Hero photograph
Term 4 Mixed Teams
 
Photo by Helen Townsend

Softball

Helen Townsend —

Burnside High Softball is growing in depth with both a Girls' and Boys' Team competing in the Term 1 competition and two Mixed Teams in the Term 4 competition.

The Burnside Girls' Softball team had a rusty start to the weekly competition in Term 1, but in the later weeks we found our way and were playing competitive softball with more knowledge of the game.

We played a range of teams including all boys, all girls and mixed. After a couple weeks we got into the swing of things and our efforts were rewarded by playing off for 3rd and 4th; unfortunately losing to Shirley but our final was a still a competitive game. Thanks to Grace Houston for managing the team and Miss Townsend for our coaching.

The team was devastated when we found out our South Island Softball Tournament had been cancelled. Determined to still play, Miss Townsend organised games in Alexandra and in Ashburton against Dunstan High School and Ashburton College who were also still keen to play.

Our tournament week started wet and rainy which caused our games against Ashburton to be postponed, meaning we headed straight to Alexandra. The following days we had our games against Dunstan High School narrowly losing to them 12-11 in our first game. The next three games were of similar standard with Dunstan coming out closely on top, with our girls improving every game.

There were some outstanding performances from our girls against Dunstan; including our outfielders taking several impressive catches as well as our infielders making well executed plays. Our pitcher Teagan Maxted had many good strikeouts with our catchers Hana Allan and Shevaugn Daly. Overall our girls made lots of good contributions, with too many to name. We were privileged to still play in Ashburton and finished the unforgettable week with a confident win against Ashburton College on the way home to Christchurch.

Burnt Dinners, ridiculously early mornings, pranks and tone deaf sing-a-longs on car rides were a few of the memorable moments of the trip - as well as a day trip to Queenstown for some fun - and thank you to Mr White for helping fund our activities in Queenstown. A huge thanks to Miss Townsend and Mr Findlay for the amazing coaching, support and food! Thanks for the extremely successful Softball Term  (written by Michaela James and Tatiana Gibbs).

The boys have enjoyed softball over the course of 2017, playing in both terms 1 and 4. During term 1 the boys progressed very well and their softball skills and game awareness drastically improved. The boy’s skills have specifically developed in creating opportunities for multiple outs and relaying the ball into the diamond.

Term 1 saw many very good games with some convincing wins, whilst some schools provided very stiff opposition and the games were challenging. All games have been played in very high spirits and the boys have enjoyed the friendly banter between teams. The team is a young side and enjoy developing their skills and playing competitive games against others schools. 

We entered the Term 4 competition with two mixed teams to add a bit of variety and try to extend our skills. We had a couple of tough games against Lincoln, Hagley and St Thomas's College with some great results. The highlight would have been the Burnside vs Burnside game which supplied a lot of laughter and some exceptional plays. We are all looking forward to mixing it up again at the start of the 2018 season.