Fourth Canty man for U.S.

Press, 28 April 1981, Page 32

Fourth Canty man for U.S.

Michael Hall has become the fourth Canterbury player to be signed up by an American softball team for a northern summer. The outstanding 18-year-old Burnside softballer leaves Christchurch tomorrow to join the pitching staff of a Californian team, Pico Rivera Dons. He is following the precedents set by three other Canterbury representative pitchers, his big brother, Alan (1977), Haydn Smith (1978), and Colin Sutherland (1980). Hall’s trip, which first had to be approved by the New Zealand Softball Association, has been heavily subsidised by the Americans. His air fares have been paid both ways and he will also get travel expenses and free accommodation. Pico will actually have two young New Zealanders in its line-up this summer. Brent Symonds, the Hutt Valley Marist third baseman, has already left to join the side. While many would consider that Hall’s future at the national level lies with infielding — he is a very talented short-stop — the youngster was called upon to do a lot of pitching, with remarkable success, during the New Zealand summer. The reason for his recruitment lies in his performance

for Canterbury against Auckland in the national championships. Bud and Lester Baldwin, two New Zealand talent scouts for United States softball, saw him pitch and started the negotiations which led to an offer from Pico’s Ralph Trejo. “I’ve wanted to play softball in America since I was about four,” said a rapt Hall yesterday. He does not really mind what position he plays as long as the games come his way. “Hopefully. I’ll play at short-stop if I don’t go too well at pitcher.” Hall, a little on the short side as pitchers go but fairlv chunky, has just completed a notable summer of softball. Some pundits considered him unlucky not to get the short-stop spot in the New Zealand team which played a four-match “test” series against the American champion, Peterbilt. But he did make the New. Zealand training squad of 25.' represented Canterbury at three levels — senior, colts (as captain), and under-18 — and won the senior men’s club batting award with the excellent average of .424. i Both his batting and general play should develop from the amount of softball he’ll be playing over the next few months. “It looks like Pico play about eight games a week.” he said. .