KEY POINTS:
Reputations count for little in the national men's softball league.
Just ask two-time defending champions Auckland and Wellington, fancied sides who both had surprise setbacks in the competition's opening round in Auckland this weekend.
Auckland lost 1-3 to North Harbour, who were well served by 2008 Junior Black Sox pitcher Thomas Enoka.
Enoka faced 21 batters and took eight strikeouts, and the only run Auckland managed was in the opening inning when Nathan Nukunuku was walked to first base before a combination of a sacrifice hit and errors got the national representative home.
While Enoka was outstanding in the defensive play Jason Gerbes was the man of the moment in the batting box.
His hit in the first inning saw Karl Roff and Leon Lambert score and then in the fourth he managed an run himself to seal the result.
North Harbour secured their second win of the round when beating Hutt Valley 3-0 before going down 1-3 to Southern Pride yesterday.
Wellington, too, began their campaign with an early loss, 2-4 to Canterbury.
Former Wellington representative Stephen Ratu was influential for Canterbury, hitting a home run in the fifth inning and having a hand in all four of his side's runs.
Wellington responded to that defeat by beating Southern Pride 4-2 and then seeing off Auckland 3-2 in a replay of last year's final.
Canterbury saw out the weekend with three wins from five games, their only loss being to Auckland 4-11.
Hutt Valley lost their first four games before chalking up a 9-2 win over Canterbury yesterday.
The Hutt Valley women fared much better, with the defending champions opening their account in Christchurch with four wins, in the process hitting 44 runs and conceding just 13. Their closest game was an 8-6 win over Auckland, last year's beaten finalists.
Southern Pride, spearheaded by Auckland pitcher Megan Farrell, won two of their four games, Wellington had one win from four, while Canterbury lost all four of their games.
The next round is on January 31 and February 1, with the men in Christchurch and the women in Wellington.
- NZPA
