Albion women hold lead

Press, 18 February 1980, Page 19

Albion women hold lead

Bumside seems destined to play the eternal bridesmaid to ; Albion in this year’s senior ■ women’s softball competition. Once again Albion proved too . good for the luckless Burnside i team at Hagley Park on Satur-; day, and won the narrow contest ■ 2-1. It was a closely-fought game.; Only a seventh inning hit by Danae Goosman that brought in Hose McGill saved the day for Albion, but it underlined the difference between the two teams that has been apparent all season; Albion seems to be able to rise to the occasion more consistently than its rival, and this was nowhere better illustrated than by Goosman. Albion accounted for Monowai as well on Saturday, the 8-5 scoreline fairly reflecting the way the game went, and Burnside netted something for its efforts with a comfortable win against Aorangi. The fourth game of the day was an interesting tussle between Western Suburbs and Jaks-United, the latter eventually prevailing, 8-5. Points:— P W F A Pts ! Albion 17 17 119 14 34 Bumside 18 13 142 47 26 Monowai 17 9 90 75 18 United 18 8 81 81 16 W. Suburbs 16 4 75 113 8 Aorangi 16 1 40 213 2 Albion 2, Burnside 1 Danae Goosman. bad back notwithstanding, was the toast of Albion at the clubrooms on , Saturday afternoon after her ! eleventh-hour, bottom of the seventh inning drive that brought her side victory over Burnside. Goosman’s winning hit scored Rose McGill and clinched a win that could have been so easily turned into a loss had Burnside had a little extra good fortune. McGill, in fact scored both of United’s runs. She has not had a lot of softball this year—a cartilage operation just before Christmas has kept her sidelined more than she would have liked —but she was obviously able to pick her day to return to the Albion fold. It was a vital left-field drive of Goosman’s. United was tied with Burnside and it seemed likely the game would go into extra time, but the star Albion batter had other ideas. Albion almost lost the game with silly infield errors. If a Bumside batter bunted, the ball would be fumbled before being dispatched to first: catches were missed; and Burnside’s run came after an infield blemish. Burnside had two glorious chances to win the game. The first came in the top of the fifth, when a hit by Jane Earnshaw advanced Robbie Storer to third, but' the next batter up was caught. With two down in the seventh. Earnshaw again advanced Storer to three but the promising situation came to nothing when the batter was Kd by Cheryl Kemp. Ra Hapi picked up the only Burnside score in the sixth. She was advanced to third after a wild throw to first, which should have had her safely tagged, sailed over the baseman s heady and Linda Shepherd bunted. The double play was definitely on but Kemp appeared to be undecided about the best course of action. By the time the ball was in the glove of the catcher, Penney Salton, Hapi was home, and Shepherd safe on one. United batted better than Burnside, taking eight hits to four, but seven errors were committed.- five more than those made bv the Burnside girls. Albion 8, Monowai 5 Errors cost Monowai any chance of upsetting the undefeated competition leader In one of the early games. Although the Monowai batters fired against the pitching of Cheryl Kemp — she conceded eight hits, a surprisingly high number for her — the fielding was below par, and several errors at untimely moments- cost valuable runs. Anne Wansbrough started

Monowai off on the right track when she came home in the top of the first, but Danae Goosman powered her way- over home plate in the bottom of the opening innings to level the scores. Not to be outdone, Marg Machirus repeated Wansborough’s effort and took Monowai to a 2-1 lead in the second, but Lynley Watts strode in for Albion to tie up the game once more. At this stage both sides looked evenly matched, but soon the blemishes became apparent s !n the Monowai make-up and Albion runs came with increasing frequency. Nanette Grant was batted in by Penny Salton in the third; and four runs sealed Monowai’s fate in the fourth. Vicki Glendinning batted in Sharon Constable, after she had made third on a long drive; Glendinning sauntered home a moment later; Chris Tew made it 6-2 when she came in on a safe hit by Wendy Bell; and Kemp scored with an Salton swat was misfielded. More errors by Monowai allowed Glendinning to notch her second run of the afternoon in the fifth, but the powerful batting strength fired again, but too late to save the cause, in the sixth. Kathy Eiffe, sneaked home on

an Albion error, and Machlrus blasted a three-bagger to bring Char Mac Lean and Alison Coffey home as well. „ , Jaks-United 8, Western Suburbs 5 United! and Suburbs continued the fine series of tussles between the two teams that has been a feature of the competition this season, Jaks prevailing on this occasion, 8-5. United’s batting finished with a rush when five runs were scored in the top of the sixth. Suburbs, although it managed to take two runs from the efficient United side, could not make up the deficit, and went down a gallant loser. . .. „ It was the batting of Liz Satiagia that won the day for Jaks. With two down in the sixth, and the scores tied 3-3, she struck a three bagger with loaded bases to bring in Barb Smith, Barb Fletcher and Michelle Hudson. Rocky O’Rourke had earlier crossed in the sixth, and Satiaga’s stroll home after a Suburb’s error completed the scoring. Caroline Renney, Suburb’s diminutive pitcher, actually opened the scoring in the game when she came in in the bottom of the first, but Fletcher quickly pulled the run back for United in the second. Suburbs wrested the lead back-

in the fourth when Chris Timms scampered in on an error, but United snatched the lead it was not to relinquish in the fifth. Gwen Gray was on first when Smith hit a three-base drive through left field, and she came home in her turn after a safe hit by Fletcher. Burnside 13, Aorangi 1 There were few bright moments for Aorangi in this early game against the strong Burnside team, and those that did occur were due in large measure to the talents of the diminutive Kui Heagney. She was responsible for the only scoring moment put together by Aorangi — a towering homer In the second inning — and set a high standard in the field with five assists. Unfortunately her efforts were not matched bv her team-mates, all of whom gave of their best however, and Burnside won in a canter. Nine Burnside runs were scored in the top of the first innings, from seven hits, and it seemed to-be a question of just how much Aorangi would lose by. But Aorangi’s softballing belt was tightened a notch or two, and brisker fielding restricted Burnside to only four more runs, three of them in the second.