10 Mar 2013

Black Sox win sixth world softball champs title

5:58 pm on 10 March 2013

The New Zealand men's softball team has picked up its sixth world title by beating Venezuela 4-1 in the final of the World Championship in Auckland.

Black Sox captain, Rhys Casley, coming back from injury provided a winning three-run home run, driving in Brad Rona and Daniel Milne to break a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the third inning.

Jeremy Manley pitched the entire game, giving up three hits and sriking out six.

The Black Sox were toppled by arch-rivals Australia in the 2009 final and coach Eddie Kohlhase says they were determined to win back the crown.

"Yeah we've worked hard for it since '09 and the team has just believed really, stuck to our processes and systems and just worked very, very hard together - so very proud of them."