White Sox relish tougher games

Coach Kevin Gettins wants the New Zealand White Sox women’s softball team to play in the national under-19 boys championship every year after a successful debut in Hastings.

The White Sox competed in the boys’ tournament for the first time last week, finishing with a one-win seven-loss record.

Gettins, who had pushed hard for the women to be admitted, said the experiment was worthwhile regardless of the results.

‘‘We ticked a few boxes in terms of things we wanted,’’ he said. READ MORE: ‘‘The boys obviously play a faster game and are stronger and they put us under pressure, and that’s what we wanted.

‘‘I thought we got a lot out of it.’’

The White Sox pitchers pitched off the women’s mark (13.1m or 43 feet) and the hitters faced pitchers throwing from the standard male distance (14m or 46 feet).

Gettins said the White Sox took the precaution of issuing face masks to their pitchers and corner infielders at first and third bases.

‘‘We only had one ball the whole week that was slammed back at the pitcher, but it was a good thing to do because it sent the right message that we were aware of [the safety risk], and we’ll continue to do that in the future.’’

Gettins is keen for the White Sox to enter next year’s tournament, saying it was ‘‘a costeffective way to replicate’’ top international softball.

‘‘It’s not about beating the boys; it’s about getting exposed to a higher level.’’

The White Sox were ‘‘extremely nervous’’ at the start of the tournament but were ‘‘more relaxed and comfortable’’ after their opening day games against Canterbury and Counties.

Their only win came against Tairawhiti from Gisborne (8-1), but they had several close games.

‘‘We blew a couple of leads. We were up against Southland 4-0 and lost 9-6 and we led Counties 6-0 and lost 8-7 in the tiebreaker,’’ Gettins said.

It took them a while to adjust to the faster tempo with the boys showing more aggression on the base paths and a desire to stretch out multiple base hits.

But Gettins said it was good for his players to be put under pressure and he was pleased that they were able to pull off three double plays against Auckland B, including ‘‘hitting the cut on an inside the park home run’’ and getting the batter-baserunner at home plate.

‘‘I thought we were OK [hittingwise],we picked up our fair share of walks and hits. We probably struggled more with the ball movement than the pace of the ball.

‘‘We left a large amount of runners on base. In one game, we had 12 hits, seven walks and left 11 on base.’’

The White Sox hitters nominated Canterbury’s Reilly Makea as the toughest pitcher they faced because of his ability to vary the speed of his deliveries at different locations.

The experienced Lara Andrews, pitchers Pania Monk and Rita Hokianga and new recruit Keri Simeon ‘‘all had their moments’’ with the bat, Gettins said.

He said the pitchers were encouraged to ‘‘throw off-speed and keep the ball down because we were never going to beat the batters with pace’’.

‘‘One of the learnings the pitchers took away was you can’t get away with wandering too close on two strikes [to the batter’s power zone] with the boys. They were aggressive with anything close and we got punished some times when we were ahead in the count.’’

But Gettins felt Tyneesha Houkamau (Colorado Mesa) and Amy Begg (Morgan State) - both back on holiday from United States college scholarships - Hokianga, Monk and Tyla Morrison had ‘‘good patches’’ on the mound.

‘‘It was great to see Amy pitch. We haven’t seen here for a while, but she’s come on a lot. She’s got a couple of new pitches, including an off-speed curve, which is quite effective.’’