Softball: Southland save their best for cup final

Southland finally got their fairytale ending in the National Provincial Cup women's softball tournament in Wellington yesterday.

They upset favourites Wellington 13-7 in the final to take the title for the first time.

Both sides fielded White Sox pitchers, but the ball was hit all over the park and one innings produced 12 runs.

Southland got off to a flying start. Batting second, they scored four runs after keeping Wellington scoreless and kept up the pressure for the next two innings before Wellington scored six runs in the fourth.

The expected Wellington comeback looked ominous, but Southland stepped up to the plate and smashed their way to a 10-6 lead.

The home side never got back in the game, and it eventually fizzled out with Wellington knocked out in the seventh inning.

"We are just softballers, we are nothing fancy - we just do the basics right," delighted Southland coach Edgar Potter said.

 

He said his players had struggled after Tuesday's loss to Hawkes Bay and the silence on the ride back to camp spoke volumes. They turned things around with a 6-0 win over Counties, followed by a touch of revenge with a 3-2 win over Hawkes Bay.

Wellington's story was a little different. "They were not able to handle the pressure, which they should be able to," Wellington coach Togi Lote said.

But she gave credit to Southland: "They played as a team and hit like a team."

In other games, Western Bay of Plenty beat Nelson 7-0 in the playoff for seventh, Auckland beat Waikato 6-5 in the playoff for ninth and Otago finished 11th.

- NZPA