Railways Favoured To Take Softball Trophy

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31001, 5 March 1966, Page 13

Railways Favoured To Take Softball Trophy

Railways (Hutt Valley), attempting its sixth successive win, took a strong hold on the John Lennon Trophy after the first day’s play in the New Zealand men’s inter-club softball tournament at Edgar Mclntosh Park yesterday.

In a day of upsets Broadway (Wellington), which had been expected to give Railways a very testing time, was defeated by Ramblers (Auckland). Almost as surprising was Ramblers defeat by Marist, also from Auckland and positioned lower in that province’s championship. Railways won all three of their matches; Broadway and Ramblers won two: Marist and Dodgers (Dunedin) one each. The Christchurch team. Avon, suffered three losses. Results: — Round 1: Ramblers 6, Broadway 5; Railways 3, Marist 0; Dodgers 8, Avon 3. Round 2: Broadway 2, Marist 1; Railways 5, Avon 0; Ramblers 2, Dodgers 0. Round 3: Marist 4, Ramblers 1; Broadway 11, Avon 1; Railways 3, Dodgers 1. Fine Performances The conditions were far from good and only in the third round did the players enjoy a hard surface. Apart from the upsets and superb team efforts there were many fine individual performances. The national trialist pitcher, G. Tattersfield (Dodgers), struck out the remarkable tally of 14 batters in the seven-innings game against Avon. But the Railways pitcher. W. Massey, towered over all others as he continuously struck out and bamboozled all batters until M. Clyma (Dodgers) hit a home run late in the day. P. Rogers pitched well for Ramblers until the Marist batters, R. Blowers and P Buffalora, hit home runs off successive pitches.

Two matches were forced into extra innings. The tightest was that between Ramblers and Dodgers. It was not until the ninth innings that the Ramblers batters, R. Jackson and P. Common, scored the only runs of the match. Ramblers were also involved in the other extra-innings match. This ended in the eighth innings when P. Joll came home on a catcher’s error. Avon’s match against Broadway lasted only five innings. The strong Broadway batting swept Avon aside to score 11 runs. Railways began confidently with a solid victory over Marist. It received unexpected opposition from Avon and scored only five runs. B. Herbert (two) and A. Leslie supplied Railways’ three runs in reply to Clyma’s home run for Dodgers. Although its two most difficult matches will be played today, Railways have looked very confident so far and it is difficult to see the

John Lennon Trophy finding a new owner. Ramblers’ downfall to their fellow Auckland team, Marist, came as a surprise for they had looked a class better in the earlier rounds. The reputation of inconsistency that Marist have earned was fully borne out. Broadway conceded three runs in one innings—two by errors—to lose its match against Ramblers. Apart from these indiscretions it played well but the mistakes were vital. To have any chance of winning the trophy it must beat Railways today—and then possibly face a replay. To beat Railways twice would probably be too formidable a feat. Avon played poorly and never looked as if it would win a game. M. R. Napier and A. Ballantyne, in particular, did not live up to their bat ting reputations. A home run by P. Campbell against Broadway was Avon's only moment of glory.