The Czech Republic National Softball team opened their campaign last night 8/2/2018. (February 8, 2018) A night game v Brad Rona’s Northcote Premier Men Club side.
Northcote run out victors 5-1. Starting pitcher Pita Rona got the win. With Northcote’s 17 year old raising star Dylan Fraser-List came in relief for 3 innings and then Rona reentered to closed out the match & secure the win.
Northcote’s Head Coach Russel Hall comments:“We are happy with our performance last night against Czech Republic. We felt as a team we could & should have put on a few more runs. In fairness to the Czechs they hadn’t not long been in the country so were a little rusty. With that though it always great to play against International Teams and to come away with a victory even better still.Special mention to Hohepa Monk our MVP for the night. Pita Rona again another great pitching display both as a starter & coming back in relief. Dylan Fraser-List who gave us an some middle relief pitching of the highest quality to set up our win. Also a special thanks to the umpires, our management team & supporters who helped out with the aftermatch function, the patrons at the Wairau Sports Bar with our Waiata’s, also a big thankyou to our sponsor Alan “Scuppy” Vaughan of the Wairau Sports Bar for our hosting all if us last night its very much appreciated”
Czech Republic Head Coach Tomáš Kusý comments on yesterday’s match: “I am satisfied with the way the team worked. It was our first game after about 5 months. It’s the middle of winter for us – we only practice indoors with soft balls, so it was a good start”
On the tour:>”We came here to learn from the best in the world. Our goal is to collect as much experience as possible, and build on that experience hopefully at the 2019 Worlds. We’d like to play our best ball in as many games as possible and be a strong opponent for any team we face.”
Here is the link to last nights match which was streamed live on “Northcote Softball Club NZ” FB page https://www.facebook.com/Northcote.Softball/videos/726118010932853/ & (Part 2) https://www.facebook.com/Northcote.Softball/videos/726168880927766/
The Czech Republic will play another exhibition international tonight @ 7pm NZT v the Roosters Premier Men Team. It will be streamed live from “Roosters Softball Club” FB page. https://m.facebook.com/roosterssoftball/
Attached is the media guide & here is the link to the Czech Republic National Squad http://softball.cz/modules.php?op=modload&name=repre&file=index&do=roster&rtid=2&rrok=2018&raid=0&pda=2&admina=&index=0
Editor’s note: Update from New Zealand at 5pm PDT Westcoast time here in the US:
Roosters game was cancelled last night due to rain.
2.20pm here Saturday
Raining at the mo. Games have been moved back 1 hour. So now 5pm, 7pm & 9pm
Another meeting at 3pm to assess weather.