Saints premier men's softball coach Paul Woon can be a hard man to please.
It's a reflection of the high standards he has set for himself as well as the Saints, Hawke's Bay age group and Hastings Boys' High School teams he has coached in recent seasons. However Woon had an impressive grin on Saturday which was justified.
Two of his sons, 15-year-old Adam and 21-year-old Luke, smashed consecutive automatic home runs over the centre outfield fence on diamond two at Akina Park, Hastings during the first inning of Saints five-inning 14-2 drubbing of Maraenui Pumas. Second baseman Adam, the "baby" of the team finished with three hits from four turns at bat while centre outfielder Luke collected two hits from three turns.
Experienced short stop Jesse Little also hit an automatic over the centre outfield fence for unbeaten Saints during their final turn at bat. Eight runs during their third turn at bat was the key to Saints drubbing.
Junior Black Sox utility Tiwana Aranui smashed the only homer for Pumas, also an automatic over the centre outfield fence, in the bottom of the fourth. His team had B grade hurler Carl Steffert on the mound against Saints but the Pumas are expected to be more competitive once an imported pitcher from Canada arrives next week.