Softball: Modified men's fastpitch competition reintroduced by Whanganui Softball

Umpire Lance Brown presides over Braves catcher Jamie Hollis, Athletic batter Jon Procter and Braves pitcher Shaun Terry during the newly-introduced senior men's fastpitch competition in Whanganui on Wednesday evenings.

Whanganui Softball has reintroduced a senior men's fastpitch competition between the three Whanganui clubs.

The teams will play a modified fastpitch competition where there is only three balls for a walk and the batting teams starts with a runner on base every innings.

The rule change is to speed up the game and encourage short game plays. These games are played on a Wednesday evening, starting at 6pm at the Whanganui Ballpark.

Last week's opening game had the Braves team that plays in the premier competition in Manawatu, convincingly beat Athletic 23-7. Athletic play in the senior men's reserve grade in Manawatu on Saturdays.

Although Athletic were competitive on the bat and bases against the experienced Braves pitchers Shaun Terry and Caleb Watt, their defence seemed to be their downfall. Pitchers Wiremu Wakefield and Tre Hemi could not contain the bats of the Braves team.

Patrick Steele, lead off for Braves and batted safely into the outfield. Steele scored three times at his four plate appearance and came out with top batting average of 1000. Jamie Hollis and veteran Shane Foster both produced high batting statistics.

This evening's competition game will be a match-up between Castlecliff Mustangs and Athletic kicking off at 6pm at the Whanganui Ballpark.

Meanwhile, on Saturday Athletic men's team were out-batted by a young and fast Dodgers team.

Dodgers only needed four innings to finish the game, beating Athletic 18-2. Pitcher Keelan Jongenel worked well with catcher Tyrone Pirere to shut out the Athletic batters, only giving up two hits and striking out six batters.

The Athletic women's team have continued their winning streak in the Manawatu competition, coming up against the tough Feilding United team.

The Athletic girls started the first innings with a great defensive relay play from outfielder Rebecca Matthews to Jamie Procter, who fired the ball to catcher Cathryn Kilmister at home plate, tagging the runner coming home on a very close play.

That set the tone for the team. But Feilding came out in the second innings bringing in five runs, two runs from big home hits. Athletic's strong batting line-up had them leading 8-5 in the third innings, eventually winning 13-6 in the sixth innings. Top batting from pitcher Manea Kotuhi-Brown with an average of .750.

In the premier men's grade Dodgers were also dominant against Ezi Finance Braves, decimating the visitors 13-3.