New Zealand took a confident first step towards reclaiming the World Softball Championships, beating Mexico 5-0 on the North Shore tonight.
The Central Americans were never going to threaten the five-time champions, but the Black Sox still needed to make a statement ahead of sterner tests next week.
They managed to do just that in their first game of the 16-team tournament at Rosedale Park, taking a 4-0 lead after two innings before the pitching staff prevented Mexico from advancing past second base.
Coach Eddie Kohlhase said after the game the biggest positive from the win was keeping Mexico scoreless and he paid tribute to the efforts of pitchers Heinie Shannon and Nik Hayes.
"It was a very pleasing performance from Nik and Heinie," he said. "At any world championship, when you keep a team scoreless it's a fantastic result."
Pitching was a major concern heading into the tournament, with New Zealand possessing none of the power arms boasted by the likes of the Australian staff.
But Shannon and Hayes, who combined for 16 strikeouts, made a good start in the search to win back the title the Black Sox lost to their transtasman rivals in Canada four years ago. Shannon pitched into the fourth inning and gave up four hits, before coach Eddie Kohlhase handed the ball to Hayes to finish the game with 3.1 hitless innings.
Hayes was especially impressive when he came into the game with two men on in the fourth, a situation Kohlhase said was designed as a test for the pitcher.
"[Hayes] is a little bit of an unknown proposition for the opposition. But we'll keep his feet on the ground and keep our feet on the ground."
The offence was carried by two veterans as Donny Hale, with four previous world championships under his belt, contributed two RBI and Jarrad Martin, playing in his fifth tournament, hit a solo home run.
New Zealand came into the tournament in patchy form, having lost to local club sides but won warm-up games against South Africa and the Czech Republic. They carried the latter results into the top of the first inning against Mexico, with Hale's one-out single enough to drive in Tyson Byrne after the shortstop reached with a triple.
The Black Sox threatened to blow things open in the second but settled for three runs after Brad Rona flied out with the bases loaded. Mexico pitcher Gabriel Melendez struggled with his command throughout the inning, giving up a lead-off home run to Martin before hitting two batters and walking Hale with the bags full.
Mexico made a pitching change in the fourth but Oscar Martinez wasn't much more effective. After walking Tyron Bartorillo, second baseman Nathan Nukunuku - a late call-up to the squad to cover for injured captain Rhys Casley - smoked a grounder up the first base line to score Bartorillo and make it 5-0.
The offence was kept quiet from there, but Hayes held the lead and the Black Sox took the win.
New Zealand face another minnow in Colombia tomorrow afternoon, before tougher tests in the form of Japan, Canada and Argentina await.
"[Colombia] are going to be interesting," Kohlhase said. "We sort of looked at out tournament as winning the first two then having a crack at the big three. So we just need to get a win tomorrow then look forward."
