Servicemen hit stride at softball champs

Press, 30 December 1988, Page 34

Servicemen hit stride at softball champs

PA Invercargill The New Zealand Com- .- bined Services softball j team will have fond mem-, ories of the national; men’s softball champion- i ships in Invercargill. 4 For the first time in the’; Services’ softball the team made the top six? in the Beatty Cup and will now contest the Winfield; Cup play-offs. i After defeating Canter* bury 1-0 on Wednesday, 1 ; and restricting the power-1 ful Hutt Valley side to 6-2, F the Services’ men approached yesterday’s games in a confident mood. That confidence filtered on to the playing diamond when it edged out Waikato, 2-1, in the open-

ing game of the day and then later in the afternoon, when Services upstaged North Harbour, 6-2. North Harbour, last year’s fourth placegetter, was expected to prove too strong for the Services’ side, but automatic home runs to the Service “sluggers” dispelled that pre-game theory. New Zealand Services meets Wellington in the next round. t North Harbour’s surprise loss to the New Zealand Services ended a somewhat miserable day for the Auckland “boys.” In the early game in the day’s play, Harbour went down to the. defending champion, Auckland, I

which is quickly approaching top form, by 42. Southland made the top six when it defeated Nelson, 8-5. At one stage the home side lead 3-0 and then 4-1, before the former New Zealand shortstop, Daryl Stratford, smacked an automatic home run with two runners on base to tie the ball game up at 4-all. But the locals rallied to pull away comfortably. Beatty Cup scores: N.Z. Combined Services 2, Waikato 1; Southland 8, Nelson 5. Losers' bracket: Nelson 13, Mid-Canterbury 3; Otago 4, South Canterbury 3; Central Otago 0, Hawke’s Bay 15; Canterbury 4, Hawke's Bay 2; Otago 14, Central Otago 2.