The International Softball Federation’s World Softball Championships began on March 1 with a colorful and cordial opening ceremony. Young students belonging to softball clubs from the Auckland area escorted players from the 16 participating teams – Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Venezuela, Japan, Great Britain, Argentina, Czech Republic, Philippines, South Africa, Mexico, Indonesia, Colombia, Samoa, and the Netherlands – onto the field for introductions. The children had an opportunity before the ceremony to meet with the teams and play some, eliciting an enthusiastic response from the U.S. team.

New Zealand challenges the teams participating in the Softball World Championships with a haka at the beginning of the opening ceremony.

Representatives of Auckland, Tradestaff and the World Championship took turns speaking to the large crowd gathered at the stadium before Mayor Len Brown and Minister Steven Joyce officially began the tournament when each threw out one of the first pitches for the New Zealand team’s game against Mexico. Neither pitch broke any records, but they did go mostly in the direction of home plate, which is an overall success. Thus began an 8 day event that would crown a new champion for 2013.

Jim and consulate staff were also invited to attend the team’s barbeque, where he had the opportunity to get to know the players and coaches a bit better, including a few from his home state of New York. The team was very relaxed and determined not to mess with the mojo of their recent comeback, and so ping-pong and steak was the order of the day, rather than the trappings of the Auckland night-life. Players were happy to discuss their strategy for beating the Brits (which they did handily), when not busy playing a strange variation of poker in which bets are made as cards are revealed one at a time.

They may be softball players, but the kids were sure to teach the men of the USA team how to properly form a scrum.

New Zealand’s tournament dominance was displayed early on in the game against Colombia as they rose to an early lead on their path to victory over Colombia, sealing the game off with a score of 4-0. The crowd thoroughly impressed the majority Kiwi audience, who were proud to say that their home-team looked like a true contender for the finals. New Zealand always does quite well in the championship, but this game laid a very solid foundation for what would turn out to be a fantastic run.

U.S. Consul General Jim Donegan, as well as the Mexican Ambassador and Consuls General from Samoa and Australia also took part in the opening ceremonies.

The US team got off to a slow start in the tournament, dropping the first three games against some tough competition, including the reigning champion Australia. The Americans rallied, though, and won the next four games to qualify for the tournament playoffs, including a victory over Great Britain. Unfortunately, Argentina was set on dream-crushing the hopeful U.S. side, eliminating the team 9-2 in the playoffs. The young U.S. players looked superb throughout the tournament, and this outing will certainly season some of the rookies and galvanize the squad, which has many up and coming stars that spell a bright future for the team. Matt Joseph Palazzo, for instance of the USA, for instance, tied Brad Rona of New Zealand and Jeff Ellsworth of Canada for most home runs of the tournament (with three each).

The US team at the tournament.

The final game saw the New Zealand Black Sox, coming off a nail-biting extra inning playoff win against Australia, winning over Venezuela 4-1 to take the 2013 title.  Needless to say, the hometown crowd was ecstatic that its team came through, and gave the New Zealand players and coaches a standing ovation for their hard work and dedication.