Softball coach confident of making top 3

Press, 24 December 1985, Page 30

Softball coach confident of making top 3

The Canterbury men’s softball coach, Leon Fife, is happy with the way his squad is shaping for the Rothmans national tournament which begins at Porritt Park on Saturday.

‘Tm much more confident than I was three or four weeks ago,” Mr Fife admitted yesterday. He said he was especially pleased that the Canadian, Mike Ash, was pitching much better and that such batters as Graeme Anderson, Ray Marsh and Dennis Wiersma were in form.

Marsh, one of New Zealand’s world champion softballers last year, cracked two out-of-the park home runs in one recent club match.

Mr Fife expects that Roger Keith will be doing a lot of work on the pitching mound during round-robin play while he is looking at using Ash as “a bit of a shock tactic.”

The utility, Anderson, will catch to Ash while John Daly will call the pitches of Keith and the youngster, Charlie Schooner.

The infield is likely to revolve round the United combination of Paul Shannon (first base), lan Gibson (second base), the captain, Paul McFarlane (shortstop), and Maia Toa (third base). Murray Lanini, renowned for his error-free performances during tournaments, should also get in some work on second base.

Mr Fife said he had between five and six outfielders and they would sort themselves out after the first two days. He is pleased that Canter-

bury is getting its traditional rival, Southland, first up and says that this will be a crucial game. “If we don’t win that we’ll be struggling all the way through the round.”

Last year Canterbury was placed sixth at the nationals and, as the new coach, Mr Fife’s aim is making the top four cut-off at the end of the round-robin.

“Once past the top four hurdle there is no reason why we can’t be loolcing at a place in the top two or three,” Mr Fife said.

Mr Fife, who will be backed in the coaching department by Brian Waine, believes the top North Island teams such as Auckland and Wellington can be beaten. “There is not the

same aura of invincibility about them of a few years ago.”

At this stage, he said, the competition was “a pretty wide-open race” but playing at home should help Canter-

bury. The present Rothmans Cup holder is Hutt Valley, which is again full of “name players,” among them the remarkable Mark Sorensen, captain of the side for the first time at just 18 years of age.

Hutt Valley, with the big hitting Dave Workman, is one of several provincial sides boasting former Canterbury representatives in their line-ups. The New Zealand representative, Jimmy Hall, is playing for Welling-, ton; Chubb Tangaroa and his brother, Mac, are playing for Manawatu; and Eric Tomlinson is in the Waikato side.

The Radio Avon Canterbury squad is: Ash, Keith, Schooner, Daly, Anderson; Shannon, Gibson, Lanini, McFarlane, Toa, lan Hall; Jamie Flynn, Roy Ah Kuoi, Neil Stuart, Wiersma, Marsh.

Canterbury’s draw in section play is: December 28: v. Southland, 11.30 a.m., and Wellington, 3.30 p.m. December 29: v. Auckland, 1.30 p.m., and Counties, 5.30 p.m. December 30: v. Hutt Valley, 11.30 a.m., and Hawke’s Bay, 3.30 p.m. December 31: v. North Shore, 9.30 a.m.