Rex Sox doing OK, but wary
Canterbury captain Gareth Cook is hopeful the Red Sox have a good shot of retaining their national title after a three-way tie at the top of the National Fastpitch Championship men’s table.
The Red Sox beat Southern Pride 4-0, Japan Universities 4-1 and Hutt Valley 7-0 (in five innings) at Cuthberts Green ballpark yesterday to join perennial rivals Wellington and Auckland on four wins and one loss after the first two days.
Canterbury should be favoured to beat North Harbour and Counties Manukau-Waikato today but Cook was wary that the two northern provinces had picked up good wins this week.
He said pitchers Scott Sutherland and Aiden Cocker, the backups to ace hurler Regan Manley, performed well on the mound yesterday.
Sutherland held Southern Pride to four hits and took eight strikeouts. Black Sox infielder Tyron Bartorillo, Cook and Frank Pointon scored for Canterbury in the third inning after three backto-back hits.
Bartorillo’s twin brother Travis, a pickup player for Southern Pride, was his adopted team’s best batter with two hits from the cleanup spot.
Canterbury already had a 4-0 lead when Southern Pride brought on their promising young pitcher Kurt Schollum, who proceeded to strike out eight of the 11 batters he faced.
The Red Sox collected seven safe hits in their 4-1 win over Japan Universities, with Stephen Ratu getting two from three. Cocker, the left-handed hurler, was in commanding form on the mound, with 14 strikeouts for five hits.
Cook led the hits parade against Hutt Valley with two from three at-bats and Josh Harbrow blasted a double. Manley and Sutherland shared the pitching duties for Canterbury, each conceding a solitary safe hit.
Canterbury Red Hawks women’s coach Carl Tuinenga thinks his side is building nicely for a tilt at the title after a 5-0 win over Hutt Valley and an unlucky 1-3 loss to two-time champions Auckland.
It was Canterbury’s second tworun loss to tournament leaders Auckland, but Tuinenga believes the Red Hawks are closing the gap.
But there were plenty of good signs for the Red Hawks, with former New Zealand White Sox outfielder Robyn Hall making a welcome return to batting form with three hits across the two games.
American pitcher Sam Parkes threw her third shutout of the tournament and her first no-hitter in the 7-0 blanking of Hutt Valley.
Canterbury scored three runs in the third inning of five.
The tournament ends with the women’s final at noon tomorrow and the men’s final at 2pm. Day two results: Men: Wellington 3 Japan Universities 2, North Harbour 4 Hutt Valley 2, Canterbury 4 Southern Pride 0, Auckland 4 Counties ManukauWaikato 3, Canterbury 4 Japan Universities 1, North Harbour 9 Wellington 0, Auckland 6 Southern Pride 1, Counties Manukau-Waikato 3 Hutt Valley 1, Canterbury 7 Hutt Valley 0, Wellington 7 Counties Manukau-Waikato 0, Auckland 3 Japan Universities 2. Women: Auckland 12 Southern Pride 0, Hutt Valley 6 Wellington 3, Wellington 8 Auckland 4, Canterbury 5 Hutt Valley 0, Wellington 5 Southern Pride 3, Auckland 3 Canterbury 1.