Brother Patrick Memorial Tournament

Sat Feb 4 20:58:38 EST 2006

Received: 2/4/06 7:56:02 PM 
From:  Vance <vance at vanf-graphics.co.nz>   
Subject:  Brother Patrick Memorial Tournament  

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Brother Patrick Memorial, from Trevor Rowse
4 February 2006

   It has been almost 30 years since Metro won the BrotherPatrick
Memorial series, for the first and only time.
   Metro went through a golden season and then faded back tothe
also-ran status but this season there are signs that the confidence,the
ability and the squad is there, and not only to win this event.
   Metro beat the visiting Japanese under-23 squad 7-0 andUnited
10-2 in commanding displays. It was a day of big home runs with
29going over the fence in the first 12 games. And the big internationalplayers
were hitting most of them.
   It was a painful day for pitchers, with worse to come in theheat.

Metro 7 v Japan U-23 0.
   Kurt Allan hit two home runs, the first with hitter DionNukunuku
on base in the first and the second with Nukunuku (walk) andhitter
Bevan Martin in the third for five RBIs. Garth Pollard hit to
leftfield in the fifth before Martin slammed another homer with
TerrenceHibbert taking a two-hitter. Bernard Hale managed the
seventh Metrohit.
   Lead-off batter Takashi Nagaoka started Japan off well butthe
only other shot was from Shinj Kanamura in the third.

Metro 10 United 2.
   The first two runs came from walks to Roman Gabriel andMichael
Fenton in the first, with no follow up hits. Then Michael Niu
andDes Pemerika hit with none down in the second before Garth
Pollard, thequiet guy on the field, hit over centre field. Gabriel
followed with ahit, with still none out and Fenton hit over centre.
   There was an out, then a walk to Allan and a fiercegrass-cutter
drive to the left field fence by Duane Jerard which allowedAllan
to sprint to third and then carry on at a stroll for the sixth
runof the inning.
   Things went quiet when Isaac Fletcher took over the hurling,until
Josh Cooke, given a turn in the fifth, hit and up stepped hisfather
Michael Fenton, who hit his second homer of the tie. Allanfollowed
with a hit but the game fizzled out.
   Brock Williams hit on to base for United in the first afterBen
Enoka had doubled and been tagged at home. Tony Niu hit over
thefence for United’s only runs.

St Michaels Rotorua Marist 6 United 5 in a tiebreaker.
   Pitcher Sebastian Geravasuiti pitched a six-hitter andscored
two runs, aided by a Jason Gerber home run and some grafting
onthe bases. Gerber hit three home in the fifth to tie the game
afterUnited had surged into an early lead.
   But the four in the first inning, from a double by CarlHiko,
a walk to Williams, a bunt by Tony Niu and a single from Fletcher,who
came home on a series of errors, and the unearned second inning
runfrom Alfons Overienikovas, were wasted in the tiebreaker as
Geravasuititook three straight strikeouts to leave the runner
stranded.

Mt Albert Ramblers 3 St Michaels Rotorua Marist 0
   The Rotorua side came to Auckland with rave reviewsafter a
win in the Ray Joseph Memorial in Hamilton last week. The sidehas
been searching for games, sporting some lively Argentines and
formertop player Shane Hunuhunu.
   The team had its chances in the loss to Ramblers as the VicGuth
champions failed to sparkle or even spark. 
   Nathan Nukunuku did his job with a first inning triple andcame
home on a fielder’s choice, with Travis Wilson hitting a single
withno one to follow him. Jason Halloran walked in the second
and scored onpassed balls and an error, with Nukunuku scoring
later in the inningafter an error, a stolen base and a double
from Donny Hale.
   Hale should have had a home run in the fifth when his shotbounced
off the building and was still in play, but was  treated asa
ground rule triple.
   Great news for Ramblers was the return to the mound ofpitcher
Thomas Cameron after hand injuries. His pitching and fielding
wasfirst class.

Northcote v Waitakere Bears. 
   Struggling behind the pitching of Brad Rona, Northcote stillbeat
Waitakere Bears 8-7 in the tiebreaker, saved by the big hitters.
Inthe winter third base Rona and Waitakere Bears’ catcher Paddy
Shannonboth play for County Materials in the Wisconsin area and
the side won theUS championship.
   In today’s play they both pitched and gave each other a hardtime,
each taking two home runs in a sparkling display during a day
ofalmost thirty home runs. Rona scored in the third and fifth
turns, afterhitting a single in the first. Each time there was
no runner onbase.
   Shannon hit his in the third and fourth as Bears surged intoaction,
catching up at 7-7 and each time they were solo shots. But ScottDixon
had already hit a two-run homer before him in the fourth. DerrekColeman
also hit a home run, his second of the day, but not of thatgame.
   Faced with Shannon in the tiebreaker, fresh pitcher ToddGrego
gave him a walk and then struck out the last two batters in athrilling
game.

Marist 3 Japan 2.
   All season it has been a battle for the young catcherJonathan
Munden as he tried hard to save his Black Sox spot, so wellearned
last season. Working with solo Marist pitcher Heinie Shannon,
thegallant Samoa international, he has tried to hold together
a re-builtMarist team, a shadow of the unit of a few years ago.
   Against Japan he gained his confidence with two home runswhich,
combined with Shannon’s first inning single to score Takaki Sato,the
Japanese star who got away, were enough to win the match. 
   Shannon did allow six hits but Japan left runners on baseunder
pressure.

Ramblers 2 Japan Under 23 0.
   The national champion team did not fire with only threehits
against the three visiting pitchers, just out of the off-season.
Theruns, a third inning Nathan Nukunuku effort, was started with
an errorand scored on a sacrifice.
   In the sixth the former baseballer Travis Allan hit tocentre
field, stole a base, went to third on a passed ball and scored
ona sacrifice. John Hireme kept up his improvement with athree-hitter.

Northcote 7 Marist 4
   Three home runs undid Marist. Once again it was Rona andColeman
chiming in, aided by former Marist star Dean Wallace, MrReliable.
   Rona forced an error in the first and Luis Joglar hit himhome,
then scored on a Casey Eden shot.
   Munden hit to start the first and Sato, the former Japaneseunder
19 player who got away to Auckland, hit him home. He scored againin
the third after a walk, a wild pitch and a hit by Carlaus TeKawa.
   In the fourth it was Marist pitcher Shannon with a big homerun
to score Damien Nairn to make it 4-4 but errors in the tiebreakerwith
a David Down walk and the Coleman homer did for Marist, which
hadnine hits, seven from Grego and two from Coleman, who relieved
in thefifth.

   The day’s umpires were Jeff Weber, Andrew Laird, Les Haslam,Andrew
Lawson, Tony Cathro and Richard Gale and they shared the 16 games,leaving
them tired and heat affected. The big tournament in Hamilton
hascut down those available.
   The scorers were the same, with Frances Harlick organisingthem,
Jan Hutchings collating the statistics with Lynnette Leathart,Adrienne
Weller, Nicky Woon and Harriet Tomlin doing most of thegames.

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Cheers Vance 
Softball New Zealand web master.
* Email:vance at vanf-graphics.co.nz 

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