Softball team back to full strength

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33373, 3 November 1973, Page 4

Softball team back to full strength

The selector - coach of the Canterbury men's softball team, Mr I. R. Pollock, is a happy man. In selecting his team last season, he was facet! with a rash of withdrawals. mainly because of the financial commitments involved with representative, play.

In the off-season, the Canterbury association organised fund-raising activities and raised enough money to cover the costs of travelling to the national Beatty Cup tournament in the Hutt Valley early next year.

And this season most of the province’s leading players are available and when Mr Pollock selected his team eaner this week, several old faces have re-appeared in the 15-man side. “We are now back to full strength and have a very experienced side with a solid batting line-up,” he said.

The softballers to return to the team are province’s number one pitcher, D.

Bradbury (United), the former New Zealand representative, C. N. Chee (Papanui), the former national colts player. M. McOscar (Western Suburbs) and the hardhitting batsman and South Island player, B. H. Waine (Western Suburbs). Waine and Chee made themselves unavailable for the Canterbury team last

year, but Bradbury and McOscar have been out of top softball for three years. “We have had problems in the past with several leading players being unavailable, but most of them are back this season and the prospects look bright,” Mr

Pollock said. Only one former Canterbury representative. D. Rea, has made himself unavailable. Mr Pollock has made seven changes to the team which finished fourth in last season’s Beatty Cup tournament, and he said the main affect of the return of the players would be in the batting department. “With players like Waine, the Chee brothers, Bradbury’, Kelly Smith and Brian Mountfort, we will have a strong batting line-up and the team should be able to change its policy. “In the past, we haven’t been able to string out hits together; we have been able to get the odd one, but not the consecutive hits. Because of this we have relied on the fielding and played a defensive game.

“But now it looks as though we will be able to attack,” Mr Pollock said. Colin Chee will probably’ lead off the batting attack because of his speed around the bases.

Another important change to the team’s approach will be felt in the pitching department. Bradbury, with more than 10 years experi-

ence behind him, is a welcome return as his speed compares favourably with the top pitchers in the North Island. Bradbury will be the main pitcher and Smith (Richmond), a New Zealand trialist, and L. Fife (Western Suburbs) will complement'the attack with steady spin pitching. Mr Pollock has one worry

—the standard of the outfielding. “This has to be tightened up; the fielders’ throwing arms appear to be weak at this stage but it is still early in the season. The weakness now may prove to be a strength at the end of the season.” ft*

There will also be an emphasis placed on the base running this season. According to Mr Pollock, this is an important part of the game as fast base running means batsmen can steal extra bases. “We will be spending a lot of time on fitness.”

The 15-man team was selected from a squad of 21 and it will begin its representative programme with a “double-header” against Hutt Valley and Wellington at Hutt Valley on November 25.

The build up to the Beatty Cup tournament will continue at the South Island championships for the Jeffries Cup in Christchurch on December 1 and 2. “I will be doing some experiments in these games, but I don’t anticipate making any changes for the national tournament,” Mr Pollock said. The team is: C. N. and D. Chee, Waine, Bradbury, McOscar, Mountfort (Richmond), Smith, Fife, G. Phillips (Papanui), G. Panagiotidis, P. McFarlane, G. Lay (Richmond), D. Eager (Papanui), G. Dunn, R. Collicut (United).