[NEW ZEALAND] – The Papanui Tigers were the only unbeaten team on the opening day of the Canterbury men’s softball premiership on Saturday.
Colin Sutherland’s side edged out the Halswell Hornets 7-6 in a tiebreaker and upset Richmond Keas 5-3 at Mainland Ballpark.
Paul Barker (2) and Carl McIlroy blasted home runs for Papanui against Halswell but Brendan Batten also bagged two home runs for the Hornets.
Papanui did the damage against Richmond in the early innings, scoring twice in the second frame and three times in the third off four safe hits. Designated player Marty Warren had two hits for the Tigers. Richmond’s Canterbury Red Sox infielder Matt Holmes was sent off.
Richmond rattled on eight runs off seven safe hits in the tiebreaker inning to beat archrivals PCU Devils 9-1. The score was locked at 1-1 after seven regulation innings at Mainland Foundation Ballpark on Saturday.
But Richmond went berserk with the bat in the eighth frame after Penese Iosefo and Aiden Cocker smashed two-base hits and Jordan Roberts followed with a triple.
Brad Annandale and Daniel Milne hammered homers in PCU’s 11-4 win over the Albion Pirates. Click here to continue reading.