The Black Sox have delivered a dominant performance in their first game at the Intercontinental Cup today, taking down USA 7-0 in five innings.
The New Zealand men's softball team got off to a strong start in Prague, Czech Republic thanks to solo home runs from Jerome Raemaki and Cole Evans in the first and second innings respectively.
However, they were stuck with a 2-0 lead for the next two innings before a huge rally in the bottom of the fifth saw them score five runs and win the game thanks to the mercy rule.
Captain Ben Enoka said it was "a good first outing" for the team who brought in six uncapped players for the tournament.
"Our pitcher Nik Hayes gave us a good start and [there were] a couple of nice hits from Jerome and Cole.
"We didn't pick up till the later innings when we actually locked in the batter's box and converted some runs."
Hayes was impressive on the mound for the current world champions, taking 11 strikeouts for two hits in five innings of work. He didn't have any walks in the game either.
It was also a strong performance for Thomas Enoka who earned two hits in three at-bats while earning his 50th cap for the side.
One of his two hits came in the Black Sox's big fifth innings with his shot to left field bringing in a run.
The Black Sox face a big challenge tomorrow morning NZT when they face world No.4 Argentina who are fresh off a 10-0 win over hosts Czech Republic.
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