Softball: PK give Marist tactical lesson

Auckland's Marist proved no match for Wellington's Poneke Kilbirnie in the final of the New Zealand men's open club championship at Rosedale Park yesterday.

PK scored three unanswered runs to finish top of the 14-team competition.

Going into the final, both teams had suffered a loss, Marist losing to Hutt Cardinals 5-3 in section play and PK losing to Marist 4-3 in post-section play on Saturday night.

PK and Black Sox pitcher Marty Grant said the loss to Marist meant a rethink of their game plan.

"The team decided that we had to bring on an A game," he said.

"We had good defence. Their defence was good too but we have some timely shots.

"It was a very intense game. These [Marist] guys are good."

Black Sox representative Fabian Makea scored two home runs.

The first came in the fourth innings and was over the centre-field fence.

His second came in the bottom of the fifth - and this time cleared the fence in left-field. The third came later in that same innings when Bevan Martin made base with a hit up the middle and came home when a hit by Les Poutama was errored at shortstop.

For PK, Thomas Makea, Fabian Barlow and Wayne Saunders also produced hits. Marist's only hit of the game came in the top of the sixth from the bat of No 9 batter Takaki Sato, but with two already down he was left stranded on second base.

Fabian Makea was named most valuable player of the tournament, Grant was the top pitcher after giving up just one hit in the final to a line-up which included six international players, and Papanui's Chris Telfer was the tournament's top batter.

Hutt Cardinals beat Hutt City United 3-1 to win the second-division final.