Softball: Samoa pull off big upset against Canada

10.00pm

SAMOA 3 CANADA 1

Samoa pulled off the upset of the men's softball world championships by toppling Canada 3-1 on day three of the tournament in Christchurch tonight.

The Samoans, ranked 15th at the championships, claimed one of the biggest scalps in world softball by beating the fourth-ranked Canadians in the pool B clash.

The win came on the back of a great pitching display by Aucklander Heinie Shannon and with the help of a home run by Kurt Allen.

Earlier the defending champion New Zealand Black Sox scored an emotional 9-2 win over Australia to remain unbeaten from three matches.

The Black Sox had a surprisingly comfortable win on the back of a dominant hitting display, and dedicated their win to Cameron Duncan, a young softballer and film maker who lost a battle with cancer last year.

The hosts wrapped up their win inside five innings, with the seven-run mercy rule coming into play as Australia held off using their No 1 Andrew Kirkpatrick, 19.

The Black Sox were on fire from the very first pitch, scoring five runs in their first turn at bat and four in their second. The stand-outs were Dion Nukunuku and Mark Sorenson with two hits and Thomas Makea with a home run.

Australia scored two runs of their own in the top of the third inning, Justin Golds getting on base on a fielders choice and batted in by Mike Harrow.

It was the third win for New Zealand in pool A, while Australia have a win and a loss.

In other pool A action, South Africa held off a strong fightback from the Netherlands to score a 4-3 win.

The South Africans led 4-1 after five innings, but the Netherlands came back through a home run by Sendly Reina and a run scored by Tim Verbrugger in the seventh to close the gap.

South African pitcher Grant Oliver took the last three outs at the plate to extinguish the danger.

It was South Africa's first win of the tournament after they were thumped yesterday by New Zealand. It leaves the Netherlands also with a one win/one loss record after they beat Samoa yesterday in their tournament opener.

In pool B, the United States scored their second win of the tournament, over Hong Kong 7-0.

Michael White pitched the first four innings without giving up a hit, and Travis Price who pitched the last innings gave up just one.

Don Garvey and Adam LaLonde both hit home runs for the Americans, with their run count assisted by two errors and a hit pitch. Hong Kong's only hit came from the bat of Lam Hoi Chung.

In other pool B action, the Czech Republic beat Botswana 1-0 and Venezuela beat the Philippines 8-1.

- NZPA