The New Zealand White Sox recorded their fourth consecutive win beating Great Britain 6-0 at the women's world softball championship in Canada yesterday.
This was the first game in the second round, championship bracket of the Surrey-hosted tournament for the eighth seeded Kiwis who are coached by Hawke's Bay's Kevin Gettins. Fourteenth seeds Great Britain were beaten 3-0 by powerhouse Canada in their first round and this was considered a key game for the White Sox in their quest for a top six finish.
Gettins has made no secret of the fact he wants his team to finish in the top six at the tournament and at the 2018 world champs to qualify for the 2020 Olympics in Japan.
Mikayla Werahiko got the Kiwis off to a flyer, hitting a two-run double with bases loaded in the bottom of the first to give the White Sox a 2-0 lead. Werahiko, on fire with the bat, drove in another run in the third with a double off the centre field wall. Werahiko then advanced to third base on a Katrina Nukunuku hit to shortstop.
Mereana Makea, a daughter of former Black Sox utility and Hawke's Bay rep Fabian Makea, executed a perfect suicide squeeze to score Werahiko and give the White Sox a 4-0 lead. Kingsley Avery then drove in Nukunuku before the Kiwis ended the scoring in the the bottom of the fourth when Nukunuku drove in Jennifer Feret.
