Tough year on and off diamond for softball - by Tony Smith

January 1, 2013

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RISING STAR: White Sox rookie Te Reo Powhiri Matautia was one of the top batters at the world championships

ORIGINAL STORY  by Tony Smith

Few New Zealand sports will welcome the New Year as eagerly as softball which had few hits in 2012. 

    Softball has a lot to look forward to with the Black Sox bidding to win a sixth world title at the International Softball Federation (ISF) men's world championships in Auckland in March. 

    Black Sox coach Eddie Kohlhase named his 17-man squad after the National Fastpitch Championships (NFC) in December. 

    Former captain Jarrad Martin and outfielder Thomas Makea will be attending their fifth world championship since 1996 with Brad Rona and Donny Hale backing up for their fourth. 

    But Auckland infielder Nathan Nukunuku, a Black Sox regular since 2000, and Canterbury captain Gareth Cook, who led the Red Sox to the NFC title, were controversial omissions. 

    Cook's response to the snub was typical. He went out and slammed nine hits from nine at-bats (including four home runs) in a club softball doubleheader. 

    The 16-nation world championships will be held at Albany's Rosedale Park where an impressive new stand and amenities have been constructed alongside two artificial diamonds. 

    North Harbour Softball are still putting the finishing touches to the complex which hosted the NFC tournament in December as a test event. 

    Away from the diamond, softball had a challenging year. 

    Provincial associations staged a revolt against the Softball New Zealand (SNZ) board and management, forcing a special general meeting in December. 

    Board chairman Rex Capil fell on his sword, quitting a week before the meeting where the board agreed to a total review of the sport and promised to be more open and consultative with its stakeholders. 

    The call for change reached its crescendo after SNZ lost $300,000 in funding from the New Zealand 

    Community Trust, prompting a review which led to several key staff losing their jobs, including the national pitching adviser Debbie Mygind and leading coach Venita Hokai. 

    Softball New Zealand's lack of transparency was highlighted by the revelation newly-elected board member Mike Bills was moving to Brisbane and would be commuting to board meetings at SNZ's expense. 

    Acting board chair Nicky Sherriff has stated the provincial associations' concerns have been heard and changes will be made. Softballers will hold her to her word. 

    On the diamond, the White Sox slumped to a record-low 13th place at the women's world championships in Canada in July, missing out on the playoffs after a loss to Italy who scored the winning run on a bases-loaded walk after the New Zealand coaching staff inexplicably dragged top pitcher Michal Tangaroa. 

    But on a bright note, young Auckland outfielder Te Reo Powhiri Matautia was one of the top batters at the tournament as she was at the junior world championships in 2011. 

    Matautia and White Sox teammates Kingsley Avery and Ellie Cooper have secured American college scholarships. 

    Japan won the world title, breaking the United States' streak of six gold medals since the 1986 tournament in Auckland. 

    The White Sox blooded a host of young players in the first two rounds of the Gillies Shield interstate series in Australia, winning three out of six games in the first round in Perth but jut one from six at Adelaide in the second round. 

    The Junior Black Sox finished a disappointing sixth (another record low) at the junior men's world championships in Argentina in November. 

    Host nation Argentina won an ISF title for the first time.  

- © Fairfax NZ News