Softball: Kiwi students a big hit in US

Emma Houkamau (left) and Courtney Gettins are relishing their softball education in the US. Photo / Warren Buckland

Call it celebrity status if you like but Hawke's Bay softball pitcher Courtney Gettins sidesteps the tag.

"They are definitely interested in us and ask a lot of questions about the systems we've come from. It's opened their eyes to a different culture and it's fair to say we're creating a pathway for other New Zealanders who want to follow our path," Gettins explained.

The Iona College product was referring to the experience she and two of her 2015 Junior White Sox teammates, Canterbury infielder Mikayla Werahiko and Wellington catcher Kayla Rangiawha are having on their respective scholarships at Florida's Southwestern Junior College near Miami. It's the first time the college has had a softball team and while Gettins, 19, was in that part of the United States another of her Junior White Sox teammates and her former Bay catcher, Napier Girls' High School product Emma Houkamau, who is also home for the Christmas holidays, was attending Eastern Arizona Junior College in Thatcher.

The pair have been based in the States since helping the Junior White Sox finish fifth at the July Junior World Series in Oklahoma.

"It's different to softball here in New Zealand but good. Basically we've done our pre-season stuff and when we return next month the serious games begin," Gettins explained.

"It's tougher than here in New Zealand because it's every day. There's a big emphasis on conditioning and weights and lots of running... here in New Zealand you could get away with training twice a week," Gettins said.

A two-time Ngati Kahungunu Junior Sportswoman of the Year award winner, Gettins, is doing a general studies degree and is keen to focus on sports therapy.

"I believe this experience will help me get back into the White Sox team because we are playing quality ball regularly against competitive teams. The next six months will determine whether I make next year's senior World Series... there is plenty of competition among the Kiwi pitchers at the moment," Gettins added.

Houkamau, 18, did not expect Thatcher, which has a population of 16,000, to be so small. Her team's only loss during what she described as "off-season scrimmages" was against a division one college team.

She is alternating between catcher and third base and, off the diamond, has been a straight A student on her general studies course which sees her doing a language major.

"Our training is more consistently tougher than what I experienced with the Junior White Sox. Every day we have a run and weight session in the morning and in the afternoon it's team training," Houkamau explained.

"This experience will definitely help me with my long-term goal of White Sox selection within the next two or three years," she added.

Gettins and Houkamau were Hawke's Bay teammates through the grades from under-13 to under-19 levels and collected numerous national age group titles. They were also teammates in the Dodgers team which won the national interclub title in 2014.

This success resulted in the team winning the senior team category at both the Ngati Kahungunu and Hawke's Bay Sportsperson of the Year awards functions that year.