The penultimate week of August saw the latest finish to a season in recent memory.
Aries vs Las Panteras
Las Panteras entered the final game of season top of the league and needed only to avoid a 16 run loss to ensure they finished there.
Batting first, they put up three runs to start and the game and limited Aries to two runs in reply. Increasing their lead to three runs in the second inning, Las Panteras added two further unanswered runs in the third inning, making the score 7-2.
Having been shut out for two consecutive innings, it was Aries’ turn to do some shutting out of their own. After limiting Las Panteras to zero runs at the fourth inning, the home team would score four runs, reducing the deficit to one run.
Great defensive performances all round, including various double plays, meant no runs were scored in the fifth inning.
The Aries defensive holdout would continue into the sixth inning, shutting Las Panteras out once more, however by this point the league leaders could sense had done enough to ensure they would not lose by the margin needed for an Aries’ season victory.
The home team would score three more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, which, when factoring in Las panteras’ rookie run, put them up nine runs to eight.
While a fourth consecutive shutout by Aries in the top of the seventh inning meant victory in the game, it also sealed the League Championship for Las Panteras.
Aries’ victory ensured that no team would go undefeated this year, preserving their own record in that sense from the past two seasons.
Congratulations to Las Panteras who have played well consistently through the season, being excellent not just on offense, but particularly defense, which, in the end, turned out to be the critical factor.
The League Title has not been decided by a tie breaker before (in this case Runs Against) and it goes to show how competitive, close and good natured the softball in the league has become.
Check out full Aries vs Las Panteras stats here.
Bombers vs Spitfires
Following their first ever victory last week, Spitfires were flying high and had their sights set on fourth place: the prize available to the winner of this game.
The Bombers, though, were determined to finish their season with a bang. They started off by limiting the Spitfires to one run in the top of the first inning and scoring three runs in the bottom.
The Spitfires fought back by winning the second inning 1-0 and this reducing their deficit to one run. However, things were about to explode as the Bombers went off to the tune of nine runs in the third inning after shutting the away side out in the half inning before.
Down by ten runs, the Spitfires could manage no runs in the top of the fourth inning, however the did limit the Bombers to one run during their at bat.
The Spitfires scored three runs in the top of the fifth inning, reducing the Bombers’ lead to 8 runs and also reducing the chances of a mercy rule ending.
The Bombers would need to score a lot of runs to make that happen, however that is exactly what they did. The Bombers scored the requisite nine runs (they actually scored more but the mercy rule cancelled some of them off) and were still going offensively when they won the game.
The Bombers victory and subsequent fourth place finish reflects the improvement they have made as a team over the season.
Spitfires should be pleased with their improvement over the season as well. Given they had never played together, the team has slowly found itself and the bond between the players shows this. With an off season under its belt and the subsequent training and experience this brings will ensure the Spitfires will be a force to be reckoned with next year.