Black Sox softballers Dante and Reilly pictured with their grandfather Mua Matakatea in 2019.
Black Sox softballers Dante and Reilly pictured with their grandfather Mua Matakatea in 2019.
Horowhenua might not have much of a softball scene at the moment but the region has every right to be proud after the naming of the Black Sox softball team earlier this week.
Two brothers named together in the Black Sox team were born and bred in Levin and have continued a strong whānau tradition in the game stretching back generations.
Dante Makea-Matakatea, 25, and younger brother Reilly Makea, 23, have both been named by coach Mark Sorenson in the Black Sox squad for the upcoming World Series in Rosedale next month.
The Horowhenua connection comes through their grandfather Mua Matakatea, a former Horowhenua rugby representative who along with his brothers and cousins, nephews and nieces, played softball in Levin for many a summer.
It was a golden era of Horowhenua softball that produced NZ pitching legend Chubb Tangaroa, among others.
Dante and Reilly grew up in Levin for a time until their parents Thomas and Kara moved away when they were toddlers, and their softball journey was only just beginning.
To have two sons named in the Black Sox squad earlier this week was a proud moment for the whānau.
Kara Makea said as both Reilly and Dante were unaware who else had made the team, they each rang their mum with the news, both of them dearly hoping the other had made the team too.
"They didn't want to tell each other. Dante rang me first and I burst into tears, then Reilly rang too," she said.
"We are extremely proud. They work hard and it means so much to both of them."
Thomas Makea, who needs no introduction as a Black Sox legend with four world titles, also played a season of NPC rugby for Horowhenua-Kāpiti at second five-eighth, and played a season of club rugby for Levin Wanderers.
Kara was a talented sportswoman in her own right and a Horowhenua netball representative, too.
The Makea whānau now live in Wellington. Dante and Reilly play for the Poneke-Kilbirnie club and also for the champion Wellington team that beat Auckland in the national finals last weekend.
Black Sox brothers Dante and Reilly.
Softball had been a huge part of their lives growing up and Kara said the boys had learned their craft from watching their father each weekend, especially when they had travelled overseas to watch international games.
As youngsters they would play make-believe international games against children from other countries, pretending to play for the Black Sox.
The Horowhenua influence in the current Black Sox doesn't end with the Makea brothers. Also named in the squad was Jerome Raemaki, whose mother Christine was originally from Levin.
Supporters will have a rare chance to see the Black Sox in action with a warm-up tournament in Palmerston North starting on November 19, involving defending world champions Argentina, Australia, Canada, Japan and Czechoslovakia.
The opening World Series match for the Golden Homes NZ Black Sox is on November 26 against the Czech Republic at Rosedale Park in Auckland.
The Black Sox finished fourth at the last World Cup, held in Prague in 2019.
