Tough task for Papanui in national softball contest

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33790, 12 March 1975, Page 36

Tough task for Papanui in national softball contest

(By

T. R. DUNBAR)

Papanui’s fielding ability will be its greatest asset when it faces very tough competition in the national inter-club John Lennon tournament which begins at Rugby Park, Christchurch, today.

Its form has been rather uneven this season, but the Papanui coach (Mr H. Bishop) was pleased with the way his side went on Saturday although it was without two leading players, Colin Chee and Gordon Phillips.

“Papanui is a very good fielding side and made no errors against United. Our major problem is whether we can get in with the stick,” he said. “We are fairly strong in batting, but have not really clicked lately,” Mr Bishop added.

The side is likely to have seven players who have represented Canterbury ■ — Geoff Roberts, Cordon Phillips, Dave Williams, Colin Chee, Dale Eagar, John Petersen, and Brian Waine — and all have batted well at times this season. Also in the team is the tall American Walt McComb, who is a hard hitter of the ball as well as a magnificent outfielder who uses his great speed to take some remarkable catches. FINE FORM

Roberts has been in superb pitching form this season, and at one stage looked likely to replace Dave Bradbury as the province’s No. 1. Colin Chee, a former national representative, is a very reliable batter, a fine third baseman with a great arm, and is incredibly quick around the bases.

Unfortunately the team’s new recruit, Chris McDonald, has been ruled ineligible to play, and Brian Waine, the popular Canterbury captain and third baseman, has not yet been allowed time off from his freezing works job for .the four-day tournament. McDonald, the Southland and former New Zealand outfielder, had his first game for Papanui only last weekend and gave a good fielding display and a perfectly executed hit for a home run which won the game. He only registered with the club 18 days ago, 10 days less than the minimum period before a transferred player can take part in the tournament. A last-minute application to the New Zea-

land Softball Association for a special dispensation was unsuccessful.

If Papanui, sponsored by Radio Avon, gets off to a good start today — and it has two comparatively easy matches against Braves

(Wanganui) and Wolves (Hawke’s Bay) — it might surprise later aginst the strong Cardinals (Hutt Valley) and Island Bay sides. DIFFICULT Unbeaten in its last 36 matches, Cameron’s Cardinals will obviously be an extremely difficult side to beat. Included in the team are Dave Sorenson, Terry Bell, John Dawson, Wayne Baldwin, Terry Nunns, and John Enoka. All represented New Zealand in the recent test series against . Oshawa Tony’s the champion Canadian side. Dawson, Owen Walford

(Wolves), and Kevin Herlihy (Cambridge) are all speed pitchers who have intimidated many batters and are very hard to get away. Papanui will have a difficult task trying to get runs from all of these three national representatives, but it can take considerable consolation from the recent performance by Canterbury against the Canadians. Peter Landers, the Oshawa Tony’s pitcher, came to Christchurch with a great reputation, but this was somewhat dinted when several local batters managed to pull off hits.