Day 2
TAB
Australia is still the favoured team to retain their world softball crown with New Zealand’s betting agency the TAB. After the opening day of the tournament the side is paying $2.00 to retain the title they won in 2009. Behind them, and the world number two team, the Black Sox are paying $4.50. Canada, who had to come from behind to beat Argentina in their opening game of the tournament, are still third favourites. That side paying $6.50 while the USA, who lost to Australia in their tournament opener, are paying $7.50. In today’s head-to-head games The USA are favourites to pick up their first win of the tournament when they play Samoa. The USA paying $1.50 and Samoa opening at $2.40. The Czech Republic who impressed in their tournament opener are hot favourites against South Africa. The Czech side paying $1.09 for the win and South Africa $6.00 for the upset. South American team, Venezuela are paying $1.33 to topple Great Britain who are paying $3.00 for the upset. The TAB believe that Japan will be too good for Argentina, who had that heart-breaking loss to Canada. Japan paying $1.25 and Argentina $3.50 For the Black Sox game the TAB are offering run starts on the side beating Colombia.
Australia 10 v. Indonesia 0
Australia again showed that they will be the team to beat in their section at the 2013 TradeStaff World Softball championships when they beat Indonesia 10-0 in three innings.Among the standout players for Australia were Andrew Kirkpatrick and Zenon Winters. Kirkpatrick, who was the designated player, batted three from three and had a hand in five of his side’s 10 runs. He also scored one himself.
Winters finished the game with two hits from his three turns at bat.
Adam Humble started the game for Australia and struck out all six batters he faced. His replacement on the mound, Kirkpatrick faced only seven batters of which he struck out six.
Samoa 3 v. USA 1
It will take a lot for Zane Siolo to forget how he celebrated his 19th birthday – starting pitcher for the Samoan softball team and a win over the United States at the 2013 TradeStaff World championships.“Beating the US on your 19th birthday is a pretty mean feat,” Samoa coach Chris Kohlhase said.
“We are taking him out to dinner tonight and I am sure there will be huge smiles around the dinner table.”
Siolo faced 19 batters, gave up three hits and took four strikeouts.
For Kohlhase to be two from two is pleasing.
“I don’t know about exceeded, but it is a very good place to be in,” Kohlhase said.
“The US are very strong and I just think we caught them early in the tournament. They will get better from this.
“I am very happy to be where we are at the moment.”
Kohlhase has every reason to be happy as his side showed plenty of determination having conceded a early run to the USA when lead-off batter Adam Lalonde scored on a dubious call at home plate. It looked as if Samoa catcher Duane Jerard had made the tag at the plate only for the umpire Mark McFarlane to call him safe.
“The boys were pretty wound up about that, but they took their emotions into the bat and hit the ball quite hard.”
Those that punished the US pitcher Gerald Muizelaar included Gerard Long, Gene Robinson and Jerard, who scored for Samoa.
Long was especially punishing to Muizelaar, collecting two hits from his three turns at bat. Also picking up two hits was Tony Niu. His first hit scoring Robinson for the go-ahead run in the third inning.
The two wins also means Kohlhase’s side is on track.
“Our ambition is to make the top four and if we happen to make top two that is a bonus.”
“There are a lot of good teams that we have to come up to before then though.”
Samoa will tomorrow play Indonesia, who are looking for their first win of the tournament. The United States face South Africa in what must be a crucial game. Both sides have yet to record a win and a third loss at the tournament will make their hopes of reaching the play-offs that much harder.
Czech Republic 8 v. South Africa 1
The Czech Republic continued their perfect run at the world softball championships when they beat South Africa 8-1 in five innings at Rosedale Park.
For the Czech Republic side Lukas Holub, Patrick Kolkus and Vaclav Svoboda were the chief destroyers. Holub hit a grand slam home run – the first of the tournament - in the third inning while Kolkus had two hits from three turns at bat and Svoboda batted in two of his team-mates.
New Zealand 4 v. Columbia 0
The Black Sox warmed up for their first real test at the 2013 TradeStaff world championship with a 4-0 win over Colombia at Rosedale Park.The runs for the Black Sox came in the first and third inning with Tyson Byrne, showing no affects of last night’s concussion which he got during the haka. Then in the third Brad Rona, who was walked to first, scored on a hit from Ben Enoka.
Then with two outs Patrick Shannon stepped up to the plate and the first pitch he faced he put it over the left field fence which also scored Enoka.
The side tomorrow faces Japan in what is the first of three tough games.
“We will need to bring our A-game,” coach Eddie Kohlhase said.
“The strategy was to get past our first two games and aiming at the next three as being the end of our pool play with the last two a quarter final situation.”
“By the end of these three we will know where we are at and the whole phase has been to get guys ready for that semifinal situation.”
Japan will be tough.
“They are a wirily bunch, they do not show too much and they will come out tomorrow and i would suggest to have a real crack at New Zealand.
There were some pleasing aspects of the win.
“It was another no hitter for our battery,” Kohlhase said.
That battery saw Penese Iosefo start the game and Jeremy Manley finish.
Iosefo faced 15 batters and took nine strike outs. He also gave up two walks. Manley, who came in for the fifth inning faced just 10 batters and took four strikeouts.
“You have to be happy in that they didn’t give up a hit today and I think Chubb [Tangaroa, the pitching coach] is doing a fantastic job.”
“We have been putting a lot of work in, but there is still a lot to do.”
Rookie Pitcher Nik Hayes
It may have been Nik Hayes first appearance at a world softball championship but the rookie pitcher certainly left an impression as he helped the Black Sox to an opening 5-0 win over Mexico at Rosedale Park on Friday.
Hayes, who now plays for the Dodgers club in the Hutt Valley but had previously learned his craft in Nelson, came in early in the third innings and faced 10 batters, who were unable to get to first base at all.
“You can’t complain about that,” Hayes said.
“Every game I go into I look at not giving up a hit or a walk and fortunately enough it came off.”
If Hayes thought he would be eased into the pressures of a senior world championship he could think again. When he entered the game Mexico had two runners on and looked to have their confidence increasing. Hayes had different ideas and caught Jesus Medina looking for his first strikeout.
“I have been training to come in in the pressure situations and get a job done,” he said.
Also helping Hayes is the competiveness among the pitching staff.
“There is some internal rivalry. It makes us all work harder.
“Heinie is going to have to buy me a juice for closing his gate.”
Black Sox coach Eddie Kohlhase was also pleased with the performance of his young hurler.
“We always planned on bringing Nik in in a situation for later on in the tournament.
“So with two runners and two outs it was very pleasing.
“He is a little bit of the unknown.
“We will keep his feet and ours firmly on the ground.”
Meanwhile, Kohlhase will be hoping that Tyson Bryne has no lasting effects of the concussion he suffered when he slid into third base in the first innings. His departure from the game came in the third inning and forced Kohlhase to call on skipper Rhys Casley to enter the game as the second baseman something that he would have preferred not to be doing so early in the tournament.
Casley had re-injured his shoulder in the buildup to the TradeStaff World Softball Championship and the plan was to ease him back into the side and use him more as the designated player in the early stages of the tournament..
“It was a reshuffle, but it was good to see Rhys out there. It was another positive out of unfortunate situation.”
Shannon, pitchers guide Sox past Colombia
Catcher Patrick Shannon provided the power and the pitchers turned on a hitless display to propel the Black Sox 4-0 over Colombia at the Tradestaff ISF World Softball Championship in Auckland.
Penese Iosefo had nine strikeouts and reliever Jeremy Manly four, as the South Americans never progressed past second base in seven innings.
Shannon cleared the leftfield fence with a two-run homer in a fourth inning that also saw Brad Rona cross on a Ben Enoka double.
New Zealand’s opening run came in their first turn at bat, off a spectacular display of base running from short stop Tyson Byrne, who had left the previous night’s game with suspected concussion.
Byrne apparently suffered his the knock to his head during the pre-game haka, but was cleared fit to play today, and proved his clear-headedness by earning a walk, stealing second and then finishing his journey off two wayward throws from the Colombians.
“It was another shut-out and a no-hitter from the battery, so very pleasing from that perspective,” observed coach Eddie Kohlhase.
“We’ve got to be happy. Regardless of the opposition, we didn’t give up a hit today, which in softball terms is just fantastic.
“We only got two hits ourselves, but we scored team runs and then Patrick put one out.”
The closest Colombia came to breaking the Kiwis’ domination also came in the fourth inning, when Iosefo walked one batter and a fielding error allowed another on base. The Cantabrian responded by striking out the next two opponents to end the at-bat.
The Black Sox infield convened a post-game pow-wow, where their two errors were undoubtedly a topic of conversation.
“There’s always competition,” said Manley of the friendly rivalry developing among the pitchers, after Heinie Shannon and Nik Hayes combined for 17 strikeouts against Mexico.
“But I wanted to pick up what Penese had already laid out. He threw really well today, and I wanted to come in and complement him.
“We all have to be ready to come in – we could be starting, we could be closing, it could be all five of us in a game.”
After two days, the host team have now overcome a couple of tricky rivals and can now focus on the triple-headed monster looming, starting with former runners-up Japan tomorrow. They beat Netherlands 7-0 on opening day and face Argentina later tonight.
“They’re a little crafty,” says Kohlhase. “They haven’t shown too much so far, but they’ll be ready to come out tomorrow and have a crack at New Zealand – it will be a great game.
“They’ll do whatever it takes to get through a game.”
In other results so far on Day Two at the Tradestaff ISF World Softball Championship, champions Australia overwhelmed Indonesia 10-0, Samoa upset the United States 3-2 and the Czech Republic headed South
Africa 8-1.
New Zealand take on Japan at 2.30pm Sunday.
NZ Black Sox 4 (Tyson Byrne, Brad Rona, Ben Enoka, Patrick Shannon HR) Colombia 0
Penese Iosefo had nine strikeouts and reliever Jeremy Manly four, as the South Americans never progressed past second base in seven innings.
Shannon cleared the leftfield fence with a two-run homer in a fourth inning that also saw Brad Rona cross on a Ben Enoka double.
New Zealand’s opening run came in their first turn at bat, off a spectacular display of base running from short stop Tyson Byrne, who had left the previous night’s game with suspected concussion.
Byrne apparently suffered his the knock to his head during the pre-game haka, but was cleared fit to play today, and proved his clear-headedness by earning a walk, stealing second and then finishing his journey off two wayward throws from the Colombians.
“It was another shut-out and a no-hitter from the battery, so very pleasing from that perspective,” observed coach Eddie Kohlhase.
“We’ve got to be happy. Regardless of the opposition, we didn’t give up a hit today, which in softball terms is just fantastic.
“We only got two hits ourselves, but we scored team runs and then Patrick put one out.”
The closest Colombia came to breaking the Kiwis’ domination also came in the fourth inning, when Iosefo walked one batter and a fielding error allowed another on base. The Cantabrian responded by striking out the next two opponents to end the at-bat.
The Black Sox infield convened a post-game pow-wow, where their two errors were undoubtedly a topic of conversation.
“There’s always competition,” said Manley of the friendly rivalry developing among the pitchers, after Heinie Shannon and Nik Hayes combined for 17 strikeouts against Mexico.
“But I wanted to pick up what Penese had already laid out. He threw really well today, and I wanted to come in and complement him.
“We all have to be ready to come in – we could be starting, we could be closing, it could be all five of us in a game.”
After two days, the host team have now overcome a couple of tricky rivals and can now focus on the triple-headed monster looming, starting with former runners-up Japan tomorrow. They beat Netherlands 7-0 on opening day and face Argentina later tonight.
“They’re a little crafty,” says Kohlhase. “They haven’t shown too much so far, but they’ll be ready to come out tomorrow and have a crack at New Zealand – it will be a great game.
“They’ll do whatever it takes to get through a game.”
In other results so far on Day Two at the Tradestaff ISF World Softball Championship, champions Australia overwhelmed Indonesia 10-0, Samoa upset the United States 3-2 and the Czech Republic headed South
Africa 8-1.
New Zealand take on Japan at 2.30pm Sunday.
NZ Black Sox 4 (Tyson Byrne, Brad Rona, Ben Enoka, Patrick Shannon HR) Colombia 0