Softball: Champions receive huge fright

Miramar let the prized scalp of defending champions Christchurch United slip through their fingers at the national women's club softball championships in Wellington yesterday.

The Wellington side led United 5-0 after their second turn at bat, but then Miramar fielding errors and some powerful United batting allowed the South Islanders back into the game.

Earlier, Christchurch United coasted to a 5-0 win over Auckland Marist to keep their unbeaten record intact.

But Miramar opened their game against the champions with a flourish that had the normally composed United team showing signs of panic in the early stages.

Leadoff batter Amy Stead gave Miramar a dream start by making base on a United error and scoring on a Lisa Gibson left-field hit in the first inning.

Miramar batters then turned three hits off pitcher Becky Haeata into four runs at the bottom of the second inning.

Marianne Cherrington, Fiona Pou, Penny Adams and Oriwa Bahler crossed home plate before Christchurch took the first out.

But then United showed the resilience that made them champions last year and favourites this season.

They applied the pressure by getting Carley McFarlane and Char Pouaka home in the third inning to cut the deficit before moving to within one run of Miramar in the fifth with automatic home runs from Rhonda Hira and Pouaka.

Errors crept into Miramar's game as the pressure increased, but they held out until the seventh inning.

United batter Melanie Hulme was hit by a pitch that put her on first base.

She was joined by Pouaka, who hit safely for the third time in four turns at bat, and both were batted in by United's Australian import Amanda Curry for a 6-5 win.

The tournament is shaping up as a two-team race between United and Hutt Valley Cardinals, who are also unbeaten, having cleaned out Johnsonville 9-0 yesterday and followed that with a 10-0 demolition of Hutt Dodgers.

But in an all-Auckland contest, Papatoetoe beat Marist 10-1 to keep their semifinal hopes alive.

Lacy Parsons, Tessa Wallace and Michelle Kingi scored all but two of the runs.

Earlier, Papatoetoe had gone down 2-1 to Hutt Dodgers, having gone ahead in the third innings when Casey Roper hit to centrefield and was batted in by Wallace.

But two runs at the top of the seventh, combined with two Papatoetoe errors and an intentional walk let Dodgers in.

Pitcher Michelle Kingi gave up five hits to the 30 batters she faced, while taking seven strikeouts.

- NZPA