Ah Kuoi clears fence with deciding hit

Press, 10 November 1986, Page 25

Ah Kuoi clears fence with deciding hit

Roy Ah Kuoi’s ability to hit the long ball was decisive when United scraped home, 5-4, over the lowly Merivale in the Dalgety Crown Travel premier men’s softball on Saturday.

Ah Kuoi twice cleared the Western Park outfield fence with big hits, first in the bottom of the third innings and again two innings later. The second of his automatic home runs broke a 4-4 deadlock to give United victory.

Merivale had been riding high after a 3-2 win against Richmond in the first game of its double-header. It enjoyed hopes of success against United too, when four runners came in during the top of the fourth innings and Merivale took a 4-3 lead.

But United equalised when Greg Bayly and Paul Shannon strung together triples in the bottom of the fourth and then came Ah Kuoi’s king hit one innings later. At Papanui Domain Burnside stayed with United at the top of the points table with a 2-0 win over Suburbs in an uneventful game. Burnside brought home its first two batters, Grant Thomson and Graeme Anderson, in the bottom of the first innings and that was the extent of the scoring. Later the Suburbs batters made plenty of solid contact, collecting 11 safe hits in the course of a 5-2 win over Papanui. However, Papanui’s catcher, Rennie Tai, had the satisfaction of clouting the only out-of-the-park homer of the game and the first for his team this season.

Merivale 6 1 5 12 23 2 Burnside 2, Suburbs 0 It could hardly be said that the outfielders were tested in this match. In fact only three hits travelled that far in 90min of softball. The Burnside batters did begin as though they meant business. Grant Thomson, the lead-off in the bottom of the first innings, scored on a sacrifice hit by Ray Marsh — a fiercely struck drive caught well low down at centre field — and Graeme Anderson came home soon after on a infield hit by Darren Roberts.

But Burnside did little to impress with the bat after that even though there were scoring opportunities aplenty. Seven batters were given the luxury of walks (one after being hit by a pitch) by Marty Grant, but for the most part their successors in the box were unable to advance them.

Both fielding sides achieved one double play, Burnside ending with six men

on base against the four of Suburbs. Burnside’s Canadian import, Mitch Nelson, struck out 10 of the 25 batters he faced, conceding just a hit each to Mark Sneddon, Darrell Chick and Dave Paki. Suburbs’ best scoring chance came in the top of the second innings when Sneddon and Chick strung together hits. But they were left on third and second bases respectively when the side was retired with a strike-out. Burnside marginally took the batting honours with four hits to three. Suburbs 5, Papanui 2 Marty Grant was in great form with the bat and his display on the pitching mound showed few signs that he was throwing back-to-back games. As a batter Grant collected a brace of two-base hits and a single for a perfect 1000 average. His second hit, beautifully placed in the gap between centre and right outfield, brought in two runs and gave Suburbs a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the third innings. Both Papanui’s runs came in the top of the first innings when Rennie Tai’s booming hit over the centre-field fence also scored in the lead-off, Tony Bishop. Bishop had made base on a hit to centre field and advanced on a couple of wild pitches. Suburbs matched that when Brett Seaward and Grant got across the home plate in the bottom of the first innings and took control from the third frame.

Frustratingly for Papanui, it had runners left on third base in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Suburbs racked up 11 hits against Papanui’s six. Apart from Grant, Brett Seaward (2), Mark McFarlane (2), Dave Paki (2), all Suburbs, and Tai (Papanui) 2, were the batters to hit safely more than once. The Suburbs infield looked

pretty solid in this game. Paki was very capable at short-stop, showing his dedication on one occasion by throwing to first for the out in spite of a knock in a tender part of his anatomy. Errol Byrne, the catcher, and Paki combined nicely for two tag-outs as Papanui runners attempted steals to second base. Merivale 3, Richmond 2

Merivale avenged its defeat at the hands of Richmond three days earlier and in a typically slow start to the season thereby registered its first win.

It was an even game with both sides collecting six hits and the pitchers, Murray Britt (Merivale) and Wally Mohi (Richmond) each taking three strike-outs. The infielder, Paul Williams, scored twice for Merivale, coming home in the bottom of the first innings to put his team ahead, 1-0, and again in the third when Merivale went back in front.

Richmond had quickly equalised in the top of the second when Paul Hughes bounced a hit over the fence for an automatic two-bagger to bring in Mark Wright.

Both Williams and Chris Charlton scored in the bottom of the third to give Merivale a 3-1 lead. A Brian Wright run on a Doug Chee hit in the sixth allowed Richmond to reduce the deficit. For Richmond, Grant Wright starred with the bat, hitting safely three times out of three. United 5, Merivale 4 United was sitting comfortably on a 3-0 lead when a very profitable Richmond innings destroyed its equilibrium. The United pitcher, Charlie Schooner, was wayward for a time in the top of the fourth, giving up a hit, two walks, a hit pitch, and then another hit. Barry Hurst scored on the hit pitch and three more runs came on Paul Williams’s sweetly struck two-base hit to the fence between left and centre field.

That put Merivale 4-3 in front, a lead it enjoyed only briefly. Greg Bayly scored in the fourth and then Roy Ah Kuoi sent a hit sailing over the fence in the fifth to give United a 5-4 lead. Even then there were some anxious moments for United. Merivale got runners on first and second base with only one out in the top of the ’seventh, but they languished ' there. For United, Schooner snared seven strike-outs, giving up six hits, three walks and two hit pitches. The batting was led for United by Ah Kuoi with three hits in three trips to the box and for Merivale by the consistent Williams with a .500 average (two hits out of four).

P W L F A Pt Burnside 6 5 I 26 7 10 United 6 5 I 26 10 10 Papanui 6 3 3 10 24 6 Suburbs 6 2 4 22 15 4 Richmond ■ 6 2 4 11 28 4