“It was a big year. When I look back I’m very grateful for the opportunities and successes I had,” Sage Shaw-Tait reflects on 2018.

Sage, a Year 13 at Scots College, was a national rep in three sports – baseball, softball and sevens rugby. 

On Sunday, he lines up in the Scots backline against St Pat’s Silverstream in the Wellington Premiership rugby final at Jerry Collins Stadium.

Sage won a gold medal in the World Secondary School Sevens Tournament in December and represented Scots who won the Wellington title and came third at the National Condor Sevens.  He then went on to play for the New Zealand Schools Sevens Team which won a world title. 

In baseball, he represented New Zealand at Under 18 level and in softball he showed his potential as a member of the New Zealand Under 17 Black Sox.  

All these achievements culminated in being named the Hutt Valley Junior Sportsman of the Year. 

“I’m pretty proud of my Hutt Valley roots. My family is from there and it’s important not to forget where you are from,” Shaw-Tait stressed.

In softball it seems like the Shaw family has been around for centuries. Sage is the son of Darren Tait who played for the Black Sox and Kiri Shaw, a former White Sox, while his grandmother Namoi Shaw was the captain of the only Kiwi team to win the World Championships in 1982.

Sister Denva is a former Hutt Valley representative netballer but made the decision to concentrate on softball, representing the White Sox and presently on a sporting scholarship at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania.

Shaw-Tait plays in the outfield and is an adept hitter “averaging around 270.” He is a regular in the Hutt Valley Dodgers line-up as well as the Hutt Valley reps and cracked the New Zealand Under 17 squad. 

“It’s good to have made a New Zealand team. I’ve got a lot of work to do if I’m going to be a Black Sox, but softball runs deep in the family so it good to carry on some of the tradition,” Shaw-Tait enthused.

Baseball is a sport on the rise in New Zealand and given it’s similarities to softball it’s hardly surprising Shaw-Tait has taken to it like a duck to water. Shaw-Tait plays for the Hutt Valley Hornets and was picked in the New Zealand Under 18 squad. 

Perhaps the most noteworthy achievement though was being selected for the Auckland Tuatara “taxi squad." The Tuatara is a professional baseball team in the Australian Baseball League. They are the only team from New Zealand to compete in the ABL, and one of two expansion teams that entered the league in the 2018/19 season. 

The Tuatara roster last season included two Major League players, Houston Astros third baseman Joe Perez and Texas Rangers second baseman/outfielder Blaine Prescott.

“Baseball has a lot more opportunities than softball so it was great to compete against Major League players. I’m lucky my parents support me in whatever do,” Shaw-Tait said.

What will Shaw-Tait do in 2019?

“I’m not sure. I just want to win on Sunday,” Shaw-Tait said.

One of the few accolades which has eluded him is the First XV Premiership. Last year, Scots was stunned in the semi-finals by St Pats Town, a result Scots reversed last Saturday to earn the right to battle St Pats Silverstream as the top qualifier for this Sunday’s decider at Jerry Collins Stadium. 

Scots are warm favourites to win having beaten Silverstream 34-7 in the round robin. Why will that result be repeated?

“We’ve worked really hard in the pre-season and have built momentum. We’ve pulled together in the tough moments and want it bad,” Shaw-Tait responded.

Shaw-Tait expects Silverstream will try and target Scots in the forwards, but believes his side enjoys an edge out wide.

“Silverstream have an experienced pack with some big ball runners. They scrum and lineout well, but we held our own last time and took them a few times on the edge,” Shaw-Tait observers. 

Scots have scored more points than any other Wellington school this season and in Shaw-Tait, Oryaan Kalolo, Ethan Webster-Nonu and Roderick Solo (celebrating his 50th game on Sunday) contain the essence of the Hurricanes Under 18 backline. 

Hooker and co-captain Sase Va’a also celebrates half century milestone. ​

The Wellington East Girls’ College softballers re-established themselves as the leading girls softball school in the country at the NZSS Division 1 tournament in Christchurch last week.
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Four-time champions between 2014-17, Wellington East lost their crown to Alfriston College last year when the tournament was held in Lower Hutt, but were emphatic 7-0 winners over One Tree Hill College in the final this year.

Co-captains Beyonce Rehutai and Alyssa McLean said the team saved their best game of the tournament for the decider.

“A lot of our girls stepped up in the final, and they played really well and took it to another level,” said Beyonce. “We weren’t expecting that result at all - we were expecting a really close game because One Tree Hill College is a good side.”

Particularly as their only loss of the tournament was to One Tree Hill College in the round-robin.

“We lost that game to them in a tie-breaker [3-4] and that was the second game of the tournament,” said Beyonce.

This year’s tournament in Christchurch was reduced to just four teams, with a few teams cancelling owing to the tragic events in the city a fortnight earlier.

Wellington East and One Tree Hill College were joined by Canterbury school Kaiapoi High School and last year’s champions Alfriston College of Auckland.

All teams played each other three times, heading into the straight final between Wellington East and One Tree Hill College.

Wellington East’s record was eight wins from nine games, scoring 69 runs and conceding 29.

Beyond and Alyssa agreed that another highlight from the team perspective playing well was their 15-4 win over Kaiapoi, with Wellington East invoking the mercy rule in that match.

Another key to Wellington East’s win was their experience, with the whole team except from one player returning from last year’s Division 1 nationals.

Four players were also in their team that won two years ago, including both year 13s Beyonce and Alyssa.

Five Wellington East players made the tournament team: Beyonce Rehutai, Ariana Cameron-Jones, Kaitlyn Peachey, Memoree Arai-Hardie and Jordaan Arai-Hardie.

The Arai-Hardie sisters are year 12s and twins, Memoree was the Pitcher of the Tournament and Jordaan was the Pitcher of the Tournament.

The Batter of the Tournament was Beth Reid from One Tree Hill College.

Wellington East were familiar with many of the other players in other schools at the recent nationals “We knew most of the Alfriston team, because most of them were returning from last year as well, and there is one One Tree Hill player in the New Zealand squad, “ said Beyonce.

Beyonce is a member of the Junior White Sox who are heading to California from 10-18 August for the U19 World Cup, in the team that is captained by former Sacred Heart Lower Hutt student Pallas Potter, while Alyssa was in the Emerging White Sox last year.  

The Wellington East team all play club softball. The majority of the team plays for Miramar and other play for Island Bay and Poneke-Kilbirnie. Beyonce plays for PK and Alyssa for Miramar.

Now that the softball season is winding down, many of the Wellington East players will be turning their attention to winter sport. Beyonce is a leading player in the school’s Senior A netball team and plays wing attack and goal attack. Alyssa is taking a break from netball and basketball this winter to focus on school work and her part-time job in a café.

As well as the players, the Wellington East team management played a big part in their success this year.

Tivi Sila was the head coach and was the Coach of the Tournament, while Nikita Hiroki was the assistant coach and Marika Puleitu the manager.
 
 
 
 

Three title wins in four days – it doesn’t get much better than that for a group of Mount Albert Grammar School softballers.

Isaac Munro, one of five players in the MAGS team that won their sixth straight NZSS Division 1 title who also made the tournament team, explains their recent winning week on the diamond:

“Last Friday we won the NZSS tournament in Lower Hutt and then we flew home and a lot of us joined our club Ramblers in winning the Auckland club U17 and U19 titles. On Monday night we beat Auckland Grammar School to win the Auckland secondary school final. We’re pretty happy with how things turned out!”

MAGS joined seven other Division 1 softball schools at the start of Summer Tournament Week as five-time defending national champions. How hard would it be for them to win a sixth?

They were unbeaten throughout the tournament and met Hastings Boys’ High School in the final.

“Last year we played Hastings in the final as well. Last year we lost our round-robin game and one of our semi-finals against them, but we had a second life and played them in the final and beat them. Then this year we beat them three times in a row,” says Isaac.

The penultimate day of the tournament on Thursday was almost rained off completely, but MAGS and Hastings managed to play their semi-final at night and MAGS came through 3-2, after beating them 4-1 in the round-robin the previous day. Hastings beat Rongotai College 2-1 in a sudden death knock-out on Friday morning and then MAGS beat Hastings 3-0 in the final that followed.

Isaac said the win was based on consistency and self-belief. “A couple of times we ended up having loaded bases against us and no outs but luckily we have two pitchers and we brought on the other pitcher and we came back and got three outs without letting any of them home.”

As well as Hastings, other teams MAGS were wary off were Rongotai College and Marlborough Boys’ College.

“We thought we would be facing tough games against those two teams and knew we had to play well. But we went in there and stepped up; especially against Marlborough we just played an excellent game of Softball.”

MAGS beat both Rongotai and Marlborough 8-1. In four of their round-robin games, the mercy rule was invoked because MAGS was so far in front.

The five players from MAGS that made the tournament team were Isaac, Taine Slaughter, Ryan Earley, Brock Evans and Floyd Nola, who was also the tournament MVP.

MAGS returned home to beat Auckland Grammar School 10-0 in the Auckland Championship final.

In between, the Ramblers U19 and U17 sides won their Auckland club title finals.

What is the secret to MAGS’ softball success?

“We have been a big family mentality and brotherhood, so we know our strengths and weaknesses well and which has allowed us to believe in each other when the going gets tough,” says Isaac.

“Most of us either train or play together for our Ramblers club U17 and U19 teams, and some of us have been playing together for 10 years, so we know each other’s games and what works in tight situations.”

The MAGS softball legacy kicked off six years ago when they won their first title.

“There were a couple of players, such as current Black Sox players Cole Evans and his brother Rhys, who all played club softball together at Ramblers, and they took the school to our first national tournament win and it has continued from there,” says Isaac.

“My brother was in these early winning teams and I remember watching him play and win finals, so I thought I wanted that too.”

In fact, the brotherly theme runs deep throughout the team.

Rhys and Cole’s younger brother Brock who is year 12 was captain of this year’s side, while others such as Ryan Earley’s brother Max is a past multiple winner of the schools title and some current players in the group now have younger brothers coming through. “It is handed down through the generations!”

This was Isaac’s third national title and there was one player in this year’s group who has won the last four.

Coach Stu Kinghorn was Coach of the Tournament at nationals and has been a major part of their success since 2013. Kinghorn is Cole, Rhys and Brock’s grandfather.  He has just stepped down after winning again this year, allowing someone else to take the reins and hopefully guide the school to a seven-peat in 2019.

Cole and Rhys are now Black Sox players, while Floyd and Taine are in the NZ U19 team and Brock is in the NZ U17s.

Many of the players will be involved in winter sport teams coming up at MAGS.

MAGS head boy Isaac also plays water polo and will be returning to Wellington in a fortnight to contest the national schools water polo tournament. 

The Alfriston College girls' softball team is celebrating a winning week on the diamond that has seen them win their maiden NZSS Division 1 tournament and return home to win the Auckland Secondary Schools title.

Last Friday, after a weather-disrupted penultimate day, Alfriston beat Wellington East Girls’ College 8-2 and then Sacred Heart College, Lower Hutt, 13-5 in the final to be crowned national champions. The team returned home and beat One Tree Hill College 5-1 to win the Auckland title on Wednesday night.

After finishing fifth in 2015, runners-up in 2016 and fifth again last year, Alfriston College captain and Tournament MVP  Jacqueline Clay said the team was thrilled with the national tournament week.

“We went into the tournament knowing not to take any team lightly, and if we focused on ourselves and played well we had a chance. We ended up doing that and winning, so we are all really happy right now,” said Jacqueline.

With a batting average of .565, Jacqueline was the top batter of the tournament, while teamates Taylor Chong-nee and Tessa Abraham were the top pitcher and catcher respectively.

Additionally, Aylssa Bailey, Jodie McLean-Rawiri and Lily Nielson also made the tournament team with above trio at the conclusion of the five-day Division 1 tournament played at Fraser Park, Lower Hutt. Coach Ian Abraham was the Coach of the Tournament.

Alfriston’s full team was Tessa Abraham; Alyssa Bailey; Jade Calverley; Kayrani Cherrington; Taylor Chong-nee; Jacqueline Clay; Jodie McLean-Rawiri; Braxton Murray; Lily Neilsen; Meleane Pasi; Zahna Stil; Caroline Va’amainu’u.

The national tournament was an eight-school event and consisted of a six-game full round-robin series,followed by playoff games and then the final.

Alfriston won their first five matches, beating Massey High School (11-7), Newlands College (8-5), One Tree Hill College (8-5), Sacred Heart College (11-6) and Taita College (3-1).

In their last round-robin game they lost a thriller to Wellington East Girls’ College. “We lost that 4-5 on a tiebreaker,” said Jacqueline. Despite that loss, Jacqueline said that was a highlight game for the team of the tournament.  This saw them qualify for the playoff rounds in second behind WEGC.

However, the weather didn’t play ball on Thursday, wind and rain all day not only causing to frustrate the sides, but meaning that these further matches would all have to be played on Friday. One of the finalists would have to play back-to-back-to-back games.
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Alfriston avoided this by coming out and beating WEGC 8-2, Jacqueline leading from the front in an emphatic win. Sacred Heart beat One Tree Hill 8-7 at the same time. Alfriston had a 90-minute break as Sacred Heart then pipped WEGC 4-3. In the final Alfiston repeated their round-robin win over Sacred Heart, winning 13-5. 

Victory was sweet for the team’s two departing year 13 players, Jacqueline and for Jodie McLean-Rawiri.  This pair and Tessa Abraham were the three players that were involved in the 2015 team.

Jacqueline is confident Alfriston can remain strong in the next few years. “Jodie and myself are the two year 13s, but we also have a couple of year 12s and the rest of this year’s team are years 9,10 and 11.”

Jacqueline played in three of Alfriston’s four Division 1 teams since 2015, missing the tournament two years ago through injury. “I didn’t play that tournament as I had a broken ankle, which I did playing softball sliding into base.”

The school season might be over, but Jacqueline (Emerging White Sox) and Taylor Chong-nee (Junior White Sox) are heading to British Columbia in July to play in the prestigous Canada Cup tournament. The U19 World Cup is next year in California.

Alfriston’s coaches were Ian Abraham and Regan Bailey, the manager was Renee Murray and the scorer was Tracey Broughton.

Abraham said that a big factor in Alfriston’s success was the team comaradrie. “They displayed unity and strength on and off the diamond, which was reflected in all their games. The team were untouchable and they never let a negative situation get the better of them," said Abraham.

“A lot of focus in the lead-up was spent on game scenarios – for example hot box, second phase plays and pick-offs  - which paid off because we encountered these situations and the girls were ready. As a coach you know you’ve done a good job when you see the application of what you’ve trained for executed in real-time; you can’t ask for more than that.
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“I am proud of our achievement – success starts from the top and I would like to thank my management team for their trust and support; and a special thank you to our team leaders Jacqueline Clay and Tessa Abraham for displaying good leadership qualities on and off the diamond. They lead by example and have gained the respect of their fellow team mates as well as the trust and respect from our management team.”

Pallas Potter of Sacred Heart College, Lower Hutt, is one year 13 sportsperson who is sure to make a smooth transition from secondary school sport to the senior ranks at the end of the year.

Potter’s main sport is softball. In late July she captained the Junior White Sox (Women’s U19s) at the Junior World Series in Florida. She recently won Softball New Zealand’s Emerging Player of the Year award, has been selected in the senior White Sox Training squad and is already footing it in the senior ranks at the highest level.

With the softball season just starting - Pallas was in Auckland over Labour Weekend playing as a pick-up for the Auckland Marist team in a club tournament – her most recent and last act playing sport for her school was at the NZSS Netball Nationals earlier this month.

“That’s the highest standard many of us have played netball, it was pretty intense,” said Pallas of the week in Rotorua with the Senior A netball team. “There were some tough games, our first game against St Margaret’s was a highlight [won 38-27].”
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Describing herself as a utility defensive player, Pallas helped Sacred Heart to 10th place overall of 16 netball teams, which achieved their goal of a top 10 finish at one of the more competitive tournaments on the NZSS calendar. 

From now on, Pallas is just focusing on one sport – softball.   

And for good reason after a busy year so far, which has included a change of position.

This was after she was the Tournament MVP for the Lower Hutt U19s Women’s team that won the national title in Christchurch. Pallas was the team’s pitcher and helped them beat Wellington in the final.

In Summer Tournament Week she led Sacred Heart to the Division 2 NZSS national title at nearby Fraser Park. They had qualified to play Division 1 in Auckland but logistics and finances meant they stayed in Lower Hutt instead.

In the middle of the year she captained the Junior White Sox at the expanded 26-country  Junior World Series in Florida. Pallas, now on first base, admitted the team didn’t perform as high as they could have. But that’s understandable given that 11 of the 17 players, including Pallas, will still be eligible for the next Junior World Series in two years.

Host country the USA won the tournament, and although New Zealand didn’t get to play them, they watched them play. “They were outstanding, different to how we play – they are more powerful and clinical in what they do.”

This was Pallas’ second Junior World Series tournament. “I was in the team as well two years ago when it was in Oklahoma, USA. As a year 11, I was the youngest in that team, and we finished sixth.”

Pallas enjoyed the captaincy experience at the elite level, a team comprised of mostly New Zealand secondary school players and a couple of university and US based college players.  The squad included her Sacred Heart teammate Bailey Robertson.

Pallas has played softball all her life, and plays for the Te Aroha club in Lower Hutt.

On the horizon is the Softball World Championships are in Florida next July, while softball has been reinstated as an Olympic Sport. Representing New Zealand at Tokyo 2020 is a major goal for Pallas and her teammates.

In the short term, she is preparing for the end of the school year and exam season and another busy summer of domestic softball and is keen for a softball scholarship to university in the USA.