SOFTBALL NOTES

Chronicle (Levin), 2 December 1948, Page 7

SOFTBALL NOTES

"Sltrike One")

Athietic And . Wanderers Lead Men's A Grade

(By

The men's A grade teams have two more games lo play cff to fmish the round. Wanderers and Athietic are leading wi&h 10 points each, Atnletic having a hard row to hoe next week, when they meet Raukawa. Wanderers should win their game against Achil es, which may bring these two rival teams in footbaii, pittifig their strengtn against each other for the softball championship, the final round of which is on December 11. I11 the men's B grade, Punahau and O.aki Coils B nave a game to play and, should Punahau win, they will be grade winners for the rcund. Punanau and Otaki Colts B have a further game. In the women's grade, Punahau, a new team, has yet to face defeat. Aces A has anotner game to play with Raukawa- and, should ihe former win, Aces w.ll have 10 points and be equal with Raukawa. The following is a list of the championship points to date: — Men's A grade: Athietic 10, Wanderers 10, Kimberley 8, Raukawa 6, Pirates 4, Achilles 2, Ajax 2, Punahau 0. Men's B grade: Achilles 8, Punahau 8, Kimberley 6, Otaki Colts B 4, Otaki Colts A 2, Midgets 0. Women's grade: Punahau 10, Aces A 8, Wanderers 8, Raukawa 6, Kotahitanga 4, Tuis 2. There were some very exciting games 011 Saturday, notable amohg which was the game in which Raukawa (16) taeat Piratss (13). An extra innings had to be played in this game, which was as good a contest as has been witnessed here this season. J. Gardiner gave a faultless display as catcher, but wras aided well by Slcggett's pitching. M. Taylor has a good approacxi to the game. He backs up well, pegs the base runners w'ith good snap throws and is a capable hitter and base runner. B. Gardiner, I consider, gave Raukawa the one or two necessary bases by his fumbling. Raukawa Played Well For Raukawa, it was good to see softball being played as if it was really meant. Enoka's homer wras the b ggest hit I have seen this season. B. Hakaraia is as keen on his game as any player. A fast, agressive runner between bases, he made his homer through sheer determination. Raukawa beat Punahau 18 — 9, in a game which did not turn out as easy as Raukawa expected. I consider that Punahau will be one of the harclest to beat next round. Athietic (27) beat Pirates (21) in a game of reversed fortunes. Through airocious fielding, Pirat6s ran up 13 runs in the first twro innings and Athietic had to put more than their best foot forward to gain the advantage. Powell had an off day at fie.diug, while Fitzgerald did some wonderful covering up. Kimberley had a torrid time with Achil1 es and it tcck Wyrill's home run in the last innings to give them a safe lead. Wanderers (26) beat Ajax (6) in a game which showed what Ajax can really do in their fielding wncn they try. The score was six to four in Wanderers' favour in the fifth innings. The rot really •set in then. B. Marshall had a bad day and missed hoiding many reasanably easy throws. I11 the women's grade, the new teams, Punahau and Kotahitanga, both had victories over moi'e seasoned teams. Punahau beat Wanderers 14 — 7, in a game which was a definite examp'e of a team a'lowing tne olh.'iM o make too many runs and no; being able .0 keep their opponent ; quiet. Anotner example where a team had i'our representative p'ayers and. yet faiied to bait the opposition's runs, was th° game in which Punahau beat Rukawa 27 — 21. It wa. ju'st another case of thinking "we shou'd have an easy win toc' iv," but not playing for it.