Softball: Auckland trounce Counties

Auckland thumped Counties 15-0 on the opening day of the men's national softball championships in Auckland yesterday.

David Gollan was on the mound for Auckland when the mercy rule was invoked to end the game early, but the scoreline was not the biggest of the day. That came in the Wellington-Western Bay of Plenty match, won by Wellington 19-0.

Hutt Valley opened their title defence with a 6-1 win over Canterbury.

The young Canterbury side out-hit Hutt Valley 8-4, but let themselves down with five walks and a couple of costly fielding errors.

Canterbury pitcher Nico Maat did not give up a hit until the fifth innings, but then the floodgates opened as Hutt Valley combined hits from Craig Symons and Malcolm Namana with two errors to score four runs.

They added two more in the sixth innings after Craig Wallace was walked and was joined on base by Joseph OLeary, who hit safely up the middle. Both came home on a hit by lead-off Rhys Casley.

Canterbury's only run of the game came in the fourth innings when Jamie Frisby made base with an infield hit and was batted in by Hadyn Hopgood.

Despite having internationals Clayton Willocks and Darren Rea in their side, the New Zealand Defence Forces team lost to North Harbour 0-8 and the Junior Black Sox 1-4.