Frantic week-end for softballers

Press, 6 December 1985, Page 24

Frantic week-end for softballers

The Radio Avon Canterbury women’s softball team travels to Blenheim tomorrow afternoon to play in the annual quadrangular tournament on Sunday. The week-end is a gruelling one. The members play local club matches before travelling north, playing three matches and then returning home. For the player-coach, Cheryl Kemp, Sunday is a time of experimentation. Three matches will be played but only two, Wellington and Hutt Valley, will provide an acid test for the side. Marlborough is not an A grade team and rarely produces a threat.

The side has had a shocking build-up for the weekend because of continual rain in the last week. Couple this with some rather unconvincing performances by the key Albion players in a top club match last Sunday and the

week-end may well provide Kemp with some major headaches leading up to national tournament.

With nothing apart from pride to play for it is likely Kemp will place the . newcomers in the team, Trina Whittaker, Linda Burrows and Anita Perreau, under as much pressure as possible. All three have risen through the Canterbury under-age teams and are no strangers to the competitiveness of tournament play. Another player who will be examined is Debbie Chase. She was in the side last year but was injured early at Dunedin at the national tournament. Much interest will also focus on the pitcher, Chris John, who this season is pitching and batting with authority but is still not confident on throwing the fielded ball.

The New Zealand squad members will want to pro-

duce good form in all areas this week-end, especially Robyn Storer who has been plagued in recent weeks with injury. Both Natalie Hazelwood and Linda Manning will need to start batting the ball effectively, while Jane Earnshaw is the only member of the squad who is currently in top form.

Sharron Constable and Janine Gould will gain an opportunity to push themselves into the top nine, while Nicky Hudson, named for her power batting, will be given the chance to prove herself worthy of selection.

The only player whose position could be classified as safe is the catcher, Penny Salton. If Salton’s form in last Sunday’s match between Bumside and Robert Brown Albion is any indication, she could produce a few surprises.