Evans named Black Sox captain
Young shortstop Cole Evans has been named captain of the Black Sox – 50 years after his grandfather first played for the New Zealand men’s softball team.
Evans is only 22, but is already a veteran of three World Cup campaigns and Mark Sorenson has faith in him to become the leader of a ‘‘new generation’’ through to the 2022 World Cup in Auckland.
Aucklander Evans comes from a proud softball family. His grandfather, Stu Kinghorn, was a New Zealand representative in 1970 against a touring American team. Kinghorn’s daughter Jan was a New Zealand women’s international in the 1980s, and Evans’ father Clive – a longtime Ramblers and Auckland player represented Great Britain at world championship level.
In 2018,
Evans and his older brother
Rhys were part of the
Black Sox’s Intercontinental Cup winning team in
Prague.
Sorenson said Cole Evans ‘‘came from good stock’’ and was ‘‘passionate about the game, and passionate about the Black Sox’’.
Evans won a silver medal at his first senior world championships in 2015 as a 17-year-old, and was part of the gold medal winning Black Sox team at the 2017 world tournament.
He was the starting shortstop when the Black Sox slumped to fourth place – their worst result for 39 years at the 2017 world championships in Prague.
Sorenson said Evans was ready to assume a leadership role as the Black Sox look to rebuild.
The postponement of the 2021 World Cup due to the coronavirus pandemic would give Black Sox management ‘‘an extra year to work alongside Cole and help him get more comfortable in the role.’’
Sorenson said Evans met the three key criteria the Black Sox management prized in a new captain.
‘‘We wanted our leaders to be able to command a position in the lineup, to be coachable and not in the space where they think they know everything, and that they have mana and influence in the group.
‘‘Cole ticked those boxes; he’s a good young man with a good moral compass.
‘‘We think he’s the right generation to lead, going forward.’’