Keas flying high at Doreen Dalton tournament
October 21, 2006
Lower Hutt, NZ
Keas flying high at Doreen Dalton tournament
Saturday October 21st 2006
It may be their first outing at the Doreen Dalton Memorial premier onemen’s softball tournament but that has not stopped Richmond Keas fromupsetting the form books on the opening day today at Fraser Park, LowerHutt.
In a tough schedule today the Christchurch based Keas side have anunbeaten record after three consecutive games. They opened the day withan 8-5 win over Northcote and then backed that up with a 7-0 win overHutt Valley Cardinals. To round out the day Keas then had a resounding18-3 victory against Johnsonville.
Keas coach Dave Pouaka was a happy man at the end of the days play andlooking forward day two and hopefully a continuation of the winning form.
“We have a young team and the main reason for coming up here was to keeplearning and keep progressing. Three from three is a good day for us butit is only the first day of the tournament so we have to keep it going,”said Pouaka.
Throughout the day power hitting has been a feature of the Keas’ play asthey have scored runs consistently while they have also shown fightingspirit to come from behind in two of the games today.
Against Northcote after taking the early advantage they then foundthemselves behind and required a rally of runs late in game to take itout. They were also down early against Johnsonville but fought back withinterest to take a commanding victory.
Stand out performers for the Keas against Johnsonville were Aaron Riodenand Gus Leger with the bat. Rioden smashed two home runs in the gamewhile also picking up six RBI’s. NZCT Black Sox outfielder Leger was alsostrong with the bat accumulating one home run and four RBI’s.
On the mound Penese Iosefo completed the job for Keas as he kept a lid onthe Johnsonville hitters after a hiccup in the first inning. Johnsonvillescored three runs in the opening inning but after that they couldn’tmanage another hit. Iosefo picked up four strikeouts in the game and gaveup just two hits.
On the back of the results today Richmond are at the top of section Bwith an unbeaten record along with Porirua who have also had twovictories today.
Section A in the 14 team competition is not so cut and dried due to anumber of upsets in the section. Tournament hosts and national clubchampions Hutt City United have had a forgettable day and have recordedonly one win to go with two losses.
Poneke Kilbirnie sit at the top of section A with a three win one lossrecord. Their only loss came this morning against Giants as they wentdown 7-3 in a tie breaker. The scores had been all level at 1-1 afterregular innings then in the eighth inning Poneke Kilbirnie were the firstto score with two runs but Giants came back with interest smashing sixruns in the extra inning to win the game.
Round robin play in the tournament continues tomorrow with the key clashcoming in section B when the Richmond Keas take on Porirua. After roundrobin play the top four teams will contest the semi finals on Mondayahead of the final in the afternoon.
Doreen Dalton Memorial Tournament Results:
Saturday October 21st –
Poneke Kilbirnie 8 Stoke 1, HV Dodgers 4 HV Cardinals 1, Kapiti 3Ramblers 2, Richmond 8 Northcote 5, Porirua 8 Johnsonville 5, Giants 7Poneke Kilbirnie 3 (tie breaker), Miramar 4 Northcote 3, Richmond 7 HVCardinals 0, Papanui 6 Stoke 4, Porirua 6 Miramar 4, Ramblers 4 Hutt CityUnited 0, Richmond 18 Johnsonville 3, Ramblers 6 Giants 0, Hutt CityUnited 7 Papanui 0, Poneke Kilbirnie 7 Kapiti 1.
By SNZ Media Liaison: Kelly Mitchell
* mailto:kelly.mitchell@xtra.co.nz
http://www.softball.org.nz/
*mailto:snz@softball.org.nz
Cheers Vance
Softball New Zealand web master.
* mailto:vanf@ihug.co.nz
