Softball: Auckland men capture a rare double

By JULIE ASH


Auckland can probably lay claim to being one of the very few teams to claim two national provincial league titles in one year.

Auckland beat Wellington 7-3 at North Harbour's Rosedale Park yesterday to win the men's final, and Canterbury were never threatened by Wellington in the women's final, winning by the same margin.

The national provincial league usually concludes early in the New Year but because the men's world championships start in January the competition was brought forward, which means Auckland have claimed two national titles in one year.

"We've been a bit greedy really," quipped Auckland coach Ricky Earley.

"But it is very pleasing to have defended the title."

Auckland's run to the final was not all plain sailing, after they lost to Canterbury 10-5 in the playoffs having been ahead 4-0.

The loss meant Auckland had to turn around and beat Canterbury yesterday morning to win a place in the final, which they did 8-0.

With both Auckland and Wellington loaded with Black Sox players, the men's final was expected to go down to a tight finish.

Auckland made a strong start and were 2-0 up by the second innings with runs to Nathan Nukunuku and Karl Allen.

Wellington came back in the third innings with a run to Craig Wallace, but Auckland stepped up the pace with runs to Taifau Matai, Scott O'Neale and Lyndon Andrew, which took the score to 5-1.

Auckland then changed pitcher from Thomas Cameron to Heine Shannon, who gave up two runs, closing the score to 5-3.

But in the bottom of the sixth, the Nukunuku brothers, Nathan and Dion, came to the rescue, taking Auckland out to a 7-3 lead to clinch the match.

Auckland's standout players were Karl Gollan, who made two outfield catches and got himself to third base and two runners home in the bottom of the fifth inning, and Cameron, who had a strong pitching game.

"It was a tough battle, especially with losing to Canterbury on Saturday," said Auckland captain Donny Hale.

"That sort of put us back but the boys dug deep and stuck together.

"The final went pretty much to plan. We had just beat Canterbury and all the guys were having a good day with the bat and that flowed all the way through the Wellington game."

When Wellington came back to within two, Hale admitted he became a little anxious.

"I kind of thought, 'Oh, no, not again, not now'. But you could see within the boys that the aggression was there."

While his batters won his side the final, the Auckland coach had plenty of praise for his pitchers.

"I look at the big picture and our pitching held their batting lineup for a lot of the game," Earley said.

"When we scored those three or four runs late in the game that really put the pressure on them but the pressure was already built by Thomas Cameron, who only allowed them one run in the first five innings."

A strong batting performance was also the key to Canterbury having the edge over Wellington in the women's final. Canterbury scored early in the first innings, former White Sox member Lisa Kersten charging home.

Wellington struck back in the second with a run to Upu Lote but Canterbury took control in the fourth innings with runs to captain Cha Pouaka, her sister, Nic Pouaka, and Andreanna Duncan.

Canterbury extended their lead to 7-2 in the fifth innings. Wellington scored a late run in the bottom of the sixth innings but had no answer to Canterbury's power with the bat.

Pouaka's team had spent plenty of time working on their hitting, which she said contributed to their win.

"We have kind of believed that we determined the outcome of the game and no pitcher would be able to contain us.

"We just wanted to start scoring runs and get going from there, which is what we did."