Auckland bats blaze at NFC

The Auckland men’s and women’s softball teams justified their favourites tags with two early wins at the National Fastpitch Championship softball tournament.

New Zealand White Sox pitcher Jennifer Feret-Brear led the Auckland women to a 3-0 win over champions Hutt Valley in Christchurch yesterday, and former international Katrina Nukunuku was the batting star in a 5-0 victory over Southern Pride. Black Sox batters were to the fore as the Auckland men slugged 23 runs in their first two games.

They needed just four innings to thrash champions Hutt Valley 10-0 first up. They were more impressive in the batter’s box in a 13-1 five innings win over neighbours Counties Manukau-Waikato (CMW). North Harbour scored a 2-0 win over host team Canterbury, despite being outbatted five hits to two. Wellington edged Counties Manukau-Waikato 2-1 in an eight innings tiebreaker and beat Southern Pride, 3-0.

At a glance

Results from the first three rounds: Men: Auckland 10 Hutt Valley 0 (4 innings), Wellington 2 Counties Manukau-Waikato 1 (8 innings), North Harbour 2 Canterbury 0, Auckland 13 Countes ManukauWaikato 1, Japan 8 Hutt Valley 5, Wellington 3 Southern Pride 0. Women: Auckland 3 Hutt Valley 0, Wellington 5 Counties ManukauWaikato 1, Hutt Valley 7 Canterbury

0 (5 innings), Auckland 5 Southern Pride 0, Counties Manukau-Waikato

2 Canterbury 1.