National women’s softball

Press, 8 March 1984, Page 40

National women’s softball

Special correspondent The women’s Pan Am national inter-club softball tournament started in Auckland yesterday at Narina Park amongst some controversy. No teams are being permitted diamond warm-ups while the diamonds themselves are considered by many to be well below the standard required for a tournament of this calibre.

The situation, however, affects all teams and Robert Brown Albion from Christchurch had a good start by besting Rajahs (Otago), 2-0.

The match was tight for five innings although Albion had scoring opportunities earlier. Chris Tew was the first to cross the plate at the bottom of the sixth when she scored off a tremendous left field triple by Nicky Hudson. Hudson was then brought in by a sacrifice push from Vicky Paskeil. For Hudson it was a perfect match in the batter’s box. She returned an average of 1000. While Albion has two games today it is not playing the second until late in the evening. Today is pressure time for Albion be-

cause it meets the very strong Lions (Hawke’s Bay) at 2 p.m. and then encounters the powerful IslandBay (Wellington) team at 8.40 p.m. / ' As predicted the top five teams have gone through without much difficulty. Island Bay beat Melville (Waikato), ,4-1, and Rajahs, 15-0, Metro (Auckland) beat Lions, 1-0, in a tight match, while Lions had its first win against Melville with a 5-2 scoreline. Saints (Hutt Valley) had its first win when it beat Manukau (Counties), 2-1, in an exciting match.