{"id":30594,"date":"2017-01-20T07:56:56","date_gmt":"2017-01-20T15:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=30594"},"modified":"2017-01-20T07:59:07","modified_gmt":"2017-01-20T15:59:07","slug":"auckland-united-softball-charging-towards-fifth-straight-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=30594","title":{"rendered":"Auckland United softball charging towards fifth straight title"},"content":{"rendered":"

By SAM HEWAT, Stuff.co.nz<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Auckland United are storming through the softball season as they look to secure their fifth straight premier men’s crown.<\/p>\n

So far in the 2016\/17 Auckland season, United are undefeated through 12 games with six games left to play.<\/p>\n

Their only blemish was an unexpected loss to traditional rivals – Mt Albert Ramblers – in the final of the Rock Chote tournament in November.<\/p>\n

They’ve since beaten Ramblers twice in the local competition and sit two points clear of them at the top of the table.<\/p>\n

United’s captain and centre-fielder Ben Enoka said the team’s goal was to win the Auckland competition.<\/p>\n

“Everything we compete in we always look to do our best and win everything we can,” Enoka said.<\/p>\n

The side is bolstered by a handful of current Black Sox players including Enoka’s brothers Thomas and Campbell, as well as pitcher Bayley Hoani, Alfons Oveinikovas, Isaac Fletcher and Kallan Compain.<\/p>\n

Those seven, plus some new additions to the squad, have helped United solidify their spot as Auckland’s premier softball club.<\/p>\n

“With seven of us being part of the wider Black Sox squad, it definitely bolsters our team in terms of hitting,” Enoka said.<\/p>\n

“We’re also fortunate enough to have one of the Black Sox pitchers in Bayley Hoani, and he’s been really good on the mound.”<\/span><\/p>\n

So good in fact, that United have allowed just seven runs through their 12 games – scoring 73 runs of their own.<\/p>\n

United’s coach Duncan Enoka – father of Ben – puts it down to the team’s focus on defense and their ability to gel both on and off the field.<\/p>\n

“I just think we’ve established a culture within our team, which is a family culture, and we’ve benefited from it in terms of how we play,” coach Enoka said.<\/p>\n

“Our emphasis is on defense, our batting comes naturally with these players, but in terms of training, we focus a hell of a lot on defense.”<\/span><\/p>\n

United have dispensation for this weekend’s club game against Marist as they travel to the annual PK (Poneke Kilbirnie softball) Classic in Wellington.<\/p>\n

They’ll look to back up their tournament winning performance at last year’s event with some of the best clubs in the country on show.<\/p>\n

They will then eye up the NZ Open Men’s Clubs Championships in March – New Zealand softball’s premier club tournament which United won in 2012.<\/p>\n

“Club nationals is the major goal, but the PK tournament will be the real test for us this weekend,” coach Enoka said.<\/p>\n

For the Black Sox players, February’s Challenge Cup at AWF Sports Stadium in Albany will be their next focus as they compete against the likes of Japan, Argentina, Australia – all ranked in the world’s top five.<\/p>\n

They will use this as preparation for the 2017 ISF Men’s World Championship held in Whitehorse, Canada, where the side will look to claim a record-breaking seventh world title.<\/p>\n

Click here to view original article at stuff.co.nz and to view photos.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By SAM HEWAT, Stuff.co.nz Auckland United are storming through the softball season as they look to secure their fifth straight premier men’s crown. So far in the 2016\/17 Auckland season, United are undefeated through 12 games with six games left to play. Their only blemish was an unexpected loss to traditional rivals – Mt Albert […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28,35],"tags":[642,553],"class_list":{"0":"post-30594","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-featured","7":"category-oceania","8":"tag-aucklandunited","9":"tag-newzealandfastball","10":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30594"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30597,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30594\/revisions\/30597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}