PREMIER SOFTBALL WRITE UP

Saturday 2nd November 2019

By Tony Smith

Photography by DB Sports Photography

GRIMM’S DOUBLE DINGERS DELIGHT CROWD

In-form American import Maddy Grimm may well have set a batting record with two automatic home runs in the Canterbury premier women’s championships.

Longtime Canterbury softball observers (yes, even Cheryl Kemp) were struggling to remember if any other woman had put the ball out of the park twice in the same game on an enclosed diamond at Mizuno Ballpark.

Grimm hammered home runs over the centrefield fence in the first and seven innings of the PCU Angels’ 6-1 win over Halswell last Saturday to continue her stunning batting form in her first New Zealand season.

Meanwhile, the young Albion Anteaters were the toast of the Canterbury premier men’s competition with a doubleheader victory over Kaiapoi (8-1) and champions Papanui (6-3).

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                                                                ALBION 6 PAPANUI 3

Pitcher Chris Agnew shouldn’t have had to pay for a drink at the Albion clubrooms after hurling the Anteaters to an upset win over competition pacesetters Papanui.

Agnew held the ELE Papanui Tigers to four hits – three in the final inning – and kept them scoreless for the first three frames.

The Anteaters carried a 6-0 lead into the seventh inning after a four-run burst in the top of the sixth.

The score was deadlocked until the fifth when Corey Durham made base after his bunt was errored and scored on Dylan Potts’ hit. Potts later plated on another fielding error.

Top order hitter Matt Dougherty led off the sixth with a centrefield single and scored on catcher Matt Watts’ double to leftfield. Brett Coultas and Watts crossed on a Durham drive and Durham completed the scoring when No 9 batter Lopeti Sumner was struck by a pitch with bases loaded.

The Tigers finally fired in the bottom of the seventh with Black Sox star Tyron Bartorillo blasting a three-run automatic home run over centrefield.  But it was too little too late and Albion clinched a deserved win.

Potts topped Albion’s batting charts with two hits from three-at bats and Durham, Dougherty, Watts also hit safely.

Bartorillo (two from three) had the only hit off Agnew in the first six innings. The Albion pitcher finished with six strikeouts, including the prized scalp of Black Sox international Jackson Watt, who grabbed 11 Ks on Papanui’s pitching mound.

Papanui paid the price for five fielding errors.

Umpires: Dave Beaumont (plate), Rikki Thompson. Scorer: Marie Byrne.

                                                             ALBION 8 KAIAPOI 1

Albion warmed up for their Papanui victory with a comfortable seven-run win over the Kaiapoi Kings.

Kaiapoi led 1-0 in the second inning when Luke Sutherland singled and scampered home on a double by veteran Mike Mountford, playing first base for the Kings.

Albion stamped their mark in the third inning with three runs off five safe hits, including a double by Brett Coultas and a triple to James Bolton.

It was all Albion thereafter. Matt Dougherty scored in the fifth after his second hit of the game while Dylan Potts and DP Marinus Hoogenboezem added further runs in the sixth.

Matt Watts cracked a double to score Potts and Hoogenboezem in the top of the seventh.

Albion accumulated 13 safe hits off Kaiapoi pitchers Scott Sutherland, who was struggling with a knee niggle, and Jakzon Quinn. Dougherty, Coultas, Bolton, Potts and Lopeti Sumner all had two hits.

Kev Papanui held Kaiapoi to two hits (the second inning efforts by Luke Sutherland and Mountford) while registering six strikeouts and just one walk.

Umpires:  Michael Lee (plate), Rikki Thompson, Dave Beaumount. Scorer: Keri Murphy.

                                                       PCU DEVILS 7 HALSWELL 0 (5 innings)

Grayson Keepa’s two-run home run headlined a seven-run batting frenzy by PCU in the first inning.

Leadoff Bowen Annandale opened the scoring on Josh Thomson’s triple, then leftfielder Keepa brought himself and Anaru Anderson home after smashing a pitch over the centrefield fence.

Black Sox infielder Josh Harbrow – batting in the No 7 slot instead of his usual top-order role – singled, prompting Halswell to replace starting pitcher Josh Eastwood with Harrison Bruhns.

Bailey Hamilton slugged a hit off the relief man to score Harbrow and Andy Verheul secured the seventh run after hits by Annandale (his second of the inning) and young shortstop Dru DeLatour whose parents, Paul and Suzy, were former New Zealand internationals.

PCU put their cleats up for the rest of the game, needing just four batting innings to complete a 7-0 shutout.

Seven of their 10 safe hits came in the first inning. Thomson and Hamilton both (two from two) batted 1.000 and Annandale went two from three.

Devils pitcher Ryan Britt mowed down most of the Halswell hitters, striking out 12 of the 21 batters he faced while allowing two walks and two hits (to brothers Kieran and Isaac Nation).

Umpires: Michael Lee (plate), Dave Beaumont, Rikki Thompson. Scorer: Keri Murphy.

                                                       HALSWELL 3 KAIAPOI 2

The Halswell Hornets began the day brightly with a one-run win over the Kaiapoi Kings.

Hornets player-coach Shane Nalepa and Isaac Nation scored in the top of the first on Aaron Collier’s single.

Kaiapoi tied the game in the bottom of the first with a swing of second baseman Luke Sutherland’s bat, the second baseman batting in Jakzon Quinn and Josh Lubiejewski, who had had consecutive singles for the Kings.

Te Ahu Wall was Halswell’s hero, ripping his second hit of the game to score the Hornet’s third and final run.

Kaiapoi out-hit Halswell seven to five with Kings pitcher Will MacDonald mustering three hits from four against the pitching of his cousin from Marlborough, Jontae MacDonald.

Will MacDonald fanned nine Halswell batters, but conceded six walks to go with five safe hits (two of which were doubles). Jontae MacDonald managed four Ks, just one walk and seven hits (all singles).

Umpires: Michael Lee (plate), Dave Beaumont, Rikki Thompson. Scorer: Keri Murphy.

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                                                         KAIAPOI QUEENS 9 HALSWELL HORNETS 8

A high scoring affair ended with Canterbury Red Hawks pitchers Lauren Sutherland and Amy Begg collectively conceding 21 safe hits.

Halswell’s Lucy McIntyre (three hits from three at-bats) and Kaiapoi’s Jessica Fern Mehr (three from four) led the hit parade.

Kaiapoi started strongly with Lauren Sutherland, Mehr and Nerissa McDowell scoring in the first inning with Halswell not helping their cause with a couple of outfield errors.

McIntyre drove in Alyssa Lory for Halswell’s first run in the bottom of the first, but Mehr tripled to score Katelyn Bayer in the second to give Kaiapoi a 4-1 lead.

The Queens raced out to 7-1 with three runs in the top of the fourth after back-to-back hits by Bayer, Mehr and Nerissa McDowell.

Halswell rallied with three runs to McIntyre, Bev Lethlean and Nicole Baxter-Warren in the bottom of the fourth to trail 7-4.

Teagan Maxted and McKenzie Bailey-McDowell (one of three sisters in the Kaiapoi lineup) got hits in the fifth with Maxted scoring on a fielder’s choice. Mehr singled to leftfield and scored on a subsequent error in the sixth.

Trailing 9-4 in the bottom of the sixth, Halswell showed plenty of pluck to produce four runs, to Amy Begg, Lory, Emma Thornley and Meg Glading. Kaiapoi chose to intentionally walk McIntyre and Baxter-Warren to load the bases and got Sophie Yarham to ground out to first base for the final out of the inning.

Mehr and Maxted (2 from four) led Kaiapoi’s batting.

Amy Begg had more success in the batter’s box than on the pitcher’s mound for the Hornets, collecting three hits from four at-bats from No 9 in the order.  Only McIntyre, who batted 1.000, had a better average for the Hornets.

Umpires: Heather Lyttle (plate), Dave Fortin, Connor Lyttle. Scorer: Vicky Griffiths.

                                                                 PCU ANGELS 6 HALSWELL HORNETS 1

It was the Maddy Grimm show – again.

The former Akron Racers Pro Fastpitch slugger batted 1.000 with multiple base hits in all four at-bats as she put on a one-woman hitting clinic.

Grimm smashed two automatic home runs, a triple and a double and collected four RBIs.

Halswell coach Carl Tuinenga chose to rest top pitcher Amy Begg and teenager Cherie Inwood had a rough baptism when Grimm led off the first inning with her first automatic.

Grimm clouted a two-run triple in the second inning and doubled in the fourth before ending her spree with a seventh inning homer.

PCU pitcher Paige Crawford (third inning) and catcher Allyne Clark (seventh) also hit three-baggers and second base Tessa Metuatini struck a double. Lillie Simcott batted two from four and Clark two from five as the Angels amassed 12 hits.

Catcher Meg Glading scored Halswell’s only run after a bases-loaded walk in the fourth frame.

The Hornets had just three hits off Crawford and reliever Eve Mickell with Lucy McIntyre going two from three to give her five hits from six at-bats for the day (a .833 average).

Umpires: Heather Lyttle (plate), Dave Fortin. Scorer: Vicky Griffiths.

                                           PAPANUI 4 SYDENHAM KERERU 0

What a difference a pitcher has made for Pak N Save Papanui.

Since Celeste Verdolivo arrived from the United States, Papanui have been a much more competitive team.

Tigers celebrated spoiled Sydenham Kereru’s clubroom with a good shutout win at Spreydon Domain.

Verdolivo snared seven strikeouts and only gave up two safe hits – to opposite number Krystal Werahiko and her sister, Carly.

Simone Salter opened Papanui’s scoring in the first inning, scoring on a fielder’s choice.

Shortstop Bella Lister slugged an open-diamond home run through rightfield to make it 2-0 in the fourth and catcher Ashley Razey doubled to bring home Elizabeth Snow and Salter in the fifth.

Lister, Salter, Razey, Elizabeth Rice and Aimee Metuatini shared Papanui’s five hits.

Krystal Werahiko took two strikeouts and conceded five hits and five on SK’s mound.

Umpire: Rob Griffiths. Scorer: Pat Hannah.

Article added: Wednesday 06 November 2019