St Patrick’s College Silverstream stepped up on the mound to take the national title in secondary schools’ softball. The tournament, run over summer sports week, was held at Fraser Park in Taita, Lower Hutt. This repeats what the school achieved in 2023 when they won the title in Christchurch.

Silverstream went into the tournament as the best school in Wellington, after winning the CSW one-day tournament final 10-9 against local rivals St Bernard’ College. That event was also played at Fraser Park, on 26 February.

Team coaches Mike Robinson, Chris Steffensen and Shane Doherty are wily campaigners, who have a long involvement in the sport. Robinson and Steffensen also helped guide the Hutt Valley Under 17s representative team that won their national provincial championship earlier this year.

At the start of the school’s nationals, there was uncertainty with how Silverstream would go. The coaches knew they had a good squad with some players from the winning Hutt Valley representative team. This included the important combination between pitcher Tyrone Robinson and catcher Harry Muir.

However, in developing game plans they recognised their squad wasn’t stacked with big hitters. The team would have to work hard to manufacture wins. Results would come from keeping the ball in play. A mix of getting the ball to the grass and aggressive ground play within the diamond. By doing so, they wanted maximum pressure on opponents’ defences to find those game breaking moments.

Mike Robinson knew they would face stern competition. The tournament results reinforced this. Silverstream won their first three games by a solitary run: 4-3 vs Alfriston, 1-0 vs Mt Albert Grammer, and 7-6 vs (defending champions) Westlake BHS. Late in day two, Silverstream’s momentum was halted with a 3-14 loss to St Peter’s College (from Auckland).

In Robinson’s words the loss meant the team would need to take the “long road to the finals”. This would include having to play both the Auckland schools (St Peter’s and MAGS) again.

Silverstream would start day three with an incredible turnaround, beating St Peters 7-3. Reversing the loss from the previous evening. However, the afternoon game again showed how evenly matched teams were, with St Patrick’s losing 1-2 to MAGS.

The semi-final and finals were both played on Friday 28 March. Silverstream blasted a confidence building 10-1 win over St Peter’s. The game welcomed an important turning point for the team, when Zakeal Walters hit a shallow ball over St Peter’s second basemen. A play that would break the tension for his team and allow them to start bringing runners home.      

The afternoon final would again see Silverstream meet MAGS. The Auckland school have a prestigious record in this tournament, having won eight consecutive nationals between 2013 and 2021 (there was no tournament in 2020 due to Covid).

In many ways, a win in the final would give Silverstream a second consecutive title as they did not enter last year’s nationals. The Silverstream squad had three survivors from the 2023 championship team.

By pitching a shut-out, Silverstream and Junior Black Socks pitcher Tyrone Robinson was instrumental in guiding his team to a 2-0 win. The Year 12 student would also earn the honour of being the tournament MVP. Tyrone was joined by two other Silverstream players (Cruz Maui-Kea and Zacc Maguren) in being selected in the tournament team.

Silverstream’s four Year 13s (Cruz Maui-Kea, Zacc Maguren, Zakeal Walters and Jordan Thurston) all made key contributions to the team’s success. However, Mike Robinson believes the school should have the depth to continue doing well in the CSW tournament and potentially future nationals.

Robinson was very thankful for the time his fellow coaches crew invested in the team. He was also extremely praiseworthy of the hard work completed by team manager Megan Muir. “Silverstream participates in so many sports that we need to promote Softball at the school. Softball is a great sport. Across all ages, more kids should get involved. A game can be completed within 90 minutes. It’s much shorter than cricket, so it won’t tie up your whole day.”  

Overall, it was a successful tournament for Wellington Schools. As well as the victory for Silverstream, Whitby Collegiate won the Division 1 girls’ final beating Rosehill College (Auckland) 6-1. A combined Wellington schools’ entry Eastern Saints won the boys Division 2 final, 3-2 over Cullinane College (Wanganui).

Article added: Wednesday 16 April 2025