Alfriston College celebrating softball success

Alfriston College - National Division 1 girl's softball champions.

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.”

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