Wellington a big hit in final

Jerome Raemaki and Zac Boyd’s home runs sparked Wellington to their first National Fastpitch Championship men’s provincial softball title since the 2009-10 season.

The Wellington skipper smashed the ball over the fence with Dante Matakatea on base – as Wellington routed North Harbour 10-1 in five innings yesterday at Lower Hutt’s Fraser Park.

Shortstop Boyd – a strong candidate for a Black Sox callup – followed with a three-run dinger over leftcentrefield.

Canadian national training squad pitcher Caleb Keeshig shackled the Harbour batters to four hits – including Hohepa Monk’s solo shot home run, while snaring six strikeouts.

Many of the Wellington team are still in the under-23 ranks, and veteran

coach Warren Stoddart thinks some, such as Matakatea and Boyd, are knocking on the door of the Black Sox.

Raemaki, the free-swinging Black Sox infielder had three hits, while Matakatea and impressive young catcher Jayden Stratford each had two hits in the final, which proved one step too far for Harbour’s big-hearted, bearded southpaw pitcher Eru Drage.

Stoddart, who first coached the Wellington senior representative team in the early 1980s, was proud of the way his team built to the title.

‘‘We were good defensively early in the week and made a lot of double plays. Our hitting got going against Auckland on Saturday and the batters just carried it through to the final today.’’

■ Auckland slugged 11 safe hits with plenty of extra-base blasts as they routed Canterbury 7-0 in a five-inning national women’s final.

Coach Jamie Brear’s Aucklanders claimed their first National Fastpitch Championship since 2017 on the back of their power-packed offence and Gretchen Aucoin’s miserly pitching.

American import Aucoin – the tournament’s top batter during the early stages – banked 10 strikeouts and gave up just three hits.