United wins softball

Press, 16 November 1987, Page 26

United wins softball

By

TIM DUNBAR

United survived some anxious moments on the last day of the Lion Red Classic men’s softball tournament before beating Demons, of Southland, 1-0, in the final at English Park yesterday.

The scoreline in the final was the exact reverse of when the teams last met, in a national league match last summer.

United scored through its lead-off batter, Paul Shannon, in the top of the first innings and some great pitching by Mac Tangaroa then shut out Demons in its seven turns at bat, but not without some close shaves. Shannon had made base on an infield hit, advanced to second on the subsequent overthrow, made it to third on a play at first base and eventually scampered home on a passed ball. United’s Tangaroa pitched his team out of a seemingly deep hole in the bottom of the second innings when a wayward throw by the third baseman, Maia Toa, had allowed Demons to have runners on second and third bases with none down. Under a lot of pressure, Tangaroa struck out three batters in a row to retire the side. Demons was in another good scoring position four innings later after Ross McCulloch and Tua Raroa strung together hits with one down.

Greg Newton, a national training squad member, grabbed 10 strike-outs (three more than Tangaroa), but he never held down the United batters for long, giving up six hits and four walks. United had runners on base every

innings. Heading the United batting effort was the right outfielder, Ray Marsh, with a perfect average in four trips to the plate — two safe hits and two walks.

Both pitchers were in their third game of the day and Tangaroa stood firm on the mound through 20 scoreless innings. United picked up a first prize cheque of $lOOO but its coach, Mr Leon Fife, said that it would be swallowed up in entry fees for two big North Island tournaments in the New Year, the Walnui Classic and the Vic Guth Memorial.

Mr Fife was delighted with the win over a side as highly regarded as Demons, though conceding that United struggled at times during the tournament Tangaroa, he said, had "gone to town” both with bat and ball. The Canterbury champion club side had gone through some hiccups earlier in the day, only coming through the first round of the top-eight knock-out phase after three nerve-racking tie-break innings against Cardinals (Invercargill). That was another 1-0 ball game. In the semi-finals United’s 3-0 winning margin against Richmond looked comfortable enough, but it took a crashing drive into the fence by Tangaroa to get the side in the scorebook in the bottom of the fourth. The three-base hit brought in two runs and Tangaroa himself came home shortly afterwards. Demons had required extra innings against both Papanui (in a game that started on Saturday evening and finished yesterday morning) and

last year’s Classic winner, Bumside, to progress through

to the final. After some traumas In section play Merivale took home the plate trophy, beating Dodgers, of Otago, 1-0, in the final thanks in part to the sterling efforts of the makeshift pitcher, Grant McCarroll.

United's short-stop, Paul McFarlane, won the tournament batting award with the fine average of 0.600 (six hits from 10 turns at bat). Newton was the top pitcher with an earned run average of 0. Results.— Round-robin.—Section A: United 7, Celtic (Timaru) 0; Papanui 3, Dodgers (Dunedin) 2. Section B: Demons (Invercargill) 6, Fairfield (Dunedin) 2; Richmond 8, Saints (Blenheim) 2. Section C: Metro (Nelson) 6, Suburbs 5 (8 Innings); Ellis Park (Dunedin) 6, Waimea (Nelson) 1. Section D: Cardinals (Invercargill) 5, Merivale 0; Burnside 4, Hampstead (Ashburton) 2. Top eight

First round: Burnside 1. Ellis .Park 0 (6 innings); Demons 5, Papanui 1 (8 innings); Richmond 2, Metro 0; United 1, Cardinals 0 (8 innings). Semi-finals: United 3, Richmond 0; Demons 2, Bumside 1 (6 innings). Final: United 1, Demons 0. Bottom eight First round: Merivale 12, Hampstead I; Dodgers 9, Waimea 0; Saints 6, Fairfield 1; Suburbs 1, Celtic 0. Semi-finals: Merivale 3, Suburbs 2; Dodgers 6, Saints 2. Final: Merivale 1, Dodgers