Old heads prevail over aggressive youth

Sometimes age is an advantage in sport because with the years comes wisdom.

The more mature Buzzards men's team proved there was no substitute for age and experience when they beat a more youthful Waikite team 4-3 in round two of the Rotorua Softball competition.

But the old hands didn't have it all their way on Saturday and it was only through strategic play Waikite were beaten.

Waikite were quick out of the blocks batting first and putting two runs on the board via Harlem Hohepa-Angel and one of the oldest team members 18-year-old Stephen Moore.

It wasn't until the bottom of the third that the "green team" started to fire when pitcher Quinn MacDonald and captain George Jolley charged over home base.

A slight hesitation by Waikite in the field saw the campaigners charge home.

In the fifth innings the two masters dominated play again.

MacDonald and Jolley scored, taking the Buzzards out to a 4-2 lead.

But you can never discount the determination of youth - or a good coach.

Waikite coach Artie Moore pulled out all the stops to win, putting himself in to bat in the top of the final innings.

But MacDonald got the better of him sending him back to the dugout with a strike out next to his name on the score sheet.

Waikite kept their hopes alive with Stephen Anderson making it to third base.

A hit by Hohepa-Angel saw Anderson make a dash for home to take the score to 3-4.

Stephen Moore stepped up to bat but with a reputation for big hits and one run to his credit in the game Buzzards opted to send him straight to base one without even swinging a bat.

With two down, a runner on third and first bases and trailing by one run Waikite's Pirikawana Taiatini was next in the batter's box.

It was make or break time.

Pirikawana put bat to ball but sent the ball sky high.

Pitcher MacDonald took the catch and put the game to rest.

Buzzards captain Jolley said his team were caught on the hop in the first innings as new combinations struggled to settle.

By the fourth innings the team hit some rhythm and the team spirit came through, Jolley said.

"I wasn't worried we kept lighting the fire. A couple of old hands scored the runs and our younger ones fired up."

Artie Moore said walking Stephen Moore in the dying moments of the game was a "good move on their behalf and it showed their experience".

Scoring two runs quickly may have counted against his young side in the end, according to Moore.

"We thought we were in for a good game then they came back at us."

A bit of indecisiveness from his players in the field allowed the Buzzards players to steal bases.

"Buzzards produced a lot more then I thought they had. Quinn had an outstanding game."