[Alsfastball] New Year tri series for White Sox

[Al Doran]

Date: Wed, 03 Nov 2004 12:52:01 +1300
From: SNZ Web-master <snz-webm at vanf-graphics.co.nz>
Subject: New Year tri series for White Sox



New Year tri series for White Sox

Wednesday November 3rd

The New Zealand Community Trust White Sox will take to the diamond in the 
New Year with a tough tri series at Smokefree Ballpark, Christchurch.

A World All Stars line up and the Japanese Elite team will be tough 
opposition for the White Sox as they continue to build towards their long 
term goal of the 2006 World Championships.

The All Stars team will be a mixture of overseas based players and athletes 
on the fringe of selection for the New Zealand team.

The tri series will be held over three days from January 14th to 16th with 
the three teams playing each other twice over the opening two days before 
the playoffs on the Sunday.

White Sox coach Mike Walsh says the opportunity to play international level 
softball is critical for the development of the game here.

"We need to measure ourselves against offshore competition, it is always 
difficult to get teams to New Zealand and this is a good measure to see 
where we are at," said Walsh.

"By competing at the top level we will be able to determine how far we have 
come and where we need to go to be competitive in 2006."

During the off season the White Sox undertook a short tour of North America 
where they competed strongly at the Canada Cup as they reached the playoffs 
and upset a number of teams bound for the Athens Olympics.

For the tour Walsh had the services to some overseas based players but he 
says they will not be in contention for the home series next year as they 
have personal and college commitments making then unavailable.

Walsh says a number of young players got a taste for international softball 
last season and the upcoming tri series will be a chance for those players 
to develop further.

The team for the tri series will be named early in the New Year after Walsh 
and the selection panel have had the chance to view the early season form 
of players from around the country.

By SNZ Media Liaison: Kelly Mitchell
*  mailto:kelly.mitchell at xtra.co.nz

http://www.softball.org.nz/
* mailto:snz at softball.org.nz


Cheers Vance
Softball New Zealand web master.
*   mailto:snz-webm at vanf-graphics.co.nz

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