Tournaments

In the 2008/2009 Season the NSA will be proudly hosting the following tournaments:

Oct 25th -27th         3Rings Spring Invitational

Nov 28th         Year 9/10 College Play Ball tournament _Saxton Field

Nov 30th U15's Seddon Shield - Blenheim

Dec 7th U13, 17, 19 Seddon Shield - Blenheim

Jan 9th -12th         New Zealand U19 Boys Nationals

28^th October 2008

3Rings Softball Academy Labour Weekend Spring Invitational - 2008

The 2^nd Annual 3Rings Softball Academy Labour Weekend tournament concluded today and Parklands Christchurch United and new Coach Ted Forrester walked away with the majority of the awards to accompany the championship title.
Mike Gaiger (Most Valuable Pitcher) Daniel Milne ( Top Batter) and Paul Delatour (MVP) led the Blue Devils on an 5 game unbeaten run over the 3 days that ended with a 8-1 victory over Poneke Kilbirnie in the final.
Poneke≠s young team took a 1 run lead in the top of the 1^st inning, but PCU responded immediately and continued to bring the runs in with their Milne and De latour leading their offense. Gareth Cooke delivered a walk off homerun in the 5^th to end the game early.
Local team and host Stoke Eagles were no match for Richmond Keas in the playoff for 3^rd and 4^th.
Wairau and Papanui played off for 5^th & 6^th with Wairau winning 5-0  and Waimea finished 7^th  and Nelson United 8^th.
Host Marty Grant said ≥The weather was once again accommodating and I want to thank the fans that came out to Saxton Field, we were  very fortunate considering the weather on Friday. The plan is to continue to bring in teams of this calibre and allow the local players and officials to improve.
On Saturday night at the tournaments official function , hosted by Shooter Bar, the 3Rings Softball Academy was able to honour several of the promising young player. Two members of the 2008 Junior Black Sox Nik Hayes (PK ) and David Mackenzie (Wairau) were congratulated for their 4^th place finish at the recent ISF Junior World Championships. Local players Jack Fletcher and Brendan Ross were also acknowledged for there efforts over the last 2 years as members of the academy.
Recently appointed, Softball New Zealand General Manager Dane Dougan was guest speaker and he spoke of his desire and interest to work on accurately measuring the size of the softball community in New Zealand and developing strategies to increase those numbers. He also spoke of the family environment that was an integral part of the makeup of the sport and the success of the Black Sox.
The evening ended with a candid interview with Stacey McLean and Michael Gaiger ( 2004 World Champions) this allowed the audience a small insight into there lives and they discussed their preparation for the pending 2009 World Championship in Canada in July.
Casey Eden won the Homerun Derby on Sunday morning in front of a modest crowd and he will get another chance to defend his title.

The 3Rings Softball Academy would like to thank all the supporters and volunteers and we look forward to another great Labour Weekend in 2009.

Contact us now about next year.

Tournament Results

Saturday
Stoke 2 v Wairau 0, PK 5 v Richmond Keas 4, Wairau 20 v Nelson United 0, PK 16 v Waimea 1, PCU 20 v Nelson United 0, Papanui 10 v Waimea 2, PCU 5 v Stoke 1, Richmond 16 v Papanui 15,

Sunday
PK 9 v Papanui 5, Richmond 15 v Waimea 0, Stoke 10 v Nelson United 1, PCU 13 v Wairau 7, Playoffs Wairau 5 v Waimea 2, Papanui 12 v Nelson United 0, PK 4 v Stoke 0, PCU 4 v Richmond 3,

Monday
Waimea 15 v Nelson United 0, Wairau 5 v Papanui 0, Richmond 10 v Stoke 0, PCU 8 v PK 1

2008 Champions - Parklands Christchurch United (Canterbury)

Runner Up - Poneke Kilbirnie (Wellington)

3^rd Place- Richmond Keas (Canterbury)

Top Batter  Daniel Milne , PCU                 Top Pitcher  Michael Gaiger, PCU

Most Valuable Player  Paul Delatour, PCU

Tournament All Star Team 2008-  Gaiger, Milne, De Latour, Gareth Cooke, (PCU) Penese Iosefo, Scott Higgins, Carl MacIlroy, (Richmond Keas) Stacey McLean, Craig Wallace, Mark Elson (PK) Marty Grant, Casey Eden, Simon Ashby, (Stoke Eagles) Coach Ray Timu ( PK)

Marty Grant- Tournament Host 021 490 738 marty.grant@xtra.co.nz