Softball: Dedicated administrator honoured for pitching in

Hawkes Bay softball scorer and statistician Ruth Dare has been named New Zealand's softballer of the year in Lower Hutt - despite never having played the game.

Dare, 55, said yesterday that she became interested in softball when her children started playing.

"I took them along to softball. But when they dropped out, I stayed in," she said.

"I've never played the game at all. I'm still a bit shell-shocked."

Dare became a scorer in the late 1970s when living in Auckland and was secretary for the scorers before moving down with her family to Hawkes Bay about 12 years ago.

She has been the New Zealand Softball statistician for the past six to eight years and is in the top grade in scoring, grade seven.

New Zealand Softball chief executive Hadyn Smith said last night that Dare was a standout for the top award.

Her involvement was above and beyond the call of duty and she did an excellent job in support of virtually every tournament and elite fixture.

During the 2002-03 season, Dare was official scorer at the men's club nationals, the national secondary schools tournament and the national under-17 girls tournament, and was official statistician for the men's and women's national leagues.

She handled the statistics for the White Sox and Black Sox, and was the scorer for the Hawkes Bay under-17 girls side and the North Harbour under-19 boys team.

Dare was also named scorer of the year.

Another recognised at the awards dinner was Auckland-based men's coach Ricky Early, who won the coach of the year award. He led the Mt Albert Ramblers team to the men's club national title during the season and the Tactics Auckland side to the inaugural national league title.

Hutt Valley's Wayne Saunders was named umpire of the year.

Players recognised at the ceremony were White Sox infielder Upu Lote, of Wellington, who took out the female player of the year title, and Donny Hale, Auckland, who was male player of the year.

David Butler, of Manawatu, was male emerging player of the year, and Amanda Preston, of Auckland, the female emerging player of the year.

Canterbury's Cheryl Kemp was awarded the administrator of the year title.

- NZPA