New Zealand opened the Peligro Cup tournament in Randall’s Island New York with a 3-0 win over the California As in their opening game on Friday night local time.
It was a fine pitching display by Karl Gollan that saw New Zealand keep the California combination scoreless. New Zealand was 2-0 up at the bottom of the third.
New Zealand’s next game as at 9am Saturday morning against Industriales while it will play the NY Sports Bar almost straight afterwards at 11am. It faces a third game against Dominicana at 5pm.
New Zealand are looking to make it two tournament wins when competing in the Peligro Cup Invitation softball tournament at Randall’s Island in New York over the weekend.
Having won the Legend of Fastpitch tournament in Kitchener, Canada last weekend, the Black Sox are lining up against some impressive opponents in the American event.
After their success, beating the world No.1 ranked club side Broken Bow in the final of the tournament, the Black Sox played a double header at the home town of the Broken Bow side, losing 6-12 in the first game.
However, the second game went 4-2 in New Zealand’s favour with a win over the top-rated pitching combination of Adam Folkard and Don Scott.
Captain Rhys Casley said: “We are excited about the prospect of continuing our tour against some of the best Fastpitch players and teams in the world and look forward to the challenges ahead.”
That challenge starts with a Friday night game (NYT) against the California As.
Black Sox coach Eddie Kohlhase said: “It was obviously outstanding to win that tournament. We came over here wanting to work on some aspects of our game and we have been able to do that.”
Players to make an impact during the first half of the tour have been Tyron Bartorillo, Penese Iosefo, Wayne Laulu, Tyson Byrne and Casley.
Laulu’s power-hitting has been especially notable with several home runs at Kitchener.
“He has modified his swing and with that is making strong contact with the ball,” Kohlhase said.
As a result of Jeremy Manley being unavailable in New York more could be seen from Iosefo on the mound who impressed at Kitchener.
“He has made tremendous progress,” Kohlhase said who had also been pleased with the way Casley had stepped up as captain.
“He has some big shoes to fill with Jarrad Martin and Mark Sorenson having been in that role before him, but he is certainly on the right track,” he said.