Pitchers on the move in club softball

Press, 8 September 1982, Page 33

Pitchers on the move in club softball

Pitchers, and their movements. are the big topic of discussion for the new senior men's club softball season which will begin on October 2. David Bradbury, the lionhearted hurler who has long served both United and Canterbury. is not playing seniors this season; Lyttelton’s Ross Fife has gone over to United, which has also been negotiating for one more pitcher and a depleted Richmond is still looking for a man to step on to the mound. United’s negotiations for a pitcher have gone far afield. The man the club has approached is the Otago speed pitcher, Peter Roberts, a former New Zealand trialist and South's spearhead when it had an upset 1-0 win over North last year. Roberts would continue to live in Dunedin with United footing the bill to fly him to Christchurch whenever his services were required. United has also gained the talented Dean Couch from Lyttelton and promoted a Canterbury under-18 representative, lan Gibson, a utility infielder. Members of the “older” brigade will again be turning out though Mr Leon Fife, the new coach, joked that age might be catching up with : some of them. Bryan Mountford suffered 1 a bad injury when he went over on a knee (since in- I fected) about four weeks ago \ while another former New i Zealand representative, Paul i McFarlane, has torn liga- i ments in his throwing arm. I Good news for the United i club is that the thousands of dollars spent on its ground, | the Western Ball Park in i Westminster Street, are ; about to take effect. ; The permanent skin dia- ’ mond is expected to be in , place, all bar the top layer, by this week-end. Since last

season the whole ground has been dug up and resown. The old problems with balls going into the creek are also not expected to resurface because of a more adequate covering. Last year’s champion, Noel Leeming Burnside, has been reaping rewards from its sponsor for doing so well (runner-up to Auckland Ramblers) in the Pan Am national club championships last season. New bags have already arrived and new uniforms are being made. "If you look good, you play good," said the coach. Mr Arnold Hall. Mr Hall is blessed with virtually the same powerful combination as last year, the sole defection being that of the burly policeman, Roger Hutton, who has retired. "He thumped some good balls for us." said Mr Hall. The team will again have a very strong batting lineup and very few runs will be given away by the speedy pitcher. Robert ("Chub”) Tangaroa, and the tight infield which boasts the New Zealand short stop, Jimmy Hall.

Mr Hall intends to add at least three players to boost his squad to 13 or 14, but is still waiting for clearances. He expects that the senior competition will be considerably harder this year. “Everybody is chasing us now. We were the underdogs for years.” Bumside has been making good use of the fine weather and been training outside for more than two months. The Bumside team is among those invited for Cowans Cardinals’ $lO,OOO tournament at Fraser Park, Lower Hutt, from December 10 to 12.' Burnside will be in exalted company at Fraser Park. The 12 teams already invited include Auckland United, Ramblers, Mudgeway Wreckers, . Hutt City United. Hutt Valley Marist, Mirimar, and Broadway. The double-elimination tournament offers $4OOO for first place and $lOOO for the runner-up. Teams with five wins will get $6OO each and those with three wins $2OO. Burnside will receive a $5OO travel subsidy. Another senior team, Papanui, has a new coach with the knowledgable Don Lanini coming over from Wheke which appears to have folded. Mr Lanini is confident that Papanui will be much closer to the pace this season. The team has not been hit by retirements and will be again relying on the experience of such batters as Tony Bishop and Dale Eagar and the pitching of Colin Sutherland. One big gain is the bighitting Dennis Wiersma from Lyttelton who is expected to play in the outfield. "A couple of Wheke boys might come across, too,” said Mr Lanini. Richmond will have the former Canterbury utility, Doug Chee, as its coach for

the first time. The way playing strength is Chee will probably have to turn out on the diamond again himself. As well as looking for a pitcher the team might be short of the classy outfielder, Kevin Steel, who has not yet made up his mind what he is doing this season. Richmond has gained three ex-Canterbury under-18 representatives in Grant Wright, Brian Wright, and John Cannell and another Wright, Ray, has come up from GT United, Ashburton. Cannell, incidentally, has been touring Australia with the Canterbury under-19 rugby league team. The club will be using English Park this season and that venue will have a big outing over Labour Week-end when a tournament is scheduled. The Canterbury Evergreens, and teams from Timaru and Ashburton have been invited. Western Suburbs will again have Eric Tomlinson as player-coach and he will be catching the pitches of Tom Reihana. One of the team’s batting stars, Ross Paniora, is about to go into hospital to get a cartilage out and there is some doubt whether Neil Stuart, a short stop with a good arm, will turn out for Suburbs. Gains include Derek Wood, a senior B infielder in Auckland, Bruce Hurley, an outfielder from Dodgers, and Alex Bennett, one of the American Deep Freeze boys who played for Wheke last season. From the rest of last season’s eight teams Wheke has disappeared from contention, Lyttelton has been hit hard by player transfers, and Albion made little impression. However, a different team, Woolston United, with Mr Mike Nalepa as coach, has applied for promotion.