Men’s softball title still wide open

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33694, 18 November 1974, Page 11

Men’s softball title still wide open

Western Suburbs and United were again strong contenders tor the senior men's softball title after two upset defeats on Saturday brought them within two points of the previously unbeaten Papanul side.

Papanul had comfortably beaten United, 4-0, in the first series this season, but It was unable to dominate at any stage on Saturday and lost, 0-1, with the winning run not coming until the top of the seventh innings. K. Thorne hit to first base, stole second and third and came home on a catcher’s error.

Papanul was unable to equal the feat when it batted and soon had two outs with G. Roberts tagged out on second and D. Cockcroft struck-out by the Canterbury pitcher. D. Bradbury.

The final batter up, J. Petersen, had three balls and looked likely to be given a walk which would have brought M. Reid, champing at the bit on first base, to second. However he too was struck-out after he swung rather desperately with his final strike.

Somerfield had Its first victory of the season when it beat the strong Richmond .side, 2-1, with its superior hitting and almost erroriess fielding a major factor. AH the runs came in the sixth and seventh innings. Western Suburbs had its third consecutive victory in easily beating United-City. 10-0, and it did not have to complete its sixth Innings.

United 1, Papanul 0 Papanui started confidently with a total of four base-runners In its first two innings, as opposed to United’s none, but it was unable to produce the hits to get them home. In its first innings C. N. Chee hit well to right field to make first base and he was advanced to third when W. McComb hit J well-fudged two-bagger to left field. T. Bishop batted up with "nlv one down but was out on nrot as was the next batter, D. Williams.

United too looked likelv to score in the ton of the third Innings when it had loaded bases after a two-base hit by L. Fife an j staßles from N. Oorshott and B. Mountford. However the Canterbury representative, '' Rmtoul, was struck-out by Roberts and P. McFarlane was out on first base after a good throw from D. Eagar. tr actually stopped United scoring until its seventh innings, always seeming to be able to produce his best when the situation looked bad. He dislodged several United batters when they had the chances to bring home base-runners, and finished with 10 strike-outs intoning? * hatrtr,ck ln the fifth Bradburv had six strike-outs to* United and conceded 10 safe nits as against Roberts’s seven. But to suite of its superior number of hits Papanul was unable to score. _ There were few errors in the field apart from the dropped P’ tc h bv Cockcroft which allowed Thorne to score the only fiun of the game. Rintoul, runtong.in fast, and McComb, diving

forward, took particularly good catches for their respective sides. Reid batted 1000 for Papanul, with three hits in three bats, and Chee also batted well with two hits out of three bats. Thorne, who has consistently being recording hits this season, did best for United with two hits in three bats. Somerfield 2, Richmond 1 The luckless Richmond side went down to its third consecutive defeat by 2-1 because it took Somerfield, softball’s poor relation, far too lightly. Somerfield had not previously won this season but with tighter fielding and better-judged batting there was no doubt that it could have given the leading sides a tough game. Richmond Ignored this and was out-batted, by eight hits to five, and outclassed in the field—it made four errors as against Somerfield's one. The standard of Somereld’s fielding is borne out by the fact that C. Thompson took no strike-

outs yet Richmond scored only one run and had only the five base-runners.

There was still no score after Richmond batted three up three down in its sixth Innings. However in the bottom of the sixth Somerfield loaded the bases and M. Fitzsimmons got home on an error after he had originally made second base with a powerful two-bagger through left field. Richmond came back in the top of the seventh when E. Kerrigan singled with a beautiful hit to left field and eventually scored after a. wild throw back to the catcher.

The scores were, level in the bottom of the seventh innings but Somerfield batted with maturity to score the winning run.: L. Tobeck hit hard to the rlgh> of left field to make first base and then stole second, and J Penfold got safely to first. The left-handed R. Marsh then bunted between the pitcher. D. Chee, and short-stop and Tobeck headed for home. Three in-fielders went for the ball but were unable to prevent Tobeck scoring. K. Glllon batted 1000 for Richmond and M. Fitzsimmons did best for Somerfield with two good hits to left field in three bats. The outstanding fielder was B. Cameron (Somerfield) at left field. Western Suburbs 10. UnitedCity 0 Western Suburbs continued on its winning way end gave Papanui notice that it might put its scalp alongside United’s in future rounds. United-City is a young side which has shown considerable Improvement over the last few rounds but It was never given a chance to score by Suburbs, with L. Fife 'striking out nine of its batters. On the other hand the Western Suburbs batters had little trouble with their opponents’ pitching and managed nine hits. A. Hall, who pitched only in the first innings, took particular punishment but somewhat redeemed himself later when he made the only safe hit for his team. Suburbs scored four runs in its first innings, one in its second, three in its third and two in its sixth to finish the game. One of the best hits was a homerun from M. McOscar between left and centre field in the first. For Suburbs J. Shute batted 966 with two hits in three bats and T. Wallace, aided by three walks, batted 1000 Once again hits were made right through the batting order.

POINTS TABLE Fapanui P W L F DtS 8 5 1 27 6 10 United 8 4 2 29 9 8 West. Subs .. 6 4 2 26 17 8 Richmond 6 3 3 31 15 6 Somerfield 6 1 5 18 45 2 United-City .. 6 1 5 14 53 2