JEFERIES CUP SOUTH ISLAND MEN'S PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

4/5 DECEMBER 2021

By Tony Smith

Logan Herbert’s grand slam home run sparked Otago Whatukura to an historic win and end Canterbury’s 28-year-old stranglehold on the Jefferies Cup South Island men’s softball title.

It’s been a long time between Speights for Otago softball – most, if not all, of the current team were  yet to be born when the blue and golds last won the trophy in 1992-93 season.

While the victorious squad included a couple of Canterbury pick-up players, most major contributors to Otago’s 8-3 win were home grown products raised on a balanced diet of cheese rolls and Jimmy’s Pies.

Leading the way were three Watts brothers – pitcher Ben, catcher Cameron and third baseman Matthew (Otago’s player-coach). All three now play for different Christchurch clubs – Matt driving up from Dunedin most weeks while Ben and Cam dwell in the Garden City. But they still bleed blue and gold and clearly relished the chance to represent Otago.

Herbert, a King’s High School old boy, leadoff man Nelson Yorston and Dunedin-domiciled shortstop Mitchell Finnie (who commutes to Christchurch to play for Papanui) were other massive contributors to a lineup that out-slugged Canterbury nine hits to four.

Ben Watts – apart from a nervous moment when he gave up back-to-back home runs – kept Canterbury in check with a heady performance on the pitching mound.

His desire to win was never better exemplified when he copped a stinging shot to his shins off Jack Nehoff-Bates’ bat in the top of the seventh inning, but reacted quickly to scoop up the loose ball and throw the Canterbury pinch-hitter out at first base. Only then did Watts take time out to hobble away to recover from the blow.

Canterbury Red Sox Carl Gould has to be commended for releasing his top pitchers Ben Watts (Otago), Jackson Watt (South Canterbury) and Kevin Papuni (Nelson) to hurl for other provinces.

Gould’s gesture breathed life into an event which had been a Canterbury benefit for so long. It also had a ‘state of origin’ component with Watts and Watt returning to play for their provinces of birth.

The move also allowed Gould to give a clutch of promising players more game-time, and he was rewarded with promising performances by young infielders Dru deLatour and Cortia Holmes-Hurst and outfielder Leon Lumb.

But everyone was talking about Otago after Sunday afternoon’s final.

Gould gave the ball to utility Bailey Hamilton, but Otago produced a frentic first inning to create a  foundation for their long-awaited win.

Outfielder Fletcher Due, a pick-up from Christchurch’s Halswell club, lit the fuse with a stand-up triple to centrefield after Hamilton had started promisingly with a called strikeout in the bottom of the first.

He was followed by another left-handed hitter in Finnie, who singled to score Due from third base.

With bases loaded and two-down, Finnie (running for catcher Cam Watts) strolled in to score after an illegal pitch call with bases loaded.

Otago loaded the sacks up again, setting the scene for Herbert to smite his grand slam homer over the centrefield fence.

Baseball folklorists dubbed Bobby Thomson’s homerun for the New York Dodgers to win the 1951 World Series title as ‘the shot heard around the world’. Herbert’s homer can be dubbed as ‘the shot heard around the Octagon’, such was its importance in Otago softball annals.

Even the most ardent Canterbury fans feared a 6-0 deficit would be a bridge too far with Ben Watts, the South Island’s top pitcher in recent years, on Otago’s mound.

And so it proved, despite a couple of encouraging moments for the red-and-blacks.

Lumb, Canterbury’s lead-off hitter, pulled back a run in the top of the third, winning a walk and advancing on deLatour’s leftfield double before plating on a wild pitch.

But Cam Watts restored the six-run deficit in the bottom of the fifth, beating out a throw to first base for an infield single despite a snappy fielding effort by deLatour. Watts used his speed to steal second base and then scampered to third on a subsequent error.

Up stepped pick-up player Jayden Britt – whose father Murray and brother Ryan had previously pitched for Canterbury -  to rap a double to leftfield to make the score 7-1.

Canterbury gave their home fans a glimmer of hope when deLatour – whose dad, Paul, and mum Suzy, are former New Zealand internationals – homered over the centrefield fence in the top of the sixth and Red Sox captain Josh Harbrow hammered a huge home run over leftfield, which cleared the outer perimeter barrier.

When Harbrow’s fellow former Black Sox world champion Tyron Bartorillo followed with a hard-hit double off the middle against clubmate Ben Watts, it seemed Canterbury was on a brink of a big inning with none down.

But Watts pitched smartly, forcing Canterbury into three successive pop-ups and leave them trailing, 7-3.

Otago eased any pressure when Yorston led off the bottom of the sixth with a hard-hit double with designated runner Nathan Hill scoring for him off Finnie’s opposite-field single to leftfield.

That Ben Watts and Otago to get three outs for the game – and the coveted trophy. He led the way fielding the ball off his shins to get the first out, then got Caleb Stewart to ground out to Britt at second base and Leon Lumb to do the same to shortstop Finnie, who slapped his glove in delight after throwing the ball to Yorston at first base for the game-ending third out.

In an interesting sidelight, Jayden Britt was on Otago’s winning team 29 years after his father Murray was the last Canterbury pitcher to lose a final to Otago. It must be said, however, Murray Britt had won a few Jefferies Cup finals in his time.

Yorston and Finnie both batted two from four to be Otago’s top batters with .500 averages in the final. Herbert Due, Matt Watts, Cam Watts and Britt grabbed their other safe hits.

De Latour was Canterbury’s top hitter with two three after a double and his home run.

Ben Watts nabbed five strikeouts for four hits and two walks to scoop the pitcher of the tournament award.

Nelson’s Matt Lowe was the tournament’s top batter with an outstanding .727 average.  His side ended the tournament with a 12-10 win over a South Canterbury squad playing at the Jefferies Cup for the first time since in 22 years. Bolstered by four pick-ups from Christchurch’s Papanui club, they did not pick up a win but pushed Otago and Canterbury to 4-2 scorelines and generally gained valuable experience.

The umpiring crew contributed mightily to the final with plate umpire Heath Little (who made some telling illegal pitching calls) assisted by Dave Fortin (first base), Casey Smeekes (second) and Jill Farquhar, who had to make two crucial calls from her third base umpires slot, on a line-ball foul just outside the leftfield pole which could potentially have been a home run off Cam Watts’ bat and a sprawling catch over the foul-line fence by Otago leftfielder Logan Herbert.

JEFFERIES CUP RESULTS

Round robin

Otago 9 Southland 21, Canterbury 8 Nelson 7, Otago 4 South Canterbury 2, Southland 6 Nelson 5, Canterbury 4 South Canterbury 2, Canterbury 10 Southland 1, Otago 5 Nelson 2, Canterbury 7 Otago 0, Southland 10 South Canterbury 3, Nelson 12 South Canterbury 3.

Grand final: Otago 8 Canterbury 3.

Final Placings: Otago Whatukura 1, Canterbury Red Sox 2, Southland 3, Nelson 4, South Canterbury 5.

Top batter: Matt Lowe (Nelson) .727.

Top pitcher: Ben Watts (Otago).

Article added: Thursday 09 December 2021