Softball: Game gets to first base, eyes homer

Freda Hohepa, Rotoiti hurler, pitches against Hinemoa on Saturday at Puketawhero Park.

Softball still has a future in Rotorua despite some ups and downs since returning to the city.

The sport was re-introduced to Rotorua last November by Central Bay Softball, breaking a long absence of any organised competitions in the area.

The first season is coming to an end with only two rounds left to play in all divisions.

Central Bay Softball chairman Duane Bishop said they had experienced some teething problems since bringing it back, but had a good foundation to build upon for next season.

"Yeah, we are quite happy with what we have accomplished and for us it is just about building from there," Bishop said.

One of the difficulties this season had been numbers, especially in the senior men's division, which boasted only three teams.

"Probably one downside is we have not had as many as we would have liked to start off with but hopefully we will get to start earlier next season and have a lot more things in place," he said.

"While we haven't had an increase in teams, we do have a Tokoroa side coming across next weekend and that is a men's side."

Bishop said the hope was that some teams from Tokoroa might wish to join the competition next season.

One of the big positives this year had been the number of new players getting to experience the sport of softball, he said.

"That's one upside to it ... there has been a lot of new players this year that have never played softball before and are loving it."

The women's competition this season boasted a good number of sides, with five, and there would be a playoff series for that division in the next couple of weekends.

"They will be going into a finals series," Bishop said. "Whether we play a semi or straight to the final, that is still to be decided."

Central Bay Softball base their games at Puketawhero Park, with T-ball and junior divisions for children and teenagers on Saturday mornings, followed by the men's and women's competitions in the afternoons.

"With the T-Ball and junior softball, we have good support there as well."