Martin steals the show for Marlinz

Pitcher Rene Martin made sure Marlinz Blue bounced back from last weekend's upset defeat at the hands of Melville when he stole the show in the Waikato and Kotahitanga fastpitch softball competition in Hamilton on Saturday.

Martin not only recorded 13 strikeouts and conceded just three hits in the seven innings he pitched for Marlinz at Resthills Park, but he also scored an automatic home run for good measure in his team's 9-0 shutout of TC Stealers.

Best of the Marlinz batters was Hemi Anscombe with two homers over the outfield fence on diamond one – one in the third inning and one in the fifth.

Marlinz won everything there was to win in both this competition and the Waikato championship in both men's and women's premier divisions last season and are fielding two men's teams this season.

Marlinz Blue last week were run down 12-9 by Melville, who scored eight runs in the sixth inning, while Marlinz Black have so far had two wins and a loss, on Saturday going down 6-4 to Ngati Kahu Braves before beating TC Stealers 21-8.

Fairfield OU played their second game of the competition and registered another good win on Saturday, beating Ngati Kahu Braves 8-1, Corey Wilson and Te Aorangi Mulligan getting two hits each in their team total of nine, while Mulligan took nine strikeouts and gave up just three hits on the pitching mound.

In the women's competition Marlinz managed to win both their games to go with their opening success last weekend, on Saturday hammering Stealettes 17-2 before pipping Ngati Kahu Braves 14-12 in a high-scoring game, despite being out-hit 10-9 by the Braves.

Pitchers Charmaine Taylor and Summer Walker, who both also collected two hits, did the job in the end for Marlinz, taking seven strikeouts between them.