Softball: Generation game for diamond duo

Generation game for diamond duo
By CHRIS RATTUE

As a young kid, Michelle Kingi collected Gina Weber's autograph.

Now, Pukekohe High School student Kingi will be Weber's pitching partner as Auckland attempt to halt Canterbury's domination of the interprovincial softball championships.

Kingi, who has only just turned 15, was included in the Auckland side this week alongside the 36-year-old Weber for the five-day championships in Hamilton early next month.

The pair both play at Papatoetoe and Weber has been a guiding force for the highly promising young pitcher, who made the New Zealand under-19 side this year when only 14.

It will be a case of something old, something new for Weber, who has had to overcome a shoulder injury to make the championships.

While her pitching partner is two decades younger, Weber will be reunited with her old Auckland coach, Stu Kinghorn.

Kinghorn was the dominant coach and Weber often the star turn as Auckland strung together six consecutive title wins up until 1990. Kinghorn has returned as the Auckland coach for these championships, where Canterbury will be aiming for their fifth consecutive title.

Weber retired from internationals after the 1994 World Series in Canada where she put on a brilliant display, giving up only one earned run and striking out 67 of the 156 batters she faced. But the New Zealand batters could not back up their star pitcher and the side crashed, to finish sixth.

Weber was coaxed out of retirement by new national women's coach Mike Walsh after the White Sox qualified for the Olympics.

Another former international, Jan Kinghorn, the daughter of the coach, has also returned to the Auckland side, after seven years in Canada, in an effort to make the Olympic team. The Olympic side will be named after the national club series in Canterbury in March.

Meanwhile, New Zealand Softball has confirmed that the White Sox will play a series against Australia in a Waitangi weekend tournament in Christchurch. The New Zealand A side will also compete in what is being dubbed the Millennium tournament.

Walsh said: "The more we can play teams of this calibre the better it will be for our own players. And to be able to give this sort of exposure to 30 players is great.

"The Australians won't select their Olympic side until April, but with this event coming just a couple of weeks after their own state nationals, we can be sure they'll send a very strong side."