SECOND SERIES IN WANGANUI SOFTBALL MATCHES PLAYED

Wanganui Chronicle, 6 November 1950, Page 7

SECOND SERIES IN WANGANUI SOFTBALL MATCHES PLAYED

The second games in both men’s and women’s championship softball series were played on Saturday. Games were played at Gonville Domain and also at the Waverley Recreation Ground. Conditions were not the best as there was a strong wind blowing across the diamonds which gave the pitchers trouble. On Gonville Domain, two newly-formed teams were making their first appearance, Relax women and United B. men. Relax met Dodgers the present champions and United B played Giants. Rivalry was evident in the game between W.E. Braves and Wanganui East which was the main game at Gonville. At Waverley a much improved Waverley team played St. Mary’s and Aces gave Red Sox a good game. It was evident on Saturday that players are not yet settled and there were indications of wild throwing that will only be eliminated by practice. DODGERS V RELAX Although beaten by 26 runs to 4 Relax were in no means disgraced in their game against Dodgers as this was in many cases the first games that their players had participated in. The two Maori girls in Relax N. Te Patu and A. Hiri will play well when they have had a little more experience and another player who gave a good account of herself was E. Hollenback who hit a safe hit each time at bat. For Dodgers Nancy Carroll had a field day, she was top scorer with 5 runs and she took several nice catches in the outfield and then came in and played well as relief catcher. Both these teams are fortunate in that they are under the control of good coaches. Mr C. Haberfield coaches Dodgers and Mr. C. Hartley Relax. Details of the scoring are: Dodgers: 9 2 9 0 2 4—26; Relax: 0 0 0 4 0 0 o—4. ST. MARY’S V WAVERLEY At Waverley it was a greatly improved Waverley team that went on to the diamond for their second game of softball. All these girls are very keen and it will not be long before they mould themselves into a sound combination. H. Harden pitched the entire game steadily and A. Carroll gave another good display. N. O’Connor proved her ability as an all-rounder by turning on a good game catching for her sister R. Heagney and these two were a very efficient St. Mary’s battery. Another St. Mary’s player to catch the eye was N. Tanker at short stop. She would be a prospect for senior representative honours if she applied more concentration to her game. The final score favoured St. Mary's by 32 to 7. Details are: St. Mary’s: 6 5 7 6 5 3—32; Waverley: 1 0 2 0 2 2—7. RED SOX v ACES As a result of improved pitching by Brian Frew, Aces gave Red Sox a good game at Waverley. Frew would improve even more if he were to concentrate on a smooth windmill action instead of an occasional flick which tends to make some balls rise. H. King had four safe hits and scored three runs for Aces. Jim Richdale, the Aces skipper, hit a good home run as did S. Hopper for Red Sox. Another player to show improvement in batting form is Evan Reu the Red Sox first baseman. Details of scoring are: Red Sox. 4 2 0 4 1 1—12; Aces: 1 0 0 2 4 I—B. UNITED B v GIANTS In the early game at Gonville Domain, United B played their first game Of softball when they met Giants. For the first two innings the game had the complexion of a championship final and Giants were leading two runs to nil at the end of the second innings. However the Giants batters got on to the United pitching and rattled on the runs. Most of their runs were scored by over eagerness by the United fielders who tended to rush when fielding the ball and not steadying themselves enough when going to throw. Pitcher for Giants, Des. Mooney had the United batters in trouble and they failed to connect owing to bnd timing. He however pitched a lot of balls but he has a capable coach in Don Terrey who has pitched himself for several seasons. Prominent hockey player F. Smaller has the makings of a capable outfielder and should go a long way if he can improve his batting. United B came to light in the fourth innings and scored a total of 7 runs in their turn at bat. The final score favoured Giants by 44 to 9. BRAVES v WANGANUI E. Led by veteran Clarrie Croucher, W.E. Braves defeated Wanganui East by one run in a game that was full of good play. At the commencement of the game Croucher played as catcher for the pitching of M. Cantwell and then they changed positions and Croucher was right on form with Cantwell catching competently. For Wanganui East Fred Wrigley took some difficult catches at first base where he is showing promise as a capable baseman. An object lesson was the base stealing by diminutive Wanganui East catcher G. Dinnington. When approaching a base he got right down and slid in giving the baseman no chance of tagging him out. As a result of this he scored 4 runs. At the end of the even sixth innings the score was fifteen all and Braves added one run in their seventh turn at bat. First batter up for East was P. Bracken and he was safe on first only to see the next three consecutive batters put out. Details of the scores: W.E. Braves: 7 10 6 1 I—16; Wang. East: 5 6 111 I—ls.