Saints premier men's softball team first baseman Bailey Scott-Wray admitted he was feeling the pressure as he entered the batting box for his second turn at bat in Saturday's pre-Christmas competition final in Hastings.
His side's opponents and the team he played for last summer, Fast Pitch, had tied the score at 3-all after four innings at Akina Park, Hastings. With two down in the fifth inning and his team ahead 4-3, Scott-Wray drove the ball towards Fast Pitch short stop Liam Udy-Johns and as Udy-Johns fumbled it after more than a hint of obstruction from a base runner, centre outfielder Sam Coldicutt scampered home from third base to extend the lead to 5-3.
"It's quite nerve-racking because at 21 I'm one of the younger boys in the team and you don't want to let the older ones down on finals day. After I did the job there was a bit of relief and it was good to pick the boys up," left-hand batter Scott-Wray said after his team's 6-3 victory.
A father of one and property maintenance worker at Gourmet Blueberries Limited in Flaxmere, Scott-Wray - who has represented Hawke's Bay through the grades up to under-23 level - is confident Saints have the ammunition to complete the double with victory in the post-Christmas competition.
Should Fast Pitch reach that final they will be hoping experienced second baseman Te Rangi Chadwick doesn't get ejected. For the second consecutive year he was ordered off the diamond in the pre-Christmas final.