Lower Hutt, NZ - - Wellington break decade-long drought to win national softball crown
Dante Matakatea (L) and Warren Stoddart have helped Wellington win the 2020 national softball title (FILE PHOTO).
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Jerome Raemaki and Zac Boyd's home runs sparked Wellington to their first National Fastpitch Championship men's provincial softball title since the 2009-10 season.
The Wellington skipper smashed the ball over the fence with Dante Matakatea on base - as Wellington routed North Harbour 10-1 in five innings on Sunday at Lower Hutt's Fraser Park.
Shortstop Boyd - a strong candidate for a Black Sox call-up - followed with a three-run dinger over left-centrefield
It was the second successive mercy rule result on Sunday after Auckland swept Canterbury 7-0 in a five innings women's final.
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 Canadian national training squad pitcher Caleb Keeshig shackled the Harbour batters to four hits - including Hohepa Monk's solo shot home run, while snaring six strikeouts.
Many of the Wellington team are still in the under-23 ranks, and veteran coach Warren Stoddart thinks some, such as Matakatea and Boyd are "knocking on the door" of the Black Sox.
 Raemaki, the free-swinging Black Sox infielder had three hits, while Matakatea and impressive young catcher Jayden Stratford each had two hits in the final, which proved one step too far for Harbour's big-hearted, bearded southpaw pitcher Eru Drage.
Stoddart - who first coached the Wellington senior representative team "in the early 1980s" - was proud of the way his team built to the title.
"We were good defensively early in the week and made a lot of double plays and our hitting got going against Auckland on Saturday and the batters just carried it through to to the final today."
 Stoddart got great production from his entire batting order, from Matakatea at the top to Boyd in the No 9 slot. "Zac bats lead off for his Porirua club, so I put him down at No 9 like a double leadoff."
​Wellington's 10 hits took the pressure of Keeshig, who cleverly varied his pitches to keep the Harbour hitters at bay.
Stoddart had the luxury of having Black Sox pitcher Josh Pettett - who beat Auckland - on the bench. "I always try to go with a fresh horse at the end," he explained. "Josh had a good game against Auckland, but we've been rotating Kesh and Josh all week. We knew we could bring Josh on if Keesh got into trouble."
But, with Wellington's hitters so hot at the plate, a pitching change wasn't needed.
North Harbour - seeking to win a first national title - beat Hutt Valley on Saturday night and Auckland on Sunday morning, on the back of Drage's effective left-handed pitching and the bats of Pita Rona, Monk and Kurtis Tomkins.
But it was asking too much for Drage to replicate that effort against a talented and versatile Wellington batting lineup which had claimed eight runs and nine hits off Black Sox ace Daniel Chapman in disposing of Auckland in Saturday's major semifinal.
Wellington went on the attack from the top of the first inning with leadoff man Dante Matakatea singling and using his speed to stretch out to second base.
Raemaki rapped a double to score Matakatea and then added the second run on Joel Harris' single.
Matakatea bounced a shot over the right field fence to score Zac Boyd in the second inning. The Wellington second baseman strolled home when Raemaki walloped his home run to create an unassailable 5-0 lead.
North Harbour yanked Drage for Pita Rona at that point, and the tall right-handed reliever got Harbour out of the inning, but later had his neck stretched watching Boyd's sweetly-struck home run soar over the fence in the third inning.
Harbour pulled back a run with Monk's superb homer over the right-centrefield fence in the bottom of the third inning.
Wellington's veteran captain Wayne Laulu booked Wellington a place in the final with a late home run onto the outer embankment in a 8-6 major semifinal win over Auckland on Saturday night. That victory avenged Wellington's only defeat of the tournament, a 10-2 reverse to Auckland in their final round robin game.
Drage racked up 13 strikeouts and Rona hit a home run as North Harbour eliminated hometown Hutt Valley, 5-2.
Tomkins was Harbour's hitting hero in their come-from-behind 5-4 win over Auckland to book a berth in the grand final.
Auckland - chasing a fourth title in five seasons - led 4-3 after scoring two runs in the top of the seventh inning, but Harbour hit back when Rona tripled to score Hohepa Monk, who had picked up a base hit. Tomkins collected his fourth successive single to bat Rona in for the winning run and earn a perfect 1.000 average.
Harbour took three hits off Chapman, the Black Sox's best pitcher at the 2019 world championships, in the final inning.
AT A GLANCE
Playoff results from the National Fastpitch Championship men's softball tournament
SATURDAY
North Harbour 5 Hutt Valley 2, Wellington 8 Auckland 6.
SUNDAY
North Harbour 5 Auckland 4.
Grand Final: Wellington 10 North Harbour 1 (five innings).
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