A.G.C. United stays top of table

Press, 23 November 1981, Page 19

A.G.C. United stays top of table

A.G.C. Finance United stayed at the top of the competition table with two shut-out wins in senior A men’s softball at the Western ball park on Saturday. United easily pushed aside Wheke. 9-0, but had rather more trouble with another promoted team. Albion, which had been at the wrong end of several near cricket scores in recent weeks. At Papanui Domain the second-placed side, Noel teeming Burnside, also won both games of its double-header and its pitcher, Robert (“Chubb”) Tangaroa reached his century of “K’s” for the season by striking out the first two Richmond batters. By the end of the day his tally was 132 — 21 more than United’s David Bradbury who also reached the three-figure mark on Saturday. The only surprise result of the day was effected by Lyttelton which shut-out Papanui, 1-0, in a pitcher-dominated game and removed that team’s last real hope of the championship title. POINTS TABLE P W L F A Pt United 11 11 - 70 12 22 Burnside 11 10 1 83 7 20 W. Suburbs 11 6 5 44 42 12 Papanui 9 6 3 49 15 12 Lvttelion 9 4 5 43 45 8 Wheke 10 2 8 31 70 4 Richmond 11 1 10 35 83 2 Albion 10 1 9 17 98 2 Burnside 4, Richmond 2 This was only the third time this season that the well-schooled Burnside team had conceded runs and both came in the top of the fourth innings when the pitcher, Tangaroa. found a rare commodity in Christchurch club softball this season — batters able to hit him.

Andrew Sinclair clouted a three-bagger over the outfield and subsequently came home while Kees Rietveld’s two-bagger scored Roy Ah Kuoi. Those runs apart, it was another Tangaroa benefit; he picked up 16 strikeouts, conceding just the two safe hits and . a walk.Bumside did manage seven hits off Craig Seward’s pitching, but generally it was a disappointing batting ‘ effort, particularly after , the second and third innings which both yielded two runs. The team’s top batters were Alan Hall and Roger Hutton with two hits outs of three while Murray Lanini’s two excursions to the box brought a single and a walk. Other safe hitters were Graeme Anderson and John Daly (a double). AGC United 9, Wheke 0. Wheke’s concentration lapsed at crucial times during its match against United. The side held the competition leaders to 0-0 in the first two innings, but United went through its batting order to score five runs in the top of the third. Wheke had two down after the first six United batters, but then failed to hold United, which at one stage had bases loaded when a hit pitch on Warren Keen allowing Dave Bradbury to stroll home. Bradbury, United’s pitcher, was the best batter for the day, gaining two safe hits (including a two-bagger) and a walk from four turns at the plate. In addition, he pitched 12 strike-outs for two safe hits and a walk. Twobase hits also went to Paul McFarlane and Jamie Waretini.

Burnside 6, Western Suburbs 1 Bumside’s batting was a big improvement in this game with 12 safe hits collected, mainly through Wayne Poore, John Daly, and Roger Hutton (two each). The team was able to recover well from the shock of conceding a home run on errors to Suburbs’ lead-off batter, Neil Stuart, in the bottom of the first innings, which tied up the game at 1-1. The stalemate was shortlived. Poore and Keith Pullar rounded the’ diamond in the top of the second innings and Glyn Eades, Graeme Anderson, and the designated hitter, Roger Hutton, all scored in the fourth to make the match safe. Tangaroa faced 26 batters and struck-out 18 of them while conceding a walk and three hits. The Suburbs player-coach, Eric Tomlinson, batted .666 with a single and a double and Mark Hayston had the other hit to his credit. AGC United 3, Albion 0 Two double plays enlivened a surprisingly close game between AGC Finance United, the competition leader, and lowly Albion. The first double-play came in the bottom of the fourth innings when United’s Paul Shannon made first on a safe hit. A Warren Keen flyball was taken in a reflex catch by the Albion short-stop, Andy Kingi. and a quick throw to first base had Shannon stranded. In the top of the fifth, Albion’s Peter Cook was given a walk, but he showed his inexperience by trying to go too far when a hit by the next batter, Michael Moore, was scooped up by Leon

Fife, United’s third baseman, and thrown to first to take the out. Cook tried to go to third base on the play and was tagged by the short-stop, Paul McFarlane. Albion could have scored in the game, Ray Tunbridge reaching the third bag in the first innings, and Patrick Adamson also reached third after a twobagger and a stolen base in the fourth. However, the remaining batters failed to connect at the right time. United pressured Albion during the game. A Maia Toa hit was deemed blocked by the boundary fence and he languished on third, during the second innings. Leon Fife made it to base on his three turns at bat, with' two hits (including a two-bagger) and an error, and twice reached third. United's pitcher, Bradbury, took 11 “K's” for one hit and three walks, and for Albion, Cook pitched one strike-out for five hits and three walks. Lyttelton 1, Papanui 0 After a somewhat shaky start to the season Lyttelton is coming good and this was the third win for the “Port” boys in as many games. Lyttelton’s effort was spearheaded by the chunky pitcher, Ross Fife, who gave most Papanui batters no end of trouble with his "sucker” ball as they either swung too early or failed to swing at all, only for a strike to be called. Fife took seven “K’s”, three of them in succession in the bottom of the second innings. He gave up hits to merely Dale Eagar and Simon Heath.

The Papanui batters had no joy and it was not until the seventh innings that a runner got as far as third base. Papanui’s coach, Tom Hurinui, rang the changes in the seventh bringing in two pinch-hitters and finding it necessary to consult the rule-book when he decided to subsitute the designated hitter, Richard Dolan, with himself. Steve Vivien made third base after Hurinui was thrown out and Rennie Tai was walked and then stole second. However, the golden eleventh hour scoring opportunity went begging when Colin Sutherland was struck-out by Fife. Lyttelton had managed the only run of the game a few minutes earlier when the bighitting Dennis Wiersma clouted a three-bagger to right field and completed proceedings when a hit by John Kottier was errored by the infield. Things did not really go Papanui’s way and that was evidenced by the fact that Kottier was actually able to hit a pitch in the top of the sixth. The idea had been to intentionally walk him! And a little later Heath was perhaps unlucky to be called out on second. Sutherland shaded Fife on the strike-out count with a useful tally of 11, though he did concede four hits and a walk. Doug Baker, Kottier, Steve Bachop, and Wiersma were the successful Lyttelton batters. Tony Bishop, the Papanui infielder, was responsible for a slick double play to remove Kottier and Bachop in the sixth.