Kiwis take out Friendship Series
Thursday July 6th 2006
The New Zealand Under 19 Men’s Development team are the 2006 FriendshipSeries champions having won the final in Sydney, Australia thisafternoon.
New Zealand took out the title with the 2-1 victory over Australia Goldin the final. The difference in the final proved to be the hitting ofWellington’s Sam Bishop who scored both of New Zealand’s runs in thegame.
Australia Gold took the lead in the final in the third inning but theKiwi team struck back in the fourth when Bishop secured a safe hit toscore Canterbury’s Kyle Beaudoin from second base.
After getting his side back on level terms Bishop then provided thedecisive blow smashing the ball over the fence in the sixth inning to winthe game.
New Zealand team manager Mark Carter said while the effort from Bishop inthe final was outstanding he credits the whole team for the victory.
“In the final it was a solid team effort and a good performancedefensively. Then when we needed it most Sam hit it out of the park,”said Carter.
New Zealand won their way through to the final on the back of a 4-1 winover New South Wales Metro in their last round robin game thismorning.
While the New Zealand team may be the Friendship Series champions for2006 the team will need another step up in performance for the start of aseven match test series against the national Australian team. Theinternational series starts tomorrow with two games at 4.30pm (NZ time)and 7pm (NZ time).
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
Junior White Sox
Also putting in the winning effort on the diamond today were the JuniorWhite Sox competing in the Canada Cup Futures tournament in Vancouver.
On day three of the tournament today New Zealand had a double headercoming away with a win and a loss. They had a 13-6 win over O’KanaganWildfire and a 6-0 loss against WR Renegades.
The Junior White Sox have their final round robin game against theCalahoo Erins at 4am (NZ time) tomorrow. The New Zealand team currentlysit in third place in their section and will need to retain that positionafter tomorrow’s game if they are to qualify for the Championshipplayoffs over the weekend.
