Waitakere Bears battled hard to beat national champion side Mt Albert Ramblers in a see-saw final of the Vic Guth softball series, taking two runs in the seventh inning to win 10-9 when Ramblers finally cracked.
It was the best game for many seasons. Ramblers' outstanding international
Nathan Nukunuku hit his ninth home run of the weekend to open the batting, but Bears hit back with four first inning runs, sparked by a two-run homer from Rueben Topia, whose weekend batting also stood out.
In the third it was Ramblers' turn with two walks, followed by great hitting and running, gathering five runs to sneak into the lead.
Nukunuku, player-coach Donny Hale and Danish international Frederick Terkelson were outstanding with the bat for Ramblers.
Internationals Heinie Shannon, Travis Wilson and Patrick Shannon, aided by UK international Roger Marshman, inspired four runs in Bears' third turn to lead 8-6 and it seemed that Ramblers would go down.
Two errors and some erratic play allowed Ramblers to score three runs in the fourth and the 9-8 scoreline continued until Bears' last turn when Ramblers made big, successive errors to allow Patrick Shannon and Topia home for the winning runs on a hit to the fence by Hayden Pietersen.
Bears' real hero was the injured Heinie Shannon, who batted despite a thigh strain and then took over the pitching for a while.
Ramblers destroyed Northcote 9-2 in the semifinal but United, keen to keep the prizemoney for the host club, faded at the end of a long game, going down 2-1 to Bears in the third tiebreaker. Marist lost the semifinal chance with a shock 2-1 loss to Glenfield.
