United may be top softball seeding

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32846, 21 February 1972, Page 16

United may be top softball seeding

With two of its players, K. Thorn and D. W. Bradbury, in consistently good form during both days, United emerged as the favourite to win the top seeding in the Cooper Henderson Motors senior men’s major softball championship when the first two rounds of seeding matches were played at the Papanui Domain at the week-end.

United was the only team to win both its matches, beating Western Suburbs comfortably, 5- on Saturday, and just holding out the hapless Richmond team to win, 2-1, yesterday. Thorn was the team’s leading batter throughout the weekend, while Bradbury gave it a great defensive advantage by pitching one-hitters in both fixtures. * Papanui, the winner of the just-concluded minor championship, could manage only one win from its two matches, edging out Richmond, 3-2, on Saturday, but then losing by a narrow margin, 9-10, to Western Suburbs in the most free-hitting and error-ridden, but nevertheless most exciting, match of the week-end yesterday. PITCHING DIFFICULTY Papanui was handicapped yesterday by the inability of its pitcher, G. A. Roberts, to fill the position after the second innings, Roberts had suffered a suspected broken finger in his pitching hand after stopping a fierce drive by one of his opponents, A. J. W. Prescott, the previous day, and according to his coach, Mr K. Cooper, was hardly able to grip the ball yesterday because of the swelling. Papanui, no longer so richly endowed with pitching depth— P. Spillane and Prescott had transferred to other clubs before Christmas—-was forced to use D. Phillips in the position, but Western Suburbs was able to take five quick runs in the remainder of the second innings to establish a lead which it was never to relinquish. Phillips, who gave just three safe hits during a steady relief period of six innings, was poorly served by his fellow-fielders—the out-fielders, B. J. Morel, who made two vital errors, and Roberts, both contributing to runs scored by the opposition. Phillips, a New Zealand infield utility trialist, experienced an outstanding week-end as Papanui’s lead-off batter, at one stage having hit safely from every one of his five innings. He won the Alpine Sawmills "Player of the Day” award on Saturday. Papanui, which actually outhit Western Suburbs by nine safe hits to five, made a fighting turn-round in the last innings after being down, 2-7, after the second innings, and 6- after the sixth. Phillips forced the nervous Suburbs infield to misfield and then B. Chee, C. N. Chee, and B. H. Waine placed consecutive hits into centre-field to drive in three runs and pull Papanui to 9-10. with one down. However, L. Fife, the Suburbs pitcher, was able to strike out Morel and force G. Phillips to ground out for the win.

D. Phillips had been instrumental in helping Papanui edge out Richmond on Saturday, gaining four hard out-field drives from as many turns at bat, and putting his team into the lead United was always in control

during its two matches, even though its encounter with Richmond was still a close one Against Western Suburbs, Thorn and Bradbury led a batting aV tack which placed their team in a 5-0, winning position after only three innings. Thorn put his team in the lead with a long home run in the fourth innings against Richmond, while D. Daw drove home the other ran in the next innings. Richmond, which had runners on bases in five innings, placed United under real pressure in the sixth, when D. Rea scored and United made four fielding errors in succession. However, Thorn prevented J. K. Smith from scoring the tying run with some good backing up Deep Freeze has emerged as the favourite to win the "middle four” championship after gaining two resounding wins and the likely top seeding at the weekend. It gave the Papanui Aces their first taste of defeat for the season on Saturday, winning 8-2, and thrashed Somerfield, 17-0, yesterday, scoring 13 runs in one innings. R. Gordon (two), J. Summers, and A. G. Mansfield all hit home runs off the veteran Somerfield pitcher, M. R. Bell. Kaiapoi, the other team to be relegated from the top division, gained its first win of the season by beating Somerfleld, 4-0,

on Saturday, M. McConnell pitching a no-hitter and the winning

team taking six lilts off Belltwo to M. Stratford—in this match. Yesterday, it regained its losing habit by losing, 3-4, to Papanul Aces, K. Palermo and E. Tomlinson being the chief destroyers of McConnell’s pitching However, the Kalapol playercoach, B. Grimes, said that he would protest about the team’s second match. "BOTTOM FOUR" In “bottom four” seeding, played on Saturday, Services beat Papanui B, 19-4, while Richmond won 6-5, against United after trailing for almost the entire match. The hot weather on both days affected the pitching of most teams, with the notable exception of United’s Bradbury, who, as a heavUy-bullt player, readily admits his dislike of playing under such conditions. The weather had a converse effect on the batting of many players, there being some outstanding performances achieved. Besides Phillips, Mansfield gained five safe hit for Deep Freeze in the lower division. Players to gain three hits during both days Included B. Chee, C. N. Chee, and G. Phillips (Papanui); J. Summers and R. Gordon (Deep Freeze); and K. Thorn (United).