The Otago men’s softball team retained the Bates Shield in scintillating form in Invercargill last month, and are aiming for more with the Jefferies Cup in Christchurch starting today.
After being down early against Southland in the Bates Shield, Otago came back in the bottom of the seventh to secure a 7-6 victory.
"It was great to win it for the second time in a row, actually," player-coach Mitchell Finnie said.
"The guys just came back and battled their way back through it.
"It was a walk-off win, with the winning hit pretty much off the last chance we could have had to win the game — and we did.
"Good to play those tight games before going away."
Several young players stepped up for Otago during that game, and same core group are tackling the Jefferies Cup — the men’s South Island provincial championship — with a couple of additions.
Jayden Britt, who plays for Papanui, adds experience to Otago and another strong bat to the line up. Dunedin local Corbin Tuwairua, who is studying at Lincoln, will also join Otago and adds defensive strength.
Otago will be without their main pitcher Ben Watts, who is out with injury, so Finnie will step up to the mound and take over the pitching duties.
Finnie felt his side was shaping up nicely for this weekend.
"We’ve had a good few trainings, just working on the basics basically, because we don’t have the support of our normal pitcher," Finnie said.
"We’re going to have a bit more of a team approach this year and look to tidy up a bit of defence and some of our hitting."
Otago made the final of the Jefferies Cup last year, but lost 7-0 to Canterbury in the final.
Canterbury are always one of the bench marks, but Finnie said his team should still be pushing to make the final.
"Canterbury have retained a few of their pitchers, so they’ll probably have the upper hand in that part.
"But it’ll be a good challenge to see if we can beat them."
Otago come up against South Canterbury this morning, at Dynasty Ballpark in Christchurch, and then play Marlborough and Canterbury in the afternoon.
They play Southland tomorrow morning before the final.
The Jubilee Cup, the women’s South Island provincial tournament, has been shelved this season after limited playing numbers across the associations.
Otago won the Jubilee Cup for the first time in 36 years last year.
A Canterbury women’s tri-tournament, Waitaha Toru, has been added to fill the gap with the Canterbury Red Hawks, Canterbury Under-19 and Waitaha Manuhiri, a Canterbury invitational team, competing.
Otago has a men’s and women’s team competing in the Mainland Shield, the under-17 South Island provincial championships this weekend.
