N.Z.’s record tarnished

Press, 25 January 1988, Page 28

N.Z.’s record tarnished

PA Auckland New Zealand’s hopes of going unbeaten in four outings against the touring Penn Corp men’s softball team last week-end came to grief in the last match of the series.

After beating the visitors 2-1 and 5-0 on Saturday, and 3-1 yesterday, the Lion Red New Zealand team went down, 1-5, yesterday afternoon. It batted poorly in the finale to the Winfield International Series, and made a disastrous late replacement in centre field — where catcher Mark Sorenson relieved Mike Nichols.

Simple catches were spilled by Sorenson in his uncustomary position. However, most of the damage had already been done when he took the' field. The usually reliable Steve Jackson, who gave

up four hits in the previous day’s 2-1 win, fared badly yesterday afternoon — giving up four runs. Unless Jackson can produce better results in the coming week’s Vic Guth tournament at Coca Cola Ballpark, it may be that his appearance yesterday would have been his last for New Zealand.

Despite these lapses, the New Zealand coach, Mike Walsh, was pleased with the efforts of his teams.

“We were able to give most players an opportunity to consolidate their claim for a place in the New Zealand team to de-

fend the world championship in Saskatoon,” he said.

“While the appearance may have been given that our batting was poor, there were times when we batted extremely well, although I must admit it was up and down. “It is something we have to work on, just as some of our base running must be worked on.”

Results: Saturday: Lion Red New Zealand bt Penn Corp (U.S.A.), 2-1 and 5-0.

Sunday: NZ bt Penn Corp, 3-1, lost to Penn Corp, 1-5.