Wairarapa overcame the disruption of losing key players at a vital stage to finish fifth at the National Evergreens tournament in Palmerston North.
The 2020 runners-up started the two-day tournament on Friday, beating Otago 3-2 and Waikato 7-0 to be on course to top their pool if they defeated Hawke’s Bay in their last group game.
However, Wairarapa were without three key players – starting pitcher Justin ‘Chunky’ Karaitiana, former Junior Black Sox Blair Thompson, and experienced batter Chris Cox, who sat out the game, because they had to return to Masterton to play an Intercity premier two semifinal for Giants Blue on Saturday.
Hawke’s Bay went on to win the clash 7-4 and send Wairarapa to a quarterfinal meeting with Rotorua on Saturday morning. A disappointing batting effort saw Wairarapa fall to a 1-0 loss.
Frustratingly, the Giants Blue semifinal was called off with the cancellation of all Intercity softball because of rain, allowing Karaitaiana, Thompson, and Cox to return for Wairarapa’s fifth-sixth playoff game against Hawke’s Bay, which they comfortably won 9-3.
Coach Russell Kawana was happy with Wairarapa’s fifth placing, given the disruption of losing the trio, but he was not prepared to use that as an excuse, especially in the loss to Rotorua.
“It would have made a hell of a lot of difference if they had come back, especially ‘Chunky’, but in saying that, we never hit in that Rotorua game, and the guy who pitched for them took a lot of strikeouts,” Kawana said.
“I’m happy with where we finished, and we look forward to next year and see if we can improve on that.”
Defending champions Canterbury made it two in a row, thrashing Wellington 12-2 in the final.
