Story: Softball and baseball

Page 3. Softball stars and future challenges

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Batting stars

New Zealand men’s softball had a number of defensive stars in its early decades, including gifted fielders like Auckland shortstop Paul Rogers. Kiwi batters lagged behind their North American rivals until Mark Sorenson, Jimmy Cotter, Michael Nichols, Ian Stringer, Eddie Kohlhase and Jimmy Hall burst onto the scene in the early 1980s.

Sorenson and later stars Jarrad Martin, Thomas Makea, Brad Rona, Donny Hale and Nathan Nukunuku dominate the all-time batting statistics. Travis Wilson, a member of the gold-medal-winning 1996 team at just 19, signed for baseball major league club the Atlanta Braves in 1997. He spent eight years at the top of baseball’s minor league system before returning to play for New Zealand in the 2009 world softball championships.

Power-batting Aucklander Martha Rush was one of New Zealand’s early female softball stars. Ed Dolejs rated infielders Rhonda Hira and Marilyn Marshall (née Chapman) as the greatest women softballers of his coaching era. Both were world-class hitters who excelled in a number of positions.

Herlihy versus Stofflett

The 1976 International Softball Federation men’s world championships in Lower Hutt produced one of the greatest individual duels in New Zealand team sporting history. New Zealand’s Kevin Herlihy, the best right-handed pitcher in the world, and the American Ty Stofflet, the greatest left-hander, threw 20 innings each (almost three regular games) before the US won 1–0.

Great pitchers

New Zealand softball is famed for its prodigious pitching talent.

The New Zealand women had a golden generation of pitchers in Cheryl Kemp, Debbie Mygind and Gina Weber from the early 1970s to 2000, when Weber played at the Sydney Olympics. All three were on the 1982 world-championship-winning team in Taiwan, where their coach Ed Dolejs ranked Mygind and Kemp as two of the top three pitchers in the world.

Ross Smith and Brian Wareham were among the best male pitching pioneers. The first real star was Hutt Valley hurler Bill Massey. In the 1960s he threw his Railways club to six national inter-club titles in eight seasons, and Hutt Valley to six consecutive inter-provincial crowns.

Kevin Herlihy, a tall Wellingtonian, dominated the New Zealand scene and was outstanding on the international stage. He played from the late 1960s, and in 1984 captained the first New Zealand men’s team to win a world championship outright.

Michael White produced the greatest pitching feat in New Zealand softball history in 1996, with a perfect game in the world championship 4–0 victory over Canada. Combining with catcher Mark Sorenson, White did not concede a single safe hit or walk, or allow a runner to make base.

Steve Jackson was on the mound for New Zealand’s 1984 world championship victory. Marty Grant pitched a no-hitter in the 2000 triumph. Chubb Tangaroa (New Zealand pitching coach in 2012), Peter Meredith and Paul Magan were worthy successors to the early standard-bearers.

Softball in the blood

Dave Sorenson and his son Mark Sorenson both captained New Zealand to world championship gold medals. Dave was captain when New Zealand were co-winners at the 1976 Lower Hutt world championships. At the age of 16, his son Mark won the first of his four world championship gold medals in 1984 at Midland, Michigan. Mark captained the Black Sox to victory at Midland in 1996 and East London, South Africa in 2000. He was also a member of the world-championship-winning team at Christchurch in 2004, and coached the Black Sox team which won the world title in Canada in 2017.

Challenges facing softball

Few team sports rely on any one individual as much as softball does on the pitcher. The New Zealand pitching production line once churned out champions every year, but in the 2010s they were fewer and farther between. Developing pitchers became the New Zealand game’s greatest challenge as it sought to revive its glory years.

New Zealand softball has batted above its small-nation status on the world stage. In 2012, 33 New Zealand players, coaches, managers, administrators, umpires and scorers had been inducted into the International Softball Federation Hall of Fame since 1981. New Zealanders play professionally in North America, Japan and Europe. However, local softball now has little sponsorship or media profile..

How to cite this page:

Tony Smith and David Green, 'Softball and baseball - Softball stars and future challenges', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/softball-and-baseball/page-3 (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Tony Smith and David Green, published 5 Sep 2013, updated 1 Jul 2015