, 13-1, Deep Freozo boot Services, 7-5, and Papanul A, never ot esse, hod to acramble to beet the club's second team. Aces, H. United v. Suburbs With a 7-0 drubbing last week to dwell on, Suburbs was not expected to trouble United, but the two teams played duor hard softball until a third Innings onslaught gave United five runs and eventually the match, 8-0. N. Nelepa started United off on a good note when he scored a run in the first innings, but neither team was able to score in the second. As the third innings progressed, D. Bradbury had struck out four Suburbs batters and was pitching confidently. His opposite, L. Fife, was to have a wretched innings, for United took three hits from him. D. Birdllng was hit by a pitched ball. Keen drifted a mishit into centre field, Nelepa gained hts second hit of tho match, and United had bases full and Suburbs was under pres sure.

Thorne, batting at No. 4 for United, then hit strongly Into right field. P. Pounsby started for the ball, retreated, started again, and had the. nightmare experience of seeing the ball land and twist away from him, to allow all the United runners to stream home. Thorne comEleted a round trip to give United a four-run innings and s five-run lead.

These were the batting straws that broke Suburbs’ back. The Suburbs coach (Mr J. Gibson), the pitcher, Fife, and the catcher. M. Barry, held an earnest mid-field consultation at the start of the next innings—and from that point, the 18-year-old Fife started to pitch more confidently. He struck out four in the last three Innings, allowing only one run In the sixth, that from Keen.

For United, Bradbury struck out seven, allowed five hits, and walked none. Fife struck out six, allowed eight hits, with one walk. • Papanul v. Papanul Aces Aces took six hits from the Canterbury pitcher, M. Reid, and threatened to graap the championship runner-up by the throat for most of the match.

The A team scored four runs In -the second innings and one In the sixth, with runs to D Phillips, D. Patterson (2), M Clarkson and K. Easton, a home run. Acea scored G. Clarkson In the sixth and, in the hit of the

match, the veteran Canterbury and South Island player, B. Shaw, now player-coach to the

club’s second grade team, drove a pitch from Reid almost the length of the Papanul Domaii) for a great home run. The Papanul A batting line-up eeems to be losing the aggression it displayed in pre-Christ* mas matches and the side will have to display better batting form to remain in contention for the champion-of-champions title

Richmond v. Kaiapoi Richmond scored one run in the first innings, a mammoth nine in the second, two in the third, and one in the fourth to end the match at that point, with Kaiapoi outclassed. Kaiapoi, with only a makeshift team, made a succession of costly errors, used Grimes as pitcher until Richmond hit him out of the match, and drubbed his re plamement, Hammond, as well Scorers for Richmond were D Chee (3), Mattison, K. Smith, Mo Farlane (2), G. Storer, T. Smith G. Smith (2) and M. Wilson (2) Deep Freeze v. Services This proved to be the best match of the day, with Services playing some of their best softball of the season. The side led the American team, 2-0, into the fourth Innings on runs from Kidd and Mclvor. Deep Freeze hit back with s four-run fourth innings, scoring, Lay, Hicks, Summers and Mansfield, with a home run. Services shattered any complacency with a three-run sixth innings from a home run by Long and runs from Osborne and the captain Hilder. Now down, 4-5, and facing defeat, Deep Freeze responded with hits from E. Crown and H. Gable to get runners on base. The coup de grace came for Services, when G. Lay rapped a home run through the outfield and scored three runs to give Deep Freeze the match.