Monowai beaten in close match

Press, 6 November 1978, Page 26

Monowai beaten in close match

Monowai tasted defeat for the, first time this season when it. nas beaten by Albion in the. fourth round of the senior* women's softball competition on Saturday. .Albion had the diminutive I pitcher. Wendy Bell, to thank! for its exciting win. Bell pitched well throughout thegame and her home run in the! sixth innings, which broke the 2-2 deadlock, sealed the win for Albion. •Laks-United was too slick for Aorangi in the other early : game, which finished in five. Barbara Smith scored three runs for Jaks and distinguished herself in the field as well. Aorangi; has still to score its first win this season. Burnside demolished the young Western Suburbs side m the lale game at Higley Park, winning: 17-1. Suburbs could do little right and turned in a disappointing. error-ridden display. Albion’s win over the previously unbeaten Monowai has) given the competition some epice. The top four teams arei locked together with three wins! from four games. Next weeks' fifth round will pit Monowai against Burnside and Jaks against Albion. Aorangi and: Western Suburbs will fight for ♦he wooden spoon for the first round. Points:— P. W. L. F. A. Pts Monowai 4 .3 1 31 15 3 Jaks Ltd 4 3 1 36 16 3 Bumside 4 3 1 43 26 3 Albion 4 3 1 27 22 3 Aorangi 4 0 4 13 4ft 0 West. Subs 4 0 4 19 40 0 Albion 5, Monowai 2 Wendv Bell’s home run at the top of the sixth effectively broke Monowai's back. Until them Monowai had seemed likely to score a run to clinch the game, but Albion's batting strength; would not be denied. Monowai opened the scoring ar the bottom of the first inn-’ Ings Through a comedy of errors by Albion Carla Scott drove the ball through the infield where it was misfielded. While Albion dithered about. Scott strolled around the bases and was untroubled to come home on a hit to Ann Wans- j borough. She. too. came in ?. moment later to make it 2-0 to Monowai Albion struck back in the second Vicki Glendinning struck a three-bag hit to left field and raced home on a hit by Bel) Monowai could not reply in Its second turn at bat. Accurate pitching from Bell, complemented by some astute fielding, kept Monowai's lead to one. Albion was in a promising situation in the third. Danae, Gooseman had made second andmade a steal to third. She was tagged and the umpire received some spirited advice from the Albion bench. Gler.dinning struck again in the fourth. She made third base and spent some time there before coming home on a drive by Penny Whata to tie the game at 2-2. Both teams were determined ♦o avoid mistakes that could. have proved costly and as a result the fielding was of a high arar.dard Monowai could not add to its score in the fourth and

Albion was contained in the top .of the fifth by an aggressive Monowai display. Only an exceptional effort was going to break the tie and Bell provided it. Glendinning was perched on second base when Bells drive cleared the outfield and they both streaked home to the delight of their team-mates. What's run in from a Gooseman hit to complete the scoring was almost an anti-climax. With a three-run lead. Albion was content to take it easy and not risk the win with flashy play. Nevertheless, Bell showed lightning reflexes to catch a firm slam from Wansborough that came straight back to her. Bev Makinson has pitched better than she did on Saturday but if it had been anyone [else on the mound on the day Monowai may have lost by more. Jaks-United 10, Aorangi 0. Jaks. as expected, was untroubled to beat Aorangi. Gwen Gray, Jaks’ pitcher, gave up only three safe hits to the hardhitting Aorangi batters. Aorangi had its chances, few though they were, but poor finishing and a slice of bad luck did not help its chances. Jaks scored two in its first turn at bat. Barbara Snurn came home on a safe hit to Carol Faris and Jan Vanaerworp ran in on an error. These two scored again in the second innings, as did Heather Craig. Gray, and Carol Slack, and a cricket score was In the offing. But Aorangi tightened its game and kept Jaks’ scoring down to a minimum. Marama Wilcox pitched deceptively for Aorangi. her gentle lobs into [the wind confusing the Jaks .batters on occasion, but Jaks [took further runs in TTie next three innings. Smith cracked another hit in the third to bring home Gray again and Slack scored her second in the fourth. Smith finished the scoring in the fifth to make the final tally 10-0. Heather Craig enjoyed a good day in the field and was a particularly athletic first-base woman. Many ours were smartly taken at first and the other Jaks players seemed to benefit from her example. The team a! so batted well and took 11 hits from Wilcox. Burnside 17, Western Suburbs 1. Burnside powered its way to the seasons biggest win when it demolished Western Suburbs Jin the late game. Nothing went i right for Suburbs after Caroline Rennie had scored in the first ' innings and the game finished in five. Burnside never relented throughout the short game after bringing home almost the entire team in the first innings. The pressure caused Suburbs to fall apart in the field while Burnhide made further runs with impuent ease. In batting, too. Suburbs showed room for improvement. However, Suburbs has shown at times this season, notablv against Jaks-United. that it can put its game together.