Softball: White Sox contenders on trial

White Sox coach Mike Walsh is looking for consistency from the New Zealand teams in the Transtasman series which starts in Hamilton today.

Two New Zealand teams will take on Olympic silver medallists Australia, coached by New Zealander Fabian Barlow, and top Australian side New South Wales in the four-day tournament.

With two New Zealand teams taking part - the series is something of a trial for the 31 players ahead of the world championships in China in August.

Walsh, who is expected to name his world championship team in early April, said one of the White Sox' major failings in the past has been a lack of consistency, something the team management have being trying to address in recent camps.

"The series will give our players an opportunity against class opposition to show what they can do and see how far they have come," Walsh said.

"I am looking to see some good softball with our players playing to the standards required at this level."

The series sees the return of Tessa Wallace-Hoskin, Shirley Povey, Angela Hammond and Wendy Telfer who have been missing from international softball in recent seasons.

For Junior White Sox Courtenay Maihi, Ashleigh Harmer, Melanie Gettins, Brooke Cutting, Okawa Priest, Courtenay ODonnell, Carmelle Sorensen and Katrina Stockford it will be their first taste of international softball.

The four teams will complete a double round robin before the top two sides play off for the title on Monday and the other two sides for the minor placings.

* The International Softball Federation's case for a re-vote on the decision to exclude women's softball from the 2012 Olympics will be heard at an International Olympic Committee meeting next week.

If 35 IOC members accept the motion for a re-vote then the fate of softball in the Olympics will be decided by a new vote where the sport would require 51 per cent support to be reinstated.