Black Sox hold strong in tough tussle

[Al Doran]

Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 07:13:37 +1300
From: Vance <vance(at)vanf-graphics.co.nz>
Subject: Black Sox hold strong in tough tussle



Black Sox hold strong in tough tussle
Friday January 27th 2006

The New Zealand Community Trust Black Sox have claimed their third win in 
the Commonwealth Championship this morning (NZ time) with a 5-3 victory 
over Samoa in Melbourne, Australia.

It was a tight tussle against Samoa with the world champion NZCT Black Sox 
being made to fight all the way for the win.

Samoa were the first to get runs on the board when Michael Fenton scored on 
a hit by Wayne Laulu in the top of the first inning. The lead didn't last 
for long though with the Kiwi side striking straight back in the bottom of 
the inning when Travis Wilson scampered home on a single by Patrick Shannon.

A third inning home run from champion outfielder Thomas Makea set the game 
up for the NZCT Black Sox. With debutant Todd Grego and Bevan Martin on 
base Makea fired the ball over the centre field fence to score three runs.

The Samoans weren't about to give up the fight though with Jeremy Stanley 
powering the ball over the left field fence with one runner on to peg back 
two runs and close up the gap to just one run in the fourth inning.

The NZCT Black Sox added one more run in the fifth inning when Rhys Casley 
came home on a hit by Fabian Makea after originally getting on base via a 
double.

On the mound for the NZCT Black Sox was Marty Grant who pitched the full 
game facing 28 batters giving up five hits and three walks while taking 
eight strikeouts.

For Samoa Penese Iosefo started the game and faced 15 batters giving up 
three hits, one walk and one hit pitch while taking three strikeouts. 
Heinie Shannon replaced Iosefo on the mound in the fourth inning and he 
faced 14 batters and took four strikeouts while giving up two hits and two 
walks.

The win against Samoa was the second win for the NZCT Black Sox on day two 
of the championship to go with an 8-5 victory over the home side Australia. 
The defeat of Australia required a come from behind effort from the NZCT 
Black Sox with a five run hitting spree in the bottom of the sixth inning 
proving the winning of the game for the New Zealand team.

Stand out performers for the NZCT Black Sox against Australia were power 
hitter Travis Wilson who set the tone with the bat picking up two home runs 
and four RBI's from four trips to the batters box. Also making a difference 
was pitcher Jeremy Manley who was introduced into the game in the fourth 
inning and stopped the Australians flow of runs.

With the win over Samoa the NZCT Black Sox are the only unbeaten team after 
two days with all sides having played each other once. Samoa are ranked 
second having had victories over Australia on the opening day of the 
championship followed by a marathon 16-10 tie breaker victory over South 
Africa. The home side Australia have one win while South Africa is still to 
register a victory.

Day two of the championship has proved an eventful one with extreme heat, 
rain and a marathon opening game causing delays of up to two hours meaning 
the final game of the day between the NZCT Black Sox and Samoa didn't 
finish until after midnight (Australian time).

Looking ahead to later today the New Zealand team have another two games 
they play South Africa at 2pm (NZ time) and then face Australia at 9.30pm 
(NZ time). During the championship all teams will play each other twice 
before the finals playoffs on Saturday and Sunday.

Commonwealth Championship Results:
Day 1 Wednesday January 25th
New Zealand 7 South Africa 0
Samoa 5 Australia 2

Day 2 Thursday January 26th
Samoa 16 South Africa 10 (tie breaker)
Australia 9 South Africa 2
New Zealand 8 Australia 5
New Zealand 5 Samoa 3.


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:vance(at)vanf-graphics.co.nz

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