Sorenson stays with Sox
Softball New Zealand have shown their faith in Mark Sorenson by extending his Black Sox coaching contract.
The Hutt Valley stalwart, who won four world softball championship gold medals as a player, coached the Black Sox to second place at the 2015 world championships in Canada.
A young Black Sox team lost the final to Canada 10-5 after racing out to an early 5-0 lead, but Sorenson indicated immediately he was keen to continue as head coach.
Chief executive Tony Giles said Softball New Zealand carried out a review and had offered Sorenson a contract through to the 2017 world championships in Whitehorse, Canada with an option for a further two years through to 2019.
‘‘Mark’s just been fantastic for the game, for the Black Sox and for the international programme,’’ Giles said. ‘‘He has a lot of integrity, on and off the diamond.
Sorenson said he felt he and the team still had unfinished business after their silver medal in Saskatoon in July and he was just planning to concentrate on ‘‘the next [two-year] cycle’’.
‘‘I think we’ve made some really good progress with some of the guys and are growing the next generation of Black Sox greats. Twelve of the 17 players we took to the world series are 25 and under. We had an extremely young side and we deliberately select- ed them for the way we want to play,’’ Sorenson said.
‘‘The guys are making the right noises that there’s still some hurt there from the loss. A lot of sports would be happy with being second in the world, but we’ve set such a high standard over the years [by winning six world championships].
‘‘Whilst there’s a little bit of satis- faction [at making the final after two early-round losses], the Black Sox have been about success, and we want to be back on the top of the dais.’’
Giles said now Sorenson is back on board the focus would shift to securing the rest of the Black Sox management team.
Meanwhile, new White Sox national women’s coach Kevin Gettins