Huia Chiefs eye semifinal result for men’s club decider opponent
The Huia Chiefs secured their spot in the men’s club decider heading into finalsweekend.
Huia qualified for this afternoon’s final at Colquhoun Park and will play thewinner of the semifinal between Blue Sox and Palmerston North Dodgers, which is earlier in the day.
Feilding United and Athletic will clash in the women’s final after winning their respective semifinals.
Huia got off to a good start, scoring two runs in the first inning, but there was nothing until the fourth inning, two in the fifth and one in the sixth.
They only had seven hits in the seven innings and only one was a two bagger. The rest were singles.
Huia’s top batters were brothers AJ and Kelly Dyason, who batted 0.500, with AJ getting the two-bag hit.
AJ also picked up two runs batted in. Kelly was pitching, facing 26 batters, giving up no runs, three hits, four walks and taking seven strikeouts.
Blue Sox had no answer, with Liam Bassick batting 1.000.
Pitcher Tre Wihongi faced 36 batters, also took seven strikeouts, and gave up six runs, with four earned, seven hits and four walks.
Palmerston North Dodgers
won 10-3 against Linton Sentinels
in a close game until the seventh inning.
Linton scored first in the second inning, then Dodgers scored in the third. Both teams scored two each in the fifth inning.
In the seventh inning, Dodgers took off with the bat, hitting five strikes, two ofwhich were two baggers, and they scored seven runs before Linton could shut them down.
Dodgers’ top batterwas Chase Pauro, who batted 0.666. Daniel Hita and Isaac Glass picked up two runs batted in each.
Pitcher Teao Mulligan faced 26 batters, took 12 strikeouts, and gave up three runs, two earned, five hits and one walk.
Linton’s top batters all batted .500: Justin Grant, Ronin Taylor and JJ Aull.
Grant and Taylor were two of the three run scorers, with Ace Raea the third.
Taylor was pitching and faced 42 batters, took 10 strikeouts, and gave up 10 runs, seven earned, 12 hits and five walks.
In the women’s competition, Feilding qualified for the final with a tight 18-16 win over Linton Storm.
Feilding started scoring one run in each of the first four innings.
But they took offwith their scoring, taking advantage of fielding errors and walks, scoring six runs in the fifth inning, six in the sixth inning and three in the seventh.
Their top batter was Olivea More-smith, who batted 0.750, scored two runs and picked up four runs batted in.
Pitchers Jacindamiller, Stacey Rohloff and Ashlee Hatzen faced 45 batters, gave up 16 runs, 11 earned, 12 hits, nine walks and took four strikeouts.
Linton started with a hiss and a roar and it looked like the runahead rulewas going to be implemented.
They scored five runs in the first inning, five in the second, one in the fifth and sixth, then four in the seventh. Their top batterwas Amy Williams, who batted 1.000, scored a run and picked up a run batted in.
Pitchers Moevao Faimalie and Kimi Grant faced 48 batters, gave up 18 runs, 12 earned, 15 hits, eight walks and took four strikeouts.
Athletic won their semifinal comfortably 12-1 over Bramac Aces, with Athletic dominating from the start. The run-ahead rule was invoked in the fourth inning.
Therewere a lot of hits strung together, which made it easy for Athletic, while for Bramac the hits went over their heads or into the gaps.
Athletic’s top batters were Paula Darlington and Shanice Campbell, who batted 1.000.
Darlington scored three runs and Campbell two runs and two runs batted in.
Pitcher Mania Kotuhi-brown faced 16 batters, gave up one run which wasn’t earned, two hits, one walk and took three strikeouts.
Bramac’s run was scored by Rowena Cooper in the fourth inning.
Aria Webster and Reiko Broughton, who both batted 0.500, were their top batters. Pitcher Marlena Tanoa faced 26 batters, gave up the 12 runs all earned, 12 hits, five walks and took three strikeouts.
In the other game, Kingswood Anahera won 13-1 over Matua Ma.
Men’s senior reserve championship results: Palmerston North Dodgers 14 Athletic 0, Kingswood Demons 15 Levin United 0, Whanganui Braves 10
Castlecliff Mustangs 8.
Men’s senior plate results: Panthers defaulted to Feilding United, Raiders 14 Blue Sox 4, Bramac Bombers 15 Cowboys 14, Huia Warriors 16 Linton BBS 7.
There is a second division secondary schools tournament at Colquhoun Park on March 22-26. Finals draw:
Reserves plate final: Raiders Softball Club v Huia Warriors, 11am, diamond two.
Reserves championship 3 v 4: Levin United v Athletic, 11am, diamond three.
Reserves plate 3 v 4: Bramac Bombers v Feilding United, 11am, diamond four
Women’s final: Feilding United v Athletic, 11am, diamond one.
Men’s premier semifinal: Blue Sox v Palmerston North Dodgers, diamond two.
Men’s reserves championship final: Kingswood Demons v Palmerston North Dodgers, 1pm, diamond one
Women’s 3 v 4: Bramac Aces v Linton Storm, 1pm, diamond three.
Men’s premier final: Huia Chiefs v TBC, 3pm, diamond one.