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There was more transtasman sporting misery for New Zealand as the Black Sox stuttered to a 2-3 loss to Australia Green in the Pacific Series softball final in Canberra.
In a pitcher-dominated match, the fifth inning proved costly for the Black Sox when home batters James Darby and Michael Tanner both cleared the fence off Heinie Shannon's pitching to score three runs in all.
A Patrick Shannon home run in the bottom of the seventh inning clawed it back to 2-3, but Australia Green, led by the accurate pitching of Andrew Kirkpatrick, held on.
The Black Sox, coached by Eddie Kohlhase, were shooting for a hat-trick of Pacific Series titles since its inception in 2005.
"We're all pretty disappointed. We came here with a team we thought could win it," Black Sox high performance manager Jayden Moore said. "We missed a couple of opportunities, especially in the second inning with bases loaded and no outs, we couldn't score and that cost us."
Donny Hale continued his good hitting form at the tournament with New Zealand's opening run, an automatic homer, in the fourth inning.
Michael Gaiger took over the pitching duties from Shannon after the fifth inning but the damage was done.
Saturday's loss was New Zealand's second in two days to Australia Green.
- NZPA
