Mark Sorenson urges pitchers and hitters to step up as Black Sox chase a seventh world softball crown

July 7, 2017

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Black Sox softballers Wayne Laulu (L) and Brad Rona are chasing that winning feeling again as the New Zealand men's team seeks a seventh world title.

ORIGINAL STORY by Tony Smith

The Black Sox are feeling "edgy" as they chase a record seventh world men's softball title - but coach Mark Sorenson says that may not be a bad thing.

Sorenson's side enters the world championships in Canada in the Yukon on Saturday after 14 wins and two losses on a buildup tour of Canada.

Their defeats came against the Czech Republic (6-0) - who they meet on the second day of the world tournament - and Canada (10-3), who beat the Black Sox, 10-5 in the 2015 world series final after the Kiwis had led 5-0.

Sorenson is calling on the Black Sox - ranked number one in the world -  to "hunt as pack" and produce more consistent hitting and pitching efforts in Whitehorse.

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"We've shown some good signs, but we haven't yet hit full noise."

The Black Sox went into the 2015 series after an unbeaten tour, but lost to Argentina and Canada on the first two days and had to rely on other results going their way to make the playoffs.

"We're probably a little bit edgier this time," Sorenson said. "But that is probably a better position to be in."

He said while the 2017 buildup tour record "did not look too bad", the Bob Law Memorial tournament in British Columbia this week had been "a good template check for where we are at". 

Sorenson deliberately left top pitcher Josh Pettett out of the Canadian game. The final score blew out with four runs in the last inning after the Black Sox "should have been out of the inning without a run against us", but had dropped two infield pop-ups in the sun.

But the Czech Republic defeat had been disappointing after the Europeans scored five runs in the first inning with the Kiwis starting left-handed relief pitcher Karl Gollan on the mound.

"Our offence should score runs against the Czech Republic, but we didn't. We were quite poor," Sorenson said.

He said the Black Sox were "hitting around .315 as a team". "Ben Enoka [the leadoff hitter] has probably been our best performer and some of the others have chipped in."

"But we haven't really blown anyone out of the water yet."

Sorenson said the Black Sox would need more consistency at the plate and fewer "soft outs" to prosper at the world championships.

He is likely to bunch his best hitters - Ben Enoka, Nathan Nukunuku, Thomas Enoka and veteran Brad Rona - at the top of the order to "protect each other" and make it harder to opposition hurlers to pitch around them. 

Pettett has been the Black Sox's top pitcher, carrying on his form from the Challenge Cup tournament last February when he pitched the Black Sox to victory over Argentina in the final.

Sorenson rated the pitching staff's collective form at "six or seven out of 10 at the moment".

Pettett, Nik Hayes - attending his third world series - and Campbell Gibson will be tasked with "keeping leadoff hitters off base and not going deep in the count", which had led to problems against Canada.

Gollan is likely to be used in short stints against left-handed hitter laden lineups.

Hayes was hit in the leg by a batted ball during the Bob Laws tournament , but Sorenson said "it seems to have freed up".

But first-choice shortstop Cole Evans has a back strain which is causing some concern and led to him coming out of the Canada game after hitting an early innings home run.

The Black Sox have an easy start to the 16-team tournament on Saturday against first-time entrants Turkey.

They then face the Czech Republic on Sunday with Sorenson saying he would be "surprised if there was any motivation needed" after last weekend's defeat.

He said New Zealand faced four potentially testing games in pool play against the Czechs, Japan, Venezuela and Denmark. "We won't be able to take any of them lightly."

The other section features champions Canada, Argentina, Australia, the Dominican Republic and the United States with Sorenson noting "one good team is ging to miss out on the playoffs".

AT A GLANCE

What: 14th men's softball world championships

Where: Whitehorse, Yukon in Canada

When: July 8-18 (NZ Time)

Teams:

Section A: Argentina (2017 world ranking 3), Canada (4), Australia (5), USA (6), Dominican Republic (11), South Africa (14), Hong Kong (not ranked), India (not ranked). 

Section B: New Zealand (1), Japan (2), Venezuela (7), Czech Republic (8), Great Britain (10), Denmark (13), Botswana (19), Turkey (not ranked).

Format: Seven round robin games, followed by top-eight playoffs, culminating in grand final gold medal game. 

NZ BLACK SOX SQUAD: Pitchers: Josh Pettet (Wellington), Campbell Gibson (Auckland), Nik Hayes (Hutt Valley), Karl Gollan (USA-based). Catchers: Zane van Lieshout, Kallan Compain (Auckland). Infielders: Nathan Nukunuku (c, Auckland), Joel Evans (Hutt Valley), Cole Evans, Isaac Fletcher (Auckland), Brad Rona (North Harbour), Josh Harbrow, Tyron Bartorillo (Canterbury). Outfielders: Thomas Enoka, Ben Enoka, Campbell Enoka (Auckland), Wayne Laulu (Wellington). 

Head coach: Mark Sorenson. Assistant-coach: Daryl Marino. Pitching coach: Jimmy Wana. Manager: Jayden Moore.

NZ's pool play draw|: Saturday July 7: v Turkey. Sun Jul 8: v Czech Republic. Mon Jul 9: v Great Britain. Tues Jul 10: v Japan. Wed Jul 11: v Venezuela. Thurs Jul 12: v Denmark. Fri Jul 13: v Botswana.

DID YOU KNOW? Black Sox captain Nathan Nukunuku and Brad Rona are attending their sixth world championships - a record shared with Kevin Herlihy (1966-1984), Mark Sorenson (1984-2004), Thomas Makea and Jarrad Martin (1996-2013).

Tournament Titles

1966: USA. 1968: USA, 1972: Canada. 1976: NZ, USA, Canada (3-way tie after rainout). 1980: USA. 1984: NZ. 1988: USA. 1992: Canada. 1996: NZ. 2000: NZ. 2004: NZ. 2009: Australia. 2013: NZ. 2015: Canada.

Overall: 6: NZ, 5: USA. 4: Canada. 1: Australia.

Results: www.wbsc.org.

 - Stuff