Softball: TBC softball crew ready to rumble

Catcher Jared Bott, 13, is surrounded by his Tauranga Boys' College softball teammates. The boys are competing in the North Island Secondary Schools' championships in Palmerston North this week. Photo / John Borren

In just two years the Tauranga Boys' College softball team has gone from being heavily reliant on two or three players to one that is heading to the North Island Secondary Schools' Championship with confidence.

Their second full season has seen the team travel further afield to find better opposition - and broadening the horizons has paid off, according to coach Karen Albert.

"We've gone from a team with maybe three who could play nearly two seasons ago, and they have worked really hard - they have trained more than most and have done a lot done extra work like fundraising to buy their own gear," she said.

With just a couple of other all-boys' teams in the Western Bay of Plenty, the team has found it difficult to find opposition to test themselves against.

"We are winning the local competition, but there are not a lot of games here. The only boys' teams are from the boys' college, Papamoa and Otumoetai College - the others are girls teams and we do play them. But we needed to go out of town to get better competition and to learn more. So we have been taking them to Auckland where there are a lot of teams."

The team played in the Cameron Duncan Memorial under-17 tournament at Waitakere Bears Softball Club and have started to get results, also beating Counties this season.

Teams, especially in Counties and the Waikato, have been supportive as has the Tauranga Softball Club, said Albert. Her younger son Josiah started playing at college in year 9 and a year later his older brother Xavier also joined.

Softball can be something of a sport-alone, she said, with few skills gained in other sports of use in the softball diamond.

"It really is in a league of its own so they boys have been learning to throw, catch, develop quick reflexes and co-ordination, to get their eye in and to see the ball - especially when they come up against the faster pitchers. We've had kids who couldn't catch who are now really good players."

The team has also made big strides in recent weeks, with the acquisition of a top notch pitcher.

"We've not had a strong pitcher until now and now we have, the boys have gone from one level to another in just a few weeks."

With the North Island secondary schools' championships in Tauranga last summer, the team entered for experience and finished seventh in the eight-team competition. This year Albert believes they will do much better.

"I believe they can make the top four and have told them they are capable of winning because I believe they are. And if they get in the top four, they can come home feeling very proud of themselves."