Bramac Aces take tiebreaker

The Blue Sox men won a tight battle over Palmerston North Dodgers as the club softball competition nears the business end.

One game of the regular season remains on March 13, with finals the following week. The men’s evergreens tournament which was scheduled for this weekend was cancelled due to Covid-19.

At Colquhoun Park on Saturday, Blue Sox won 3-1 over the Palmerston North Dodgers in a seveninning match. Bryan Taiaora had a hit to centre field on his first at bat, and then bounced a ball over the fence for an automatic two-bag run. He scored two of their three runs and picked up the run batted in for Liam Bassick. Taiaora was pitching, facing 27 batters, taking 14 strikeouts, gave up three walks, one run not earned and three single hits.

Dodgers’ Isaac Glass came home on a single hit by Mark Jones, who picked up the run batted in. Pitcher Teao Mulligan took four strikeouts, gave up three runs, one earned, five hits, two two-bag hits and one hit pitch.

The Huia Chiefs beat the Linton Sentinels 14-2, with the run-ahead rule applied in the fourth inning. Huia scored five runs in the first inning, one in the second, two in the third and six in the fourth. Huia’s top batters were Gareth Greenfield and Shane Mcgrath who batted 1.000. Greenfield scored two runs and picked up two runs batted in and Mcgrath scored three runs and picked up two runs batted in. Wayne Norman hit an in-the-diamond home run, picking up two runs batted in. Pitcher AJ Dyason faced 17 batters, took nine strikeouts, gave up two walks, two runs, two hits, including a three-bag hit, and two wild pitches.

Linton were missed by several players on exercise, so Linton BBS coach Harry Hill filled in. Linton’s top batter was Tim Powell, who batted 1.000 and scored one of the runs. Justin Grant scored the other. Pitcher Ronin Taylor faced 30 batters, took six strikeouts, gave up four walks, 14 runs, five earned, eight hits and five wild pitches.

In the women’s competition, Bramac Aces won 10-9 in a tiebreaker against the Linton Storm. Linton’s lead runner was out on a double play. Then Bramac’s second batter Aria Pahina-webster got on base with a hit pitch and went to second base on a wild pitch. She then got home on a hit from Nikki Tatana to centre field to win the game. Bramac’s top batter was Tatana, who batted 1.000, scored three runs and picked up three runs batted in. Pitching was by Marlena Tanoa and Rowena Cooper. They faced 44 batters, took eight strikeouts, gave up nine runs with all earned, gave up 10 walks, nine hits and only two wild pitches and one hit pitch.

Linton’s top batter was Kimi Grant, who batted .600, she scored two runs and picked up two runs batted in as well. Pitchers Grant and Moevao Faimalie took three strikeouts, gave up 10 runs (eight earned), gave up two walks, 14 hits, one wild pitch and one hit pitch.

Athletic won 10-3 against Feilding United. Feilding forced the game to a sixth inning, scoring their third run in the fifth inning. The top Athletic batters were Paula Darlington, Shanice Campbell and Hineko Taitapanui, who all batted .666. They all scored two with Darlington and Taitapanui each picking up a run batted in. Pitcher Manea BrownKotuhi took five strikeouts, gave up three runs (one earned), gave up one walk and four hits.

Feilding scored two runs in the first inning. Their top batter was Ashlee Hatzen who batted .500, scored two runs and had pitching duty. She faced 33 batters, took eight strikeouts, gave up 10 runs, of which six were earned, gave up six walks, five wild pitches and one hit pitch.

Kingswood Anahera won 16-8 over Matua Ma. Kingswood scored 13 runs in the first innings and the whole team scored in the first inning. Three scored twice. Kingswood’s top batter was Sarah Belk, who batted 1.000 and scored two runs. Michaela Hughes also scored two runs batting .500. Pitcher Jessica Pfefferle took four strikeouts, gave up six walks, eight runs, five of which were earned, five hits, all singles and one wild pitch.