Black Sox place trust in three rookies
Mark Sorenson believes the Black Sox softball team’s three world series rookies have bright futures, including a youngster who ranks as New Zealand’s fastest pitcher in decades.
Sorenson is not afraid to hurl players into the deep end and has high hopes for pitcher Daniel Chapman and outfielders Reilly Makea and Jackson Watt as the Black Sox bid for a record eighth world softball championships title in Prague in June.
Watt, 21, has been added the extra responsibility of giving the Black Sox a left-handed hitting option.
This is their first world championship, but all three ‘‘got the jitters out of the system’’ – as Watt termed it – when the Black Sox won the Intercontinental Cup tournament in Prague in 2018.
Sorenson believes the trio have the ability to forge long-term careers at elite level.
‘‘Daniel has been the form pitcher in New Zealand in the last couple of years,’’ Sorenson said.
‘‘He’s pitched [his Auckland team] Ramblers to back-to-back national titles and he’s come on leaps and bounds from his under19 world championships success.
‘‘We’ve had him clocked at 135kmh, which is the quickest we’ve had a pitcher clocked for a very long time. I can’t remember a New Zealand pitcher throwing that hard.’’
Chapman, 21, reminds Sorenson, in style, of Peter Meredith, a tall, long limbed New Zealand fastballer, who won a world series with the United States in 1988.
But Sorenson said Chapman was ‘‘a great athlete who is right at the top of most of our fitness categories. He’s a strong, fit and fast man and that athleticism is a bonus on the mound.’’
The Auckland youngster would complement two-time world champion pitcher Nik Hayes and Josh Pettett, a gold medallist in 2017, in the New Zealand roster, Sorenson said.
Makea, 20, finds himself on the world series team just six years after his father, Thomas Makea, scored the last of his four Black Sox gold medals.
‘‘Reilly comes from great stock,’’ Sorenson said. ‘‘He’s not the finished product yet, but the kid got 30 hits spread between the NFC [National Fastpitch Championship provincial tournament] and the club nationals. I don’t recall anyone ever doing that.’’
‘‘He’s got a big future ahead. He has the ability, over the coming years, to dominate the game.’’
Sorenson said Watt had clinched selection through his consistent hitting performances and his ability to pitch was an added bonus.
‘‘Jacko really solidified his position in the group with his pitching at the club nationals last week. He proved he was durable and he’s a left-hander, which gives us another option on the mound.
‘‘He’s been extraordinarily consistent [as a batter] in the last couple of years, he’s always right up there in the top three or four hitters at every tournament. He’s a tough out at the plate and he’s a good team man and a tough competitor.’’
Watt – whose older brother, Sam, is a multiple New Zealand heavyweight boxing champion – said he would be ‘‘getting the pitching going as much as I can’’ in the leadup to Prague.
‘‘I obviously haven’t had huge amount of time in the [pitching] circle as of late. But at clubs I thought I went alright and I’m looking forward to get the opportunity in a black jersey.’’
Watt offers a range of skills, including a starting outfielder, a designated player, pinch hitter or pitcher and said he was happy to play in any role.
‘‘I enjoy playing in the team environment especially in a team with the culture of the Black Sox. I guess whatever role you’re in you perform to the best of your ability and you tend to rise to the occasion you’re wearing a jersey like the New Zealand Black Sox one.’’