United retains lead

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34008, 24 November 1975, Page 13

United retains lead

United retained its two-point lead in the senior men's softhall competition hut found preserving its unbeaten record against Jowly United-City no easy ta>k on Saturday. The second p’aceo Papanui side took ommand of its game* against Western Suburbs early aftei a a 4 ii g sit hits and six runs u it- third innings tor aj 7-0 iead Bu' Suburbs were to a ore the only other run of the' game Richnwmd had its second suc-i ressive wm, beatins the lowlv, Somerfield side, 11-3 It out-hit’ Its opponent by 13 to eight. Points table PM L F A pts I mted 7 7 0 37 314 Papanui « 6 1 55 412 Richmond 7 4 3 43 32 8 West Subs 7 2 5 23 4] 4 United ’ iiy 7 2 2ft 49 4 Bomerfie;d 7 7 11 61 0 United 3, United-City 1 A.though United-City applied p essure from the opening innings, United gradual?. wore its opponent down to emerge the winner. 3-1 Ross Fit playing his first game for I nited-City after leading Western Suburbs. made a safe hi’ to left field, and this wa< followed by a safe bunt: from Gar;. Lawrence However, the next three batters tor United-( f it; were all put out UnitedCitv again placed pressure on* United m the top of the second, innings when Paul Emms stole, second base after gaining first! base from a passed ball. However. Alan Hall and Dave} < apill were >truck-out. and Paul* Treddenick was put out on first I base But it was pressure like this which prevented United from settling down in the earlvi stages At the bottom of the fourth! Innings. United began to creep back into the game. An error' by Paul Emms, the City short Atop, allowed Dave Bradbury to take first base This was followed by a solid safe hit from Leon Fife, which gained him firs* ba>e ai d advanced Bradbur' to second Nick’ Oorschot made a sacrifice hit which allowed Bradburv to come home, but Leon Fife, trying to make n a doubleheader was tagged at the home Plate

j At the top of the filth- Da\e 1 •Lapill playing his first game foi ■ :L nited-City in three weeks, hit z I leaguer between second anc : < third base, to take first, and was ! . advanced to third base bv a safe ; ' hit from Gary Lawrence. A - > passed ball allowed him to come I home, giving United-City its first!; against United this season . I The crucial part of the game; was in the bottom of the fifth h innings when it looked as though 1 ‘ nited-Citv had United wrapped*' up after two strikeouts. How-; ever, Mark .McFarlane, at thetop of the batting order for I nited. hit a mightv three-bag- , ger. and this was followed bv a > ?afe hit from Dennis Rea. which ; allowed McFarlane to come home This made the score, 2-1. . to U nited United again put pressure on r L nited-City at the bottom of the I sixtn innings, when Leon Fife! made first base on an error from United-City’s fir«t baseman. Chris vpsty. and inspite of a good stop;' b' Emms. Oorschot made first ; base. A two-bagger bv Duncan!Daw. allowed Oorschot tn come home M arren Keen was given a walk, end while Mark McFarlane was in the hatter- box. Daw stole third base McFarlane then ' ;.hir a screamer to right field. 1 . but it was brilliantly caught bv right outfielder. Roger Hutton/' to end the innings. for I nited. Bradburv took', eight strike-outs and conceded . three safe hits, a safe bunt and ; a walk, while the United-Citv. pitcher. Alan Hall, took two strike-outs and conceded seven ' safe hits and a walk ' ' ~ i Papanui 7, Western Suburbs 1 Although Papanul'i win was . I certainly convincing enough it will have to maintain batting pressure throughout the match. • if it is to beat the competition - (leader. United, in the John Len- ■ non decider next month. 1 Suburbs started off well by recording the first hits of the , '.game in the bottom of the first j •innings—Murray TfcOscar and * Neville Hobson both made nice • one-bag hits, but Papanui scored ' first in the top of the second ( when Geoff Roberts, who con- . tinued his good form this sea--1 son bv batting 1000 with two > hits. brought Gordon Phillips . home. In its third innings Papanui’ . went right through its batting. • order, and six—Col Chee. Tubby . Wainc. Dale Eagar. Phillips, Sean McGuire. and Roberts—came • home A massacre now looked likely

but Papanui was able to get only three more batters on base in the next four innings, and one ot these was from an error. In fact, in its fourth and fifth innings Papanui, facing some very' capable pitching from the 17-year-old schoolboy, Colin Sutherland, was twice three-up | three-down. After three and a half innings of hurling. Roberts, who took; three strike-outs and allowed i three hits, was replaced on the pitching mound by the bustling 1 Murray Reid, who took si? strike-outs and conceded three hits, one of these was a tre mendous homer by Hobson, ovei the head of McGuire at left field One of the most satisfying features of the game from Papanui’s point of view was the technically perfect bunts two of its batters employed to good effect in the third innings. First McGuire put down a beauty from a very difficult position to bring Phillips home and make first safely himself and then Chris McDonald followed suit to score in Roberts Late in the game the Papanui. coach, Keith Bingley, allowed! the Suburbs first baseman tel come back into the batter's box: after the umpire had called a; strike-out. Mr Bingley conten-j tied that only two strikes had; been called: Stuart eventually i made base on a walk but Mr Bingley admitted he would not; have been so generous if his| team had not been leading. 7-0 , Richmond IT, Somerfield 3 The extent of Richmond’s control over this game was revealed in the final innings when Greg Panagiotidis, the Canterbury No. 1 catcher, and pitcher Doug Chee, w r ere confident enough to swap roles. Panagiotidis actually made a good first of his unaccustomed task and allowed just one safe hit and one run. Two others made base on errors. Richmond did almost all its scoring in the first and seventh innings. It went right through the order in the first innings for five runs and six Innings and in its final turn managed a further three runs from five’ hits. Roger - Kukas, a pitcher from! the Deep Freeze base, did not! have a very happy debut for. Somerfield. He could take only I two strike-outs and conceded the very high tally of 13 hits.

No less than five batters— Panagiotidis. Terry S’mith, Robin Te Maari (both two-base hits). Gary Lay and Bill* Guy—had two safe hits for Richmond and Doug Baker hit a fine home run. Somerfield had easily Its best batting feast of the season, managing seven safe hits. Easily the top batter was the prominent hockey goal-keeper. Marty FitzSimmons who batted 750 with : three hits to left field, including a mighty homer. Wayne Peat (twice), Ray Marsh, Alan McNeil, and Keith Easton also hit safely.