Two teams on both extremes of the Shanghai Softball League came to grips yesterday and it turned out to be an easy victory for the unbeaten Buccaneers over the ever-losing Columbia Country Club "Americans" by a score of fourteen to seven. The game, which was played on the losers' diamond, lacked interest as the league-leaders were at no time threatened.
The Pirates opened up quick as they scored five times in the first inbings and then tallied seven more in the second to pile up a dozen runs. In the third frame, the team turned in another pair of tallies and were thereafter content to remain at 14 runs.
Against the tight pitching of C. C. "Dud" Squires, the cellar-dwellers were kept scoreless in the first two sessions. The winning hurler let down thereafter and permitted the opponents to chalk up seven runs.
In the only game played on the Shanghai American School diamond, the Marine Officers engaged in a stiff fight with the Texaco squad and won by the only run of the game, scored in the second innings.
Hiehmita singled first and then stole second before he was brought in by a sharp shot fired by Hommel. Play was exciting from beginning to end and some good baseball: took piece. The struggle became a pitchers duel, Ferguson throwing for the "Leathernecks" and Taylor for the Oümen.
The Shanghai Rowing Club made a futile trip to the school grounds as they found their opponents, the Jewish Recreation Club, absent.
The game on the Race Course between the C.C.C. "Natipnals" and the Foreign Y.M.C.A. failed to materialise as the grounds were closed yesterday.
Past records revealed that Jimmy Ward, the Amateurs' second-baseman. is now leading comfortably in þatting. Making ten hits out of nineteen attempts, the star civilian player reached an average of.526. Hus average is all the more amazing as he only batted.291 last year.
Howard "Windy" Winchester, the Second Battalion shortstop, turned in the second best performance, making nine hits out of 22 times at bat for an average of 409.
In pitching, Merle "Samshu" Davis and James "Lefty" Houston of the First Battalion are the most effective. Davis has four games to his credit while Houston has a trio of winners. Joe Honeycutt of the Ama-tours ranked next with three won anu two lost.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.