Softball: Marist bow out in club semifinals

The Auckland Marist softball team had to settle for third equal at the New Zealand open men's club championships in Christchurch on a day of upsets yesterday.

Marist and defending champions Poneke-Kilbirnie, from Wellington, both went into the playoffs unbeaten but PK were bundled out in the quarter-finals, losing to Hutt City United 0-3 and Marist went out in the semifinals, beaten 6-3 by Christchurch United.

In the final, for the John Lennon Trophy, Christchurch United beat Hutt Cardinals 6-3. The game was tied up at 3-3 going into the bottom of the seventh, when Gareth Cook clinched the win for the home team with a three-run automatic home run.

Earlier, for Cardinals, Darren Rea, Malcolm Namana and Darryl Marino had all put the ball out of the park.

Marist had to produce a monumental comeback to get through their quarter-final earlier in the day. They trailed Mt Albert Ramblers 1-7 before coming back to win 8-7, scoring seven runs in their last two turns at bat.

But in the semifinals, Marist had run out of tricks and lost, despite out-hitting Christchurch United 10-8. Marist left 10 runners on base compared to United's four.

United scored first, Cook hitting a double to centrefield in the bottom of the second innings and scoring on a wild pitch. Marist came back with two runs in the top of the third innings. Lead-off Dion Nukunuku hit safely and came home when his brother, Nathan, put the ball over the right-field fence for a home run.

But in the bottom of the third, United hit the front again when Darren Davies was batted in by Cook and Blair Murphy thumped a three-run homer. Both teams added one more run, but Marist had nothing left in the tank and bowed out of the title race.

David Gollan started on the mound for Marist and gave up six hits while taking four strikeouts. Heine Shannon came in as relief and faced the last eight batters for two hits and two strikeouts. For Christchurch United, Greg Newton went the distance, taking seven strikeouts.

In the other semifinal, Hutt Valley Cardinals beat Hutt City United 10-4, while in the quarter-finals, Cardinals had beaten Miramar 9-0 and Christchurch United had beaten Northcote 4-2. Johnsonville won the second division while Papanui of Christchurch took out the third.