Saturday 29th October 2022

By Tony Smith

White Sox outfielder Nerissa McDowell smashed a three-run home run while Papanui pair Jackson Watt and Tyron Bartorillo bounced back from the disappointment of not making the Black Sox to bang big home runs in an action-packed weekend of Canterbury club softball.

Watt swatted a three-run shot and Bartorillo a two-run dinger in ELE Papanui’s 10-2 win over the PCU Devils in their first club games since missing the Black Sox cut despite outstanding performances for the Canterbury Red Sox at the NFC tournament.

McDowell – named last week in the White Sox to tour Australia in December – celebrated her status with five RBIs and a 1.000 average (3 from 3, including an automatic home run and a triple) as the Kaiapoi Queens thrashed the PCU Angels 14-4 in four innings.

There were other standout performances by White Sox squad members.

Teenage PCU infielder Kaiyah Ratu (who becomes the third generation of her family to represent a New Zealand senior softball team) hitting a three-run homer against Kaiapoi.

Brittany Terrey backed up a solid NFC effort for the Canterbury Red Hawks by pitching Pak N Save Papanui to a 2-1 win over Sydenham Kereru, combining well with new American import catcher Dominique Humphrey.

In another highlight, Richmond Keas scored doubleheader wins in the men’s competition at Kaiapoi’s Norman Kirk, beating both the Kaiapoi Kings and the Albion Anteaters 7-0.

                                                      MEN’S COMPETITION

                                                     PAPANUI TIGERS 10 PCU DEVILS

Talk about a statement.

Many Canterbury softball fans were scratching their heads when the names of Jackson Watt and Tyron Bartorillo were missing from Mark Sorenson’s Black Sox squad.

Bartorillo – a three-time world champion with Australia and the Black Sox – was third-top batter at the NFC with a .423 average and a .500 on-base percentage.  Watt was fifth on the batting charts with a .368 average and a tournament-high .640 OBP.

It would be tempting after going so close to the World Cup squad to take a weekend off to recover from the disappointment.

Not so for the Papanui pair.

They suited up for starring roles in the Tiger’s triumph over arch-rivals PCU and both banged big home runs and Watt even backed up by playing the late game to help out the Papanui reserve grade team.

Despite the convincing scoreline and the home run heroics, this wasn’t a classical encounter between the two arch rivals.

Callum Bishop – Papanui’s fourth Black Sox training squad member – scored the opening run in the top of the first inning on the first of Josh Dickson’s three hits. Dickson crossed after a passed ball and a walk and Callum Muir drove in Bartorillo and Jack Watt for a 4-0 lead.

Papanui pitcher Ben Watts – another disappointed not to make the Black Sox – walked the first three Devils batters to load the bases, but the Tigers got out of the bottom of the first with PCU leaving three runners stranded.

Dickson doubled and scored on Bartorillo’s leaguer single in the top of the fifth before Watt jacked his three-run homer.

Catcher and club president Nathan Watt hit a two-bagger in the top of the sixth and scored on Bishop’s opposite-field hit to shallow left field. Then Bartorillo blasted his home run to also bring in Bishop.

Papanui amassed 11 safe hits, with Jack Watt going two from two for a 1.000 average. Dickson went three from four, Nathan Watt two from three and Bartorillo and Muir two from four.

PCU’s two runs came in the bottom of the third after Dru deLatour doubled and scored after a hit pitch and a wild pitch. Josh Harbrow picked his second walk of the game and eventually crossed on Craig Nelson’s sacrifice fly.

DeLatour and pinch hitter Jayden Potts (with a sixth inning single) got the Devils’ only hits.

Ben Watts took six Ks but delivered six walks for two hits and two earned runs.

Bailey Hamilton started on the mound for PCU, facing 22 batters for two strikeouts, four walks, seven hits and six earned runs.

Reliever Quinn Wickens took one strikeout for four hits and three earned runs after squaring up to 11 hitters.

                                                          RICHMOND KEAS 7 ALBION ANTEATERS 0

Richmond Keas took just an over an hour to beat Albion in five innings with top order hitters Nelson Yorston and Finn Mounty and catcher Matt Baxter leading the way at Norman Kirk Park.

All three hammered home runs with Mounty batting 1.000 from a three-run home run in the third inning and a later double from his two turns at-bat.

Yorston, the RKS shortstop and leadoff hitter, went two from three.

Whetu Beattie also hit a double as RKS racked up seven hits off Albion pitchers Chris Agnew and Kev Papuni.

Player-coach Penese Iosefo fanned eight Albion batters for two hits and one walk.

DP Cortia Holmes-Hurst got both of Albion’s hits.

                                                     RICHMOND KEAS 7 KAIAPOI KINGS 0

Penese Iosefo and back up pitcher Jacob Neale combined for a no-hitter against home team Kaiapoi while Nelson Yorston and Finn Mounty continued their big-hitting momentum.

Yorston led off with a home run through left field in the top of the first inning and Mounty tripled and scored on a fielder’s choice.

Yorston tripled in the third and plated on an error before Matt Baxter drove in Mounty and Whetu Beattie for two RBIs.

Number nine hitter Levi Beattie scored RKS’s last two runs after a double in the fourth and a solo shot home run through right-centrefield in the sixth.

RKS registered 10 safe hits, with Mounty topping the count three from four and Baxter and Levi Beattie following with two from three.

                                                             WOMEN

                                                          KAIAPOI QUEENS 14 PCU ANGELS 4 (4 innings)

It was the Nerissa McDowell show at Dynasty Ballpark with the White Sox star clouting a memorable out-of the-park home run.

The eldest of the three Bailey-McDowell sisters, Nerissa has always had great potential but her game has gone to another level after playing in Sydney against better competition.

The established White Sox outfielder blew this game open in the bottom of the first inning with her three-run homer over the centrefield fence.

She also slugged a triple and a single for a 1.000 average.

Raina Joseph continued her good early-season form with three from three (1.000) off a double and two singles while Lindsay Thomas went three from four, including a triple and a double.

Rome Collins-Cross, batting at nine in the Queens order, scored the side’s third 1.000 average after three consecutive singles.

All four PCU runs came in the top of the third after Kaiyah Ratu celebrated her first White Sox selection with a three-run homer, and a DP Tessa Metuatini scored later after tonking a triple.

But the Devils’ brief fightback couldn’t prevent the game ending early when Nerissa McDowell cracked a two-run triple to take her RBI tally to five.

Meanwhile, Kaiyah Ratu becomes the fourth member of her family to be selected for a New Zealand senior softball side after her grandfather Paul McFarlane (in the mid-1970s) and her father Stephen Ratu and mother Carley Ratu (nee McFarlane).

                                                     PCU ANGELS 8 HALSWELL HORNETS 1

The Angels bounced back in the best possible fashion after their chastening Kaiapoi defeat to dominate an out-of-sorts Halswell.

The Hornets fielded White Sox squad pitchers Cherie Inwood and Amy Begg, but together they conceded eight hits to the PCU hitters.

Tessa Metuatini set the scene with a two-run triple off starter Inwood in the first inning.

Stella Jorgensen tripled before scoring in the third inning and the Angels got two runs in the fifth after back-to-back hits form Lillie Simcott and Nyrissa Dysart.

They also scored two more runs in the seventh after Halswell errors.

Metuatini was the only Angels batter to get multiple hits, going two from five.

Inwood faced 13 baters for three Ks, four walks, two earned runs and two hits before hanging over Begg (two KS, two walks, two earned runs, six hits).

Halswell’s only run came in the sixth inning when pinch hitter Bev Lethlean singled, went to second on a walk and third on White Sox first base Lucy McIntyre’s second hit of the game before scoring on a fielder’s choice.

                                                         PAPANUI 2 SYDENHAM KERERU 1

Papanui continued their revival with a good win over SK in a tight game.

Paul deLatour’s Tigers seem so much stronger with two American imports in the lineup and Brittany Terrey finding some welcome form on the pitching mound.

Hawaiian shortstop Makea Kaluau clouted what proved to be the decisive home run for Papanui while Terry teamed up with new American catcher Dominique Humphrey to form an effective battery.

Humphrey – a University of Arkansas Pine Bluff graduate in 2019 – played in the South Western Athletic Conference where she captained her team and later served as a graduate assistant coach. She’s had overseas experience in Malta and Spain before coming to Christchurch where her experience should boost a young Papanui team, and give Terrey great confidence.

Terrey -named last week in the White Sox touring squad – could be pleased with her performance against SK, giving up just three hits while taking six strikeouts and, equally importantly, delivering no walks.

Young SK pitcher Johneiya Taiepa also had a handy game, snaring five KS for five hits, no walks and two earned runs.

The game was scoreless till the bottom of the fourth when Papanui DP Mya Pouaka beat out an infield single, stole second, advanced to third on Shylah deLatour’s sacrifice and scored on a passed ball.

Kaluau – in her second appearance for Papanui – doubled the lead in the fifth with her home run through the first base/right field space.

SK struck back when Robyn Hall singled in the top of the seventh, sole second and scampered in when Papanui errored Krystal Werahiko’s hit.

Werahiko was tagged at the plate trying to score the tying run after Cheyann Whyte’s infield single.

Hall, Whyte and Cassie Siataga (with a fifth inning automatic double) got SK’s three hits.

Pouaka, with two from three, was Papanui’s top hitter, with Gemma Taylor also clubbing a triple.

Article added: Tuesday 01 November 2022