Hawke's Bay softballer Kane Herbert displayed the benefits of his winter stint in the United States when playing for his club side Fast Pitch in Lower Hutt at the weekend.
The versatile Herbert smashed three home runs during Fast Pitch's campaign at the Doreen Dalton tournament. Herbert, who spent the winter playing for the Wisconsin-based The Bar of Appleton team, hit all three on Sunday, the first during a 5-3 loss to Hutt Valley Dodgers, the second during a 6-2 loss to Miramar and the third during a 5-4 tiebreaker loss to Porirua.
On Saturday Fast Pitch, Hawke's Bay's second-ranked men's team but sole entry at the tournament, lost 7-0 to Miramar, 2-0 to Porirua and 6-0 to Hutt Valley Dodgers.
"Considering a third of our team were from our young B grade team we were happy with how competitive we were," Fast Pitch manager Craig Waterhouse said.
He was referring to the fact six of his regular players were unavailable for the Labour Weekend event and four of the 11-strong squad, pitcher Isaiah Tangaroa, Drew Duthie, Stirling Bartlett and Daniel Green, are all under-19 players.