Women’s softball

Press, 30 December 1985, Page 6

Women’s softball

Special correspondent Auckland It was a day of total frustration at the Rothmans women’s inter-provincial softball tournament in Papakura yesterday. Play was abandoned at 4 without a pitch being delivered all day. As a direct result, all remaining matches in roundrobin play have been condensed into two days. The draw as it now stands leaves Radio Avon Canterbury facing five matches in two days. Today it meets Auckland and Southland, the latter having caused a major upset in the first day of play by beating the highly-fancied Hawke’s Bay, 2-0. Tomorrow will now be the tough day for Canterbury, and it is up against Wellington, Combined Services and Hawke’s Bay. Canterbury had an excellent start to the championships by beating Manawatu, 6-0, and completely outclassed last season’s runner-up, Hutt Valley, 4-0, on Saturday. The hero against Manawatu was its young short stop, Anita Perreau, who gave Canterbury a brilliant start with a magnificent home run in the top of the first innings, which also scored Natalie Hazelwood. Perreau came up trumps again in the fifth to score the pinch runner, Linda Burrows, then completed her game at the top of the seventh innings by also scoring Robyn Storer on an outfield sacrifice. The same innings had Hazelwood cross the plate for her second run of the match and was followed in by Jane Earnshaw. Hutt Valley, before meeting Canterbury, had gone down, 10, i'> an eight-innings tiebreakei against Hawke’s Bay and went «2> out to rat the

pressure on, as it desperately needed to beat Canterbury. Hutt began strongly when its lead off batter, Jan Pereira, smacked a left field triple at the top of the first innings. However, Canterbury’s defence held brilliantly and at the bottom of the second the break came. The lead off, Earnshaw, was walked and scored off an infield error from the bat of Debbie Chase. Chase stole second and scored when the designated hitter, Nicky Hudson, powered a right field double. Hudson again performed in the fifth and was replaced on base by Burrows, who scampered home on a Storer hit. Earnshaw put the match beyond doubt in the sixth innings with her second run from a Chase sacrifice. Results — Division A: Wellington 6, Combined Services 1; Auckland 6, Southland 0; Canterbury o: Manawatu 0; Hawke’s Bay 1, Hutt Valley 0; Wellington 9, Manawatu 1; Auckland 10, Combined Services 0; Hawke’s Bay 0, Southland 2; Canterbury 4, Hutt Valley 0. Points: Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, 2 wins; Southland, Hawke’s Bay, 1 win; Hutt Valley, Manawatu, Combined Services, no wins. Division B: North Shore 16, Thames Valley 0; Counties 5, Bay of Plenty 3; Waimarino 8, Horowhenua 6; Bay of Islands 6, Mid-Canterbury 2; Taranaki 10, Waikato 9; Bay of Plenty 15, Thames Valley 4; Counties 7, Waimarino 0; North Shore 10, Taranaki 0; Waikato 4, Bay of Islands 3; Mid-Canterbury 4, Horowhenua 3. Points: North Shore, Counties, 2 wins; Mid-Canterbury, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Waimarino, Waikato, Bay of Islands, 1 win; Horowhenua, Thames Valley, no wins.