TIGERS TWOSOME TO THE FORE WITH BIG GUNS ON BLACK SOX DUTY

Saturday 15th October 2022

By Tony Smith

Young pitcher Hunter Simpson and slugger Jayden Britt stepped up to star for the Papanui
Tigers with Ben Watts and Jackson Watt away at the Black Sox trials.
Simpson threw an eight-strikeout shutout and Britt slammed a two-run home run in a 7-0 win
over Albion in a Canterbury men’s premiership clash at Dynasty Ballpark last Saturday.
Albion beat Kaiapoi 9-3 after back-to-back home runs by Matt Dougherty and Corey Durham
while PCU accounted for Richmond Keas 6-2 despite registering just one safe hit.
The two women’s games at Kaiapoi’s breezy Norman Kirk Park produced four home runs on the
open diamond where the Kaiapoi Queens beat Halswell 11-2 before losing 3-0 to Sydenham
Kereru.

Papanui produced their first win of the season with a 7-3 victory over the PCU Angels at
Dynastsy Ballpark after impressive batting by new shortstop Makea-Al Kaluau and Brittany
Terrey.

MEN
PAPANUI TIGERS 7 ALBION ANTEATERS 0 (6 innings)
The Tigers’ depth was evident, with two players away in Auckland at the Black Sox trials and a
third national trialist, Callum Bishop, nursing a rib injury.
Former Junior Black Sox pitcher Hunter Simpson relished his start on the Papanui mound to
take eight Ks for three hits and no walks.
Leadoff Josh Dickson scored for Pap in the bottom of the first and Josh Lubiejewski doubled the
lead in the second.
Jayden Britt justified his naming in the DP slot with a two-run automatic home run over
centrefield to also bring home Antony Stuart. Ty Bartorillo also had a hit in the same inning.
Papanui scored two more runs after passed balls in the fourth and Lubiejewski and Caleb
Stewart completed the scoring in the sixth to end the game after a Dickson hit.
Britt led Papanui’s hit parade with two from three.
DP Caleb Parsons (with a first inning leadoff double), and Matt Dougherty (two from three) got
Albion’s only hits off a steady Simpson.
Canterbury Red Sox pitcher Kev Papuni took four Ks for Albion and conceded seven hits and
five earned runs.

ALBION 9 KAIAPOI KINGS 4
Nine of the Anteaters’ 11 safe hits came from their top order in their deserved win.
Consecutive home runs in a six-run spree in the sixth inning was Albion’s highspot. Matt
Dougherty led the way with a three-run shot over centrefield and Corey Durham followed with a
solo shot to the same spot.
Durham and Cortia Holmes-Hurst, the Albion cleanup hitter, both batted 1.000 with three hits
from three at-bats, while Dougherty went three from four for .750.
All up, Albion had six extra-base hits.
Kaiapoi’s brightest moment was a solo home run by Scott Barker in the top of the third. He was
followed home later by Jack Nehoff-Bates and Scott MacDonald (the only Kings batter to get a
safe hit).
Pitcher Jakzon Quinn scored for Kaiapoi in the fifth.
But the Kings batters were generally kept in check by Albion pitcher Chris Agnew, who bagged
13 strikeouts.

PCU DEVILS 6 RICHMOND KEAS 2
It’s not often a team wins by four runs after being outbatted after producing just one safe hit.
But the PCU Devils did just that against a young Richmond Keas side, who rallied late to stave
off a shutout defeat.
PCU scored five runs in the first inning to Leon Lumb, Dru deLatour, Josh Harbrow, Bailey
Hamilton and Andy Verheul without a single hit. Jayden Potts did collect a RBI, scoring a run
with a sacrifice fly.
Harbrow came home in the second after a walk, a stolen base, an error and a fielder’s choice.
But Hamilton’s leftfield single in the fifth was the Devils’ solitary hit.
RKS rallied in the top of the seventh with Finny Mounty banging a home run over centrefield,
then Matt Baxter singled and crossed on a two-bagger by Otago recruit Nelson Yorston.

WOMEN
KAIAPOI QUEENS 11 HALSWELL HORNETS 2 (5 innings)
A bitterly cold wind, which made playing leftfield a lottery, made conditions challenging for the
first of the two premier women’s games at Kaiapoi’s Norman Kirk Park.
Lindsay Thomas set the game alight in the top of the first inning with a two-run home run
through leftfield.
The Queens then added four runs in the second frame after triples by Manawau Ruki and
Arnora Hesp.
Tegan Maxted batted in Raina Joseph in the third and Joseph also plated in the fourth on Ruki’s
second hit.
Oriana Connell slammed a three-run home run to complete Kaiapoi’s scoring in the sixth.
Joseph led the batting with three hits from four at-bats, with Hesp and Ruki going two from
three.
Teenage pitcher McKenzie Bailey-McDowell had a great day on the mound, nabbing 11
strikeouts in tandem with catcher Thomas.
Halswell were without NZ White Sox pitcher Amy Begg, who was recovering from illness, and
started Ashley Lightfoot on the mound. She was relieved mid-game by White Sox first base
Lucy McIntyre, with Begg’s usual back-up Cherie Inwood remaining in centrefield.
Halswell only had three hits, with Rebecca James leading the way with a left-centrefield home
run in the second inning. Catcher Finlay Martin singled in the fourth and scored on a
subsequent fielding effort. McIntyre, with a single, got the only other Halswell hit.

SYDENHAM KERERU 3 KAIAPOI 0
Neutral fans approached this game in anticipation of a batting battle between Canterbury’s two
top hitters, Mikayla Werahiko (SK) and Lindsay Thomas (Kaiapoi).
Thomas had a quiet day at the plate by her high standards, but Werahiko did not disappoint in
her first trip to the plate.
The White Sox infielder slugged one of the biggest hits of the day through leftfield, and had
rounded third on her way for a home run before the ball was fielded.
It was a fine way for the multi-talented sportswoman to celebrate winning the Canterbury
women’s rugby league most outstanding representative player award and the player’s player of
the year award at last Friday’s Canterbury Rugby League prize giving.
Mikayla and Cassie Siataga, who filled in as SK’s on-diamond coach on Saturday with regular
Ramon injured, were off after the game to drive to Dunedin to play league for the South Island
Scorpions.

Back to the softball…
Not to be upstaged by her younger sister, SK’s Krystal Werahiko slugged a single to left field in
the fourth to bat in her older sibling Carly and ex-White Sox outfielder Robyn Hall.
SK’s left-handed pitcher Johneiya Taiepa hurled a shutout in combination with young catcher
Katy Tahere.
While Taiepa didn’t take a strikeout and gave up four walks, she pitched well to her field, which
by and large kept the Queens off the basepaths.
Only Thomas, Raina Joseph and pinch-hitter Layla McDowell got safe hits for Kaiapoi.

PAPANUI 7 PCU ANGELS 3
Hawaian-born shortstop Makea-Al Kaluau made a big impact and pitcher Brittany Terrey
showed her slugging prowess as Papanui notched a good win at Dynasty Ballpark.
Kaluau had four hits from five at-bats for an .800 average in the leadoff slot for the Papanui
team, coached by Paul and Suzy deLatour.
Raised in Buckeye, Arizona, Kaluau played college softball for Yavapai College in Arizona and,
latterly, for Lindsey Wilson College in Kentucky, a NAIA school.
Terrey tallied three RBIs - two in the first inning when she drove in Simone Salter and Lizzie
Rice.
Kaluau doubled in the second and she and Slater later scored on walks.
Kaluau slotted another two-bagger in the third and she and Salter came in on Rice’s right field
triple.
Then Kaluau got her third run in the fifth frame, singling and then advancing on a sacrifice
before scoring on another Terrey hit (the pitcher’s third RBI of the game).
Papanui produced nine hits with their top order doing most of the damage.
Terrey hurled 10 strikeouts for seven hits, three earned runs and two walks and did well to
prevent PCU getting any real meaningful rallies going.
Caitlin Davidson singled for the Angels in the bottom of the second and scored on Lillie
Simcott’s hit. Tessa Metuatini tripled in the third to bat in Stella Jorgenson, who’d made base
after beating out an infield single.
DP Trinity Mackley scored the Angels’ third run after a single in the fourth.

Article added: Wednesday 19 October 2022