Impromptu park match attracts a large crowd
Softball again turned it on at Playford Park last night with an impromptu game attracting a large crowd.
This time it was the turn of the women to hold a festival reunion game featuring the local Levin United team against a composite team that included many expatriate players who now live in Australia who were in town on holiday, joined by a host of promising junior players.
A couple of weeks ago a men’s game was held featuring the Levin United Men’s team against a team made of players who now live in Australia that were also in town visiting wha¯nau, which also drew a large crowd.
Levin United’s Deanna Tatana said the midweek game was a great chance for players to reconnect as well as providing excellent training for the team ahead of their next competition match against Kingswood in Palmerston North next week.
“It was for the love of softball,” she said. “It all happened organically and it was good to see that support for softball is still there and the passion is still there.”
There was no score kept but standard of play was high. On the mound for the visiting team was Miranda Metcalfe, while top United pitcher Nikka Tatana showed why she had been picked up by Hawke’s Bay recently.
Tatana would travel with Hawke’s Bay to the National NFC tournament in Auckland later this month.
The Levin United Womens have made a good fist of their return to club softball after a 25-year hiatus qualified in the top four of the Manawatu¯ competition along with Matua Maa, Dodgers and Kingswood after the eight-team competition split into two divisions after Christmas.