The last time Canterbury had the national men’s softball title in their cabinet professional rugby was just about to make its debut, the Black Sox were the world softball champions and the captain of the side was Travis Wilson.
Fast forward 15 years and Super Rugby is now in, the Black Sox are No 2 in the world, Wilson is now living in the United States involved in baseball and Canterbury have again got the national trophy to put away in their cabinet.
Canterbury came from behind to beat Wellington 3-2 in today’s fastpitch final at North Shore’s Rosedale Park.
“It has been a long time,” captain Gareth Cook.
“The nucleus of this side have been together for three years since Carl (Franklin, coach) took over and he has stayed faithful to the players and has coped some stick for his selection.
“He is rapt.”
Cook lead by example for his team.
It was him who forced the error that got Steven McFarlane home to tie the game up in the sixth inning, Cook then scored the go ahead run in that same inning. However, it was the side’s pitcher, Penese Iosefo, who was the special hero for the Canterbury Red Sox.
Iosefo finished the game with seven strikeouts next to his name. He gave up just two hits, one a home run hit by Campbell Makea in the fifth inning.
His efforts did not go unrewarded with him being named tournament’s most valuable player and top pitcher.
In other men’s results, Auckland finished third having lost to Wellington in the sudden-death semifinal, Hutt Valley came from behind to beat North
Harbour 6-5, and newcomers Hawke’s Bay beat Southern Pride 9-8 to avoid the wooden spoon.
Meanwhile, in the women’s competition, Wellington won the title for the first time since the inception of the fastpitch tournament in 2002.
Although Auckland made a dream start to the final, scoring Sina Hunkin in the first inning, Wellington captain Alison Boys was unconcerned.
“They came out firing at us. Their sticks were definitely on fire and they got some good solid contact,” she said.
“We just had to make sure that we got our battery (pitching) back in line. Our motto is that a game is not won in one innings. We are going to play all the way to the end.”
Defending women’s champions Hutt Valley had to settle for third behind Canterbury and Southern Pride.
Men’s Prizegiving: Top Batters – Jerome Raemaki (Sthern Pride), Ben Enoka (Auck), Top Pitcher – Penese Iosefo (Canterbury), MVP – Penese Iosefo, Champions – Canterbury
Editor’s note: The win makes this pre-tournament comment prophetic:
“Co-captain Gareth Cook is confident the Canterbury Red Sox have a great shot at winning the national men’s softball title for the first time in 14 years. The former Black Sox outfielder – who shares the leadership with catcher Stephen Ratu – and coach Carl Franklin both believe Canterbury can draw confidence from their leading players’ efforts at last weekend’s Dean Schick Memorial club tournament in Auckland.”