Softball gets there at last with sunny season end

After a summer full of rain, the sun came out for Mets as they won Saturday's Hawke's Bay men's softball championship final with a 6-1 win over Saints at Akina Park, Hastings.

The most rain-affected Hawke’s Bay softball season in living memory has come to an end, with a champion finally decided by just a single run.

With the pre-Christmas final among the victims of the summer’s rain, Saturday’s game at Akina Park, Hastings, took on the appeal of winner-takes-all, with Mets retaining the title with a 6-1 win over Saints.

It was expected to be a closer affair, with Mets beating Fastpitch 14-2 along the way and Saints beating Tamatea 7-0.

Saints pitcher Adam Woom dominated the early stages, with 9-up and 9-down in the first three Mets innings, striking out all three in the third.

Saints were unlucky not to score in the bottom of the third with runners on second and third bases, when Mets pitcher Jordan Waterhouse faked the throw to first on a Saints infield hit and tagged Saints runner Deconte Roberts in a run-down.

In the top of the fourth, Horawai Puketapu made a double base hit and was brought home on a two-base hit from Jordan Waterhouse, and in the sixth, with Sam Selby-Law on base, Jordan Waterhouse hit a massive home run over centre field to put Mets up a commanding 3-0.

Saints responded in the bottom of the sixth with loaded bases from two hits and a Mets error, but was stifled by a Mets triple play – three outs in one hit.

In the seventh, Puketapu and Selby-Law scored home runs with Polish import Marek Kozoi on base, making it 6-0, before the Saints’ single run, to Freddy Jackson.

The 42nd annual Fun in the Sun tournament will be held at Akina Park this Saturday and Sunday, with a current forecast for some sun, some northerlies, and some rain.