PCU Devils knocked off throne

Wellington's Poneke Kilbirnie have ended Parklands Christchurch United's two-year reign after a convincing 7-2 win in the final of the 3 Rings Softball Academy Labour Weekend tournament.

After their 7-0 win over Albion in 2007 and last year's 8-1 win over PK to claim consecutive championship titles, PCU could not match PK's batting firepower in yesterday's decider at Nelson's Saxton Field.

It was PK's second win over PCU in as many days after Sunday's 5-2 win in round-robin play gave the initial hint of a possible power shift. And despite losing 1-0 to the Stoke Eagles in yesterday's final round robin match, PK responded positively to outhit the Cantabrians in a convincing final performance.

There were plenty of local supporters questioning the subtleties of tied-team formulas and run ratios after Stoke handed PK their only loss of the tournament. At that stage, and with PCU having already secured a comfortable 6-0 final round win over Papanui, Stoke's win left them sharing identical five win-one loss records with both PCU and PK.

Once the calculations were completed, it left Stoke with the formidable task of scoring a two-run victory over PK to advance to the final. Stoke produced a superb effort, but fell marginally short to send both PCU and PK into the tournament decider.

In the final, Black Sox slugger Gareth Cook sparked the action in the bottom of the first inning when he hoisted Thomas Cameron's 1-2 pitch over the left centrefield fence to give PCU an early 1-0 lead.

It proved short lived, with PK's Jarrat Tibbits responding in kind in the very next inning to hammer Regan Manley over the centrefield fence and score Cameron for a 2-1 lead. Cameron had reached base on a centrefield single before stealing second to get himself in prime scoring position.

The second inning action was by no means over, however, with a double to PCU's Scott Dale bringing home a pacey Paul Delautour from first base to level the score at 2-all. With PCU, at that stage, looking up for the fight, it was PK that ultimately responded to eventually close out the game and keep the defending champions scoreless for the remainder of the match.

A Craig Wallace home run in the top of the fourth inning gave PK their go-ahead run at 3-2. Two further runs in the fifth inning made a PCU comeback unlikely before another two runs in the sixth inning ended any hope the Cantabrians had of rescuing the title.

With PCU's defence by now starting to unravel under the pressure, an infield error with bases loaded off another Cameron single was enough to see Daniel Tarapi and Rongo Rapaea home at 5-2. A Tarapi triple scored Tibbits in the top of the sixth, leaving Rapaea to bring home Tarapi to signal PK's triumph at 7-2.

A strong defensive effort and a consistent pitching performance by Marty Grant had earlier laid the framework for Stoke's victory over the eventual champions.

A rightfield single by Thomas Enoka to bring home Casey Eden, after Eden's earlier double, in the bottom of the first inning had produced the game's only score. Grant maintained the pressure on PK's batters throughout to finish with nine strike outs and just four hits, with two excellent fielding efforts by Jack Fletcher to hold difficult infield catches in the top of both the second and third innings highlighting Stoke's tight defence.

In yesterday's other matches, the Waimea Eagles suffered a win and a loss, easily beating the United Titans 9-0 before losing heavily 14-5 to Albion. Waimea ended the tournament with one win and five losses, and United lost all six games.

Besides PK's title success and his home run derby triumph on Sunday, Thomas Cameron also picked up the tournament's individual pitching and MVP awards. Papanui's Tyron Bartorillo was named top batter.

The tournament team included Cameron, Daniel Tarapi, Jarrat Tibbits, Rongo Rapaea (PK), Marty Grant, Thomas Enoka, Casey Eden, Reuben Topia (Stoke Eagles), Gareth Cook, Daniel Milne, Blair Murphy, Paul Delautour (PCU), Craig Higgins (Albion), Tyron Bartorillo (Papanui) and coach Thomas Makea (PK).

Final-day results: Waimea Eagles 9 United Titans 0, PCU 6 Papanui 0, Stoke Eagles 1 Poneke Kilbirnie 0, Albion 14 Waimea 5; final: PK 7 PCU 2.

- © Fairfax NZ News