1970: The Inaugural Season
The Manawatu Vikings were the early pick for competition favourites. No one really expected them to set the world on fire with their hitting but the duo of Tyler Grimes and Dylan O'Neill at the top of their pitching rotation was definitely expected to make like difficult for the opposition. Both were old hands in the independent leagues in New Zealand, both 34 years old.
There were complemented with by the big hitting of Center Fielder Zachary Pritchard: 28 Home runs, 18 steals, and a slash line of .258/.387/.600 kept the runs ticking over. With Grimes and O'Neill combining for 8 complete game shutouts over the season, it made for an easy canter for the Kowhai title.
The Vikings might have been an easy pick for the Kowhai Division but there was a lot less consensus for the Pohutukawa Division. With the exception of the Waikato Morepork, no one could quite agree on their pick on who'd take it out.
Would it be the power hitting of Auckland, the contact prowess of Bay of Plenty, or the shutdown pitching of Hawkes Bay or Taranaki? The battle was tight over April and May but June saw the Taranaki Thunder emerge from the chaos with a 10-2 record and a firm lead on the division that they'll never relinquish
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There we had it, our two first division winners and the stage is set for for the first ever Peanut Slab Series between the Thunder and Vikings.
The league budgeted for a lot more travel expenses for this series so when it ended up the two teams were only 232km away from each other, they had a big save on their hands. Whatever happened to this surplus is unknown.
August: A Magical Time for Dingers
Fans of the Long Bomb had to wait until August to see a player send the ball in into the stands three times in a single game. The first player to do it was Waikato 3B Dwaine Lowe, who did it in an extra innings loss to the Bay of Plenty Steam.
The Morepork, down 5-4 going to the top of the 9th forced the extra innings with a Lowe's third solo home run of the day. Unfortunately his good work was undone by a walk off hit from the Steam Catcher at the bottom of the 10th.
It was nearly two weeks to the day when the Morepork hosted the Hawke's Bay Moonshots. The Moonshots piled on the runs in a 14-4 shellacking. Including 3 home runs from their lead-off hitter CF Matthew Currier. He set the mood with a home run on the very first pitch of the game and never looked back.
Not to be undone, Lowe smacked another three home runs in into the stand the very next day against the Moonshots, but once again in a losing effort as his team fell 8-7 to the Moonshots.
Up Next: The 1970 Peanut Slab Series against the Vikings and Thunder!