Softball: Errors see Hawke's Bay plummet to 12th

Kahurangi Beamsley-Allan hit an in-park home run for Hawke's Bay against Hutt Valley B. Photo/File

Poor mental application, numerous errors and a lack of pitching depth contributed to Hawke's Bay's 12th placing at the national under-17 boys softball tournament which ended in Palmerston North yesterday.

"We conceded too many soft runs, as simple as that," Bay coach Waka Wilkie said last night.

His troops finished the four-day, 16-team event with two wins and six losses. On Saturday they lost 6-4 to Canterbury and 7-4 to Hutt Valley B, and yesterday Manawatu beat the Bay 9-7.

"Some of our boys still hadn't learnt the signals by the end of the tournament. Some of the boys from my own Fast Pitch club were among those and that was hard to take," Wilkie said.

"While Kahurangi [Beamsley-Allan] and Kupa [Isherwood] gave their all on the mound we don't have the pitching depth we once had in the Bay and that's through the grades," he added.

Against Canterbury, Hawke's Bay trailed 6-1 in the bottom of the fifth. Catcher Rakai Henare hit a three bagger.

Canterbury out-hit the Bay 11-5 and their four errors were one less than the Bay. Isherwood struck out two of the 34 batters he faced.

Against Hutt Valley B, Beamsley-Allan hit an in-park home run and finished with two hits from four turns and three runners batted in. He also finished the game on the mound and struck out seven of the 12 batters he faced.

Hawke's Bay out hit Hutt Valley B 11-8 but made four errors, two more than Hutt Valley B. Against Manawatu Hawke's Bay made six errors, three more than their hosts.

Jameel Geor got on base with all four of his turns at bat. Ben Mackey-Gotty also batted 1000.