Marlborough wins at last

Press, 5 December 1988, Page 34

Marlborough wins at last

By

TIM DUNBAR

After 20 years of South Island men’s interprovincial softball tournaments the name of Marlborough can finally be inscribed on the Jefferies Cup.

When the three-day Lion Red-sponsored tournament ended at Cuthberts Green yesterday Marlborough made history with its convincing 8-0 victory over Southland in the Jefferies Cup final. But disappointingly the new South Island champion will probably not go to Invercargill for the national tournament at the end of the month.

The Marlborough coach, Kevin Sheehy, said that work and family commitments meant several top players were unavailable for the nationals.

“We’d love to go,” said Mr Sheehy, adding that the cost of going to the national tournament would not affect the final decision. “We’re not going to cry about finance like Auckland; we’ve always had to pay to go.” Perhaps the most delighted man in the Marlborough team was the lion-hearted pitcher and captain, John Rouse, who was on the losing side in a Jefferies Cup final three times before — all when playing for his old province, South Canterbury.

Rouse gave opposing batters a lot of trouble with his rise ball pitches as Marlborough shaded Canterbury, 1-0, in a tight semi-final game and then trounced Southland. Both sides were unbeaten in section play and have won the trophy several times previously. In the final Rouse, combining with his catcher, Mark Davis, faced 22 batters, striking out seven of them and allowing merely one hit and one walk. Of the two Southland base runners neither got as far as second safely. Southland’s pitching has often been a strong point in the past, but the two hurlers used in the final, Ross Mackie and Tony Buckley, were treated with the utmost disrespect by the confident Marlborough batters. The Southland pair conceded a staggering 14 safe hits, seven each with all but one of the nine Marlborough batters contributing at least one each. Steve Healy, Nigel Schultz, Greg Rangi, Mark Davis, Brent Thimbley and Graham De 800 all collected two hits.

The game was virtually ali over after the first two innings when Marlborough shot to a 4-0 lead. The leadoff batter, Healy, slid home on a Schultz hit in the top of the first inning and was one

of three Marlborough scorers in the second frame. Two more runs came in each of the fifth and seventh innings. Marlborough’s coach was only too aware of Southland’s batting strength and said his team was lucky — "We got the first nail in.”

Mr Sheehy said Marlborough had limited preparation for the tournament and praised the total team commitment of his players. Canterbury was regarded by many as the tournament favourite after scoring 41 runs for and only one against in section play but the team saw its Cup chances vanish in a tight 1-0 ball game. Marlborough’s only run came in the top of the third inning through its short-stop, Nathan Gill, who advanced around the bases with the aid of an errored infield hit, a dropped tag at third base and a passed ball. “We only made three errors for the tournament and they were all in the one innings,” said the disappointed Canterbury pitchercoach, Roger Keith. “It was a sad. way to go out of a tournament when we played so well.”

As late as the bottom of the seventh inning the spirits of the Canterbury supporters and the players in the dugout briefly soared along with the flight of a towering hit by its captain, Jimmy Hall. But the Marlborough centre-outfielder, Kevin Columbus, took a splendid catch, crashing against the fence in the process and denying Hall his second home run of the tournament. Keith said that the Jefferies Cup was a very hard tournament to win and he, for one, believes officials should consider a two-life system next year. The Canterbury coach said that there were several positive aspects coming out of the tournament, especially the fine efforts of the younger players. “I'm just looking forward to the nationals no\v; I’ll sit down and reappraise things.” One of the bit talking points of the week-end was the remarkable debut tournament of Canterbury’s Dean Taikato, aged 17, who showed a lot of poise in the batter’s box.

Starting off in the first game as the “rabbit” (pinchrunner) Taikato batted so well that he made the start-

ing line-up against Marlborough. After eight turns at bat in the tournament he had eight hits and even after two "failures” still ran away with the top batting award — his average was an unprecedented .800. Taikato also took the award for the player batting in the most runs (eight) and looked somewhat bemused about his success. The youngster collected two sports bags, each containing a six-pack of the sponsor's products, which attracted the eye of bigger and older team-mates. Results:— Section play Section A: Otago 12, Buller 2; Canterbury 13, Mid-Canter-bury 1 (5 innings); Nelson 6, North Otago 0; Canterbury 8, Buller 0; Nelson 4, Otago 2; North Otago 8, Mid-Canter-bury 7; Otago 9, Mid-Canter-bury 1; Canterbury 15, North Otago 0 (3 innings); Nelson 3, Mid-Canterbury 0; North Otago 12, Buller 0 (6 innings); Nelson 15, Buller 1 (5 innings); Canterbury 4, Otago 0; Mid-Canterbury 10, Buller 0; Otago 5, North Otago 2. Section B: Eastern Southland 5, Central Otago 2; Southland 1, Marlborough 0; South Canterbury 7, West Coast 3; Southland 9, Central Otago 0; Marlborough 6, West Coast 2; South Canterbury 2, Eastern Southland 1; Southland 5, Eastern Southland 4; Marlborough 10, Central Otago 1; Southland 2, South Canterbury 0 (9 innings); West Coast 5, Central Otago 4; Eastern Southland 13, West Coast 3; Marlborough 7, Eastern Southland 0; South Canterbury 12, Central Otago 0; Southland 11, West Coast 3. Post section play

Semi-finals: Marlborough 1, Canterbury 0; Southland 1, Nelson 0.

Final: Marlborough 8, Southland 0.

Play-off for fifth and sixth: Otago 4, South Canterbury 2. Play-off for seventh and eighth: North Otago 7, Eastern Southland 2.

Play-off for ninth and tenth: Mid-Canterbury 4, West Coast 0.

Play-off for eleventh and twelfth: Central Otago 11, Buller 0. Tournament awards. — Player of series, Chris Herrick (Nelson); pitcher of series, Ross Mackie (Southland); top batter, Dean Taikato (Canterbury), .800 average; most runs batted in, Taikato, eight.